8 Ways Mum's Can Bond With Their Newborns

Take a second and think about how cute your baby’s face is, those lovely bright eyes and those chubby cheeks and that cheeky smile. You sit there fascinated by it and find it more interesting than sitting down and watching your favourite blockbuster movie.

Believe it or not, this is no coincidence. You and your newborn are hardwired to really enjoy each other’s company. And, if you simply follow your heart and your instincts you’ll develop a fantastic rapport with them that should last a lifetime.

Breastfeed your baby

Now, this might be the most obvious one on the whole list and for some, this just simply isn’t an option. That’s totally fine. All we’re doing here is listing down what the best ways for mothers to bond with their newborns. It’s totally up to you which one of these tips you would like to incorporate.

So what are the benefits?

* Lower rates of infant mortality - Sorry to morbid and bring this up. However, studies have shown that mothers that breastfeed their kids reduce the mortality rate considerably.

* Nutrition - Kids that consume breast milk receive a strong healthy dose of natural  3%--5% fat, 0.8%--0.9% protein, 6.9%--7.2% carbohydrate calculated as lactose, and 0.2% mineral constituents expressed as ash. Breastfeeding not only helps with the early nutrition of a child, but also strengthens that early bond between mother and baby.

* Stimulates the uterus to contract and return to normal size - We don’t need to go into the exact details on why this is so important, but if your body starts to return back to normal quickly, then this doesn’t just help with your relationship with your newborn, but it also helps with your partner too!

* Breastfeeding produces the naturally soothing hormones Oxytocin and Prolactin that promote stress reduction and positive feelings in the nursing mother. This means the more you breastfeed, the more you will produce those hormones. The more you produce the hormones, the more inclined you are to bond with your child. The two aren’t mutually exclusive but they help.

Look into baby's eyes during bottle time

Now I’ve bet you’ve never heard of this one before? But, it totally works. 

You see, there are many things going on before, during and after you do anything with your child.

As early as four days old, your newborn starts to develop the ability to focus their eyes on your face. I’m guessing that this has something to do with the natural bonding process as in “I need to know who my protector is really fast”. I can imagine back in caveman times that this was pretty important. Knowing who you can trust and rely on quickly ensures you survive.

So, you could argue that looking into their eyes during bottle time is a naturally inbuilt system that is designed to bond both mother and baby by nature. It’s not as if you even have to do anything that special. Your child can only see approximately 15 inches away from their face so you can see why this is so impactful and effective.

Even though it’s so early on in their life, they’re already starting to build those social communication skills and searching your face for clues, studying where you’re looking and why you seem to be looking in that direction.

Put your phone away

This may or may not upset you? It all depends how much you love your phone. 

One of things that has crept into our society is the increasing use of mobile phones. If you think about it logically. 

Just how much time is this taking us away from our loved ones? The times when we would sit around and chat or simply play with our kids, a lot of us can be found scrolling through social media posts on our phone.

If you decide to put your phone down each time you pick up your child and just be with them in both mind and body, you’ll be surprised at how much extra bonding you can have with them.

The next two points have already been mentioned: 

Skin to skin

With so much technology around us and the weird and wonderful clothing we can purchase now, we sometimes forget how important the simple things in life are. One of these things is skin to skin contact. 

Did you know that there are several benefits with skin to skin contact such as stress reductions, temperature regulation, stabilisation of blood sugar and the release of Oxycontin?

The more skin contact Dads have with their children early on the better both will be. That’s why it’s so relaxing for fathers when they take their shirt off to cuddle their newborns. 

A series of chain reactions start within our bodies and Oxycontin is released. Again, doing this very early on in the relationship really helps with the bonding process.

Bathing with baby

OK, we previously talked about skin to skin contact, so it makes sense to include Dads bathing with their Kids. 

Newborns love nothing better than to be cuddled and cradled by their parents. And, even though they don’t need frequent bathing, by Dad having a bath in body temperature water with their newborn on their chest is a great way to relax and more importantly, bond. 

Being next to their Dad makes them feel safe and secure and there’s no better time than this to have some real quality time with them. 

The only advice we would give is to ensure that there are two adults there to handle the kid if the father is getting out of the bath. Kids can be quite slippery. Remember, it’s always best to be safe and then sorry. Safety first.

Set A Schedule

The one thing your newborn loves is a schedule. They really like doing things at the same time every time. In essence, they are creatures of habit. 

If you follow this one rule, you’ll find it super easy to bond with your newborn. The difficulty comes when you mess with the schedule. That just disrupts the system and mothers find it much harder to form bonds. With so much change happening in there and their newborns lives.

Relish Feeding Time

At some point, you’re going to transition your newborn to solids (generally after about 6 months). 

Now don’t worry about how much mess they make, but, instead what we recommend is that you focus on your kid’s sweet enjoyment of trying things that have new tastes, textures and smells they’re exposed to.

​Feeling stressed? 

A great way to relieve that stress is to talk to your new BFF. That’s right. Instead of calling your girlfriend and telling them your woes. You’re going to talk to your newborn about it.

Sounds crazy, right?

But, it works.

It works because you’re not going to receive any silly answers back, they won’t argue with you, they won’t judge and above all, they make great listeners :)

The fact that they are constantly hearing the sound and the tones of your voice will automatically allow you to bond as mother and baby while at the same time, relieving your stress since you’re able to get things off your chest.