March 14, 2021

How To Develop a Mother and Baby Bond

Congratulations on the arrival of your baby! Now that they are here, we know that you will want to develop your mother and baby bond straight away. You may find that you felt the bond from the very moment you first laid eyes on your baby, if not, rest assured that the bond will develop over the next few weeks and months. Every mother is different and to help you bond with your baby, we have curated the following tips.

Connect Through Skin to Skin Touch

Connect skin to skin with your baby when it’s safe to do so after your delivery, as this will help you both to bond. Some mothers will be advised not to hold their baby right away after delivery. This could be because the mother needs to rest after delivery or their baby may require special care. There is no rush when it comes to holding your baby skin to skin, remember that you will have lots of time to do this when it is safe for you both. The best thing to do after delivery is to ask your midwife or doctor to let you know when you can hold them. Then, when it is possible, hold your baby skin to skin for 30 minutes in a quiet and relaxed environment to develop a mother and baby bond. You can continue this when you are home with your baby also.

Baby Massage

Baby massage is a highly recommended way to connect with your baby. It increases the release of the feel-good hormone, oxytocin, in the mother’s body and helps the mother to feel in tune with their baby. The massage itself relaxes the baby and connects them to their mother through touch.

You can find our Natural and Organic Mother and Baby Massage Oil in our Baby Care range, where all products are specifically designed with parents and babies in mind.

Talk With Your Baby and Smile

To develop a mother and baby bond, we suggest that you talk and smile to your baby as soon as you can. Yes, your baby probably won’t understand what you are chatting to them about, but they will recognise your voice, and that’s pretty exciting! Babies can also begin to register your smile from early on, so talk, smile and sing to them early on to encourage the development of a strong bond.

Make Funny Faces

Making funny faces at your baby is a positive way to help develop a mother and baby bond. We suggest making random funny and unusual facial expressions to your baby to help them get to know your face and in general, what faces can do. Soon your baby will understand sad faces, happy faces and may even start mirroring the faces you pull.

Sing and Dance With Your Baby

Your baby is going to be your biggest fan and they don’t care if you can’t sing in tune! If you enjoy the song you’re singing, then they will too. And remember, it doesn’t always have to be a nursery rhyme either to develop your mother and baby bond through singing. Have a go at singing a song from your favourite album or one that’s on the music charts.

Dancing is fun and good for your soul, so why not dance around the room with your baby watching? Dancing is proven to release endorphins and therefore, alleviate stress. When your baby is in a playful mood, they may enjoy dancing with you, being twirled around and lifted safely up and down. When your baby is tired or upset, dancing with them close to your chest is also a proven way to develop your bond and help them to feel relaxed and comfortable.

Sensory Play

Touch is a prominent sense that your baby feels early on and a brilliant way to develop your mother and baby bond is through sensory play. Sensory play involves softly brushing different textures of material over your baby’s tummy or cheek. During sensory play, talk to your baby about touch senses i.e. hard and soft, warm and cold, rough and smooth to develop your mother and baby bond.

More Ideas To Develop a Mother and Baby Bond

More ideas and suggestions on how to develop a mother and baby bond include playing peek-a-boo games, learning games and involving tummy time.

Bonding will happen when you and your baby are one-to-one in a calm and relaxed atmosphere. Too many passing visitors can make it challenging to develop a mother and baby bond, so remember that it’s ok to limit drop-in visitors during this time.

It can take a few weeks and months to develop a mother and baby bond, so try not to worry if you haven’t felt a bond immediately.

If you feel unattached, resentful and that overall this is affecting your ability to look after yourself and your baby, then you may be experiencing postpartum depression (PND). In which case we suggest that you talk to your health visitor or doctor for support. PND is perfectly common and can be helped with some extra support.

We hope that the information provided on how to develop a mother and baby bond is helpful for you and that you enjoy bonding with your little one! The same can be applied to develop a Father and Baby bond, but we will look at this in closer detail next month!