How to Bond with Your Newborn

The first thing that we all notice whenever we see a mommy and a baby is their bonding. While that seems natural, research suggests positive parenting can help in bonding. Personal interaction with your newborn, being happy while handling her, smiling at her often, looking deeply into her eyes, holding her close and responding to her needs and cries all form part of positive parenting known as attachment parenting in technical terms.

Let's take a look at more specific ideas for encouraging your baby's attachment to you—and encouraging her brain to grow!

Face-to-Face Contact

As a newborn, your baby will gaze at faces especially at the eyes and mouth. In fact, she will gaze at faces longer than at anything else! She can see clearly eight to 12 inches away, about the space between her face and yours while feeding. Human faces, after all, are full of motion and sound. Position yourself close to your baby when singing or talking to her. She'll get to know your face very quickly. It will seem like she is examining every part of your face—every nook and cranny! And that is exactly what she is doing. Repetition will make Baby remember who Mommy is and that she is the sure thing in her life. (Most infants prefer female faces to male faces due to this "mommy connection.") This security enables her to soon move on, in baby steps, to the next milestones. It is also an early intellectual development—college, here she comes! Imagine her studying a chemistry book as deeply as she is studying your face!

Skin-to-Skin Contact and Breastfeeding

Sucking is a natural involuntary reflex that provides the baby with great comfort and satisfaction. Her sucking will become better and voluntary a few weeks after she is born. Allow her to use her thumb, fist, or a pacifier to meet the natural need for sucking. The best way a mother can bond with her baby is through the use of this reflex - Breastfeeding. Breastfeed as often and as long as possible. Besides providing your baby with nature's perfect milk, it's an exercise in baby reading. The intimate contact promotes bonding by teaching you to read your baby's facial expressions and sense her body language, while the very act of nursing teaches baby that you are a source of care and comfort she can trust. If a medical or lifestyle complication prevents you from breastfeeding, you can make bottle-feeding a time of high touch and high communication too. Bottle-feeding also gives dad a chance to bond with baby in a caring, giving way. Whatever the method, think of feeding time as an opportunity for connecting and communicating in addition to delivering nourishment.

Baby Wearing

It’s a new trend slowly catching up in our part of habitation. As a new parent, this is one gift one used the most often and loved the most. It is one of the best ways for dads and others in the family to bond with the baby. Of course, in my case I was the one doing it most of the times. I carried my baby wherever I went – to the market, to the bank, in a bus, on a camel.. everywhere and anywhere you can think of. Apart from the physical touch and comfort it promotes, it’s a learning experience for the baby. Instead of letting my baby lie flat on a surface, I had gher with me all the time looking the world around her in a 360 degree fashion. No doubt my girl today is a great observer of things and people.

Tummy Time

Tummy time is important for strengthening your baby's upper body. Lay your baby on her tummy on a soft blanket. Put one or two colorful toys in front of her or around her in a circle. Allow her to practice movements for very short periods of time at first. One minute of tummy time three times a day is a good goal for a newborn. She will work hard to hold up her head and look around. She may drop her head in exhaustion, bonking her little nose in the process. Pick her up and don't let her get frustrated. Make tummy time just part of the play.As weeks pass, you'll pick up on her cues that tummy time can last longer. Never leave your baby by herself while she's on her tummy (to avoid the risk of suffocation). Rub her back, talk to her about what she can see, rattle a toy. You can even lie on your back and have baby lie on your belly, looking at your face. Chances are your baby will keep her head up longer if she sees your face and hears your voice.  

Respond to her

A baby's cry is her way of communicating with you. Listen to it and believe in the value of her "language." Babies cry to communicate, not to manipulate, so learning how to decipher your baby's cries and respond appropriately -- whether with a feeding, a diaper change or a simple, comforting touch -- teaches her to trust you to understand her needs and take care of them. As that bond grows and you become accomplished at anticipating her needs before she becomes upset, you may even find that she cries less.

Different Ages, Different Stages

Young babies may not know what the pictures in a book mean, but they can focus on them, especially faces, bright colors, and contrasting patterns.

Read or sing lullabies and nursery rhymes to interest and soothe your infant.

Many of the connections that will help your baby develop crucial skills are created within the first 3 months after birth. This is why constant interaction and responsiveness with your baby is so important.

 An infant’s brain is like a sponge; it can absorb sights, sounds, tastes and smells and make connections based on those experiences. For example, when a baby hears the sound of his mother’s voice, he may coo with anticipation.

A baby who is regularly talked to, sung to or otherwise exposed to language may be more verbal at an earlier age than a baby who isn’t given that kind of stimulation.

 Speak loving words to your little one from the day one of her life and you will be loved and adored till the last day of your life!