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When a baby is born, the ones nearest to them are usually their parents. For some parents, the bonding starts to happen almost immediately after childbirth. However, instances of parents who find it a bit difficult to bond with their newborn from the get-go are also not rare. Parents should not beat themselves up if they find that bonding with their newborn is taking a while. Every child is different and it might take some time for the new parents to understand their child’s behavior before the bonding process starts. The priority of the parents, after their child is born, is to ensure that they are keeping the baby well-fed, warm, and healthy. As for things related to bonding and how the process can be smoother, we have a list of helpful tips for you. Read on to know them all!
Why Is Bonding Important?
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Parental bonding is what encourages parents to protect and take care of their children. Parenting is never an easy job and it is the bond that parents share with their children that makes everything worth it. Moreover, it is also important that the child feels secure and loved in the company of the parents so that they can grow up to be healthy adults. It has been proven that good parental bonding helps children with their social and cognitive abilities (1). Moreover, parental bonding also ensures that the child is getting familiar with intimate relationships and how to maintain them.
Why Do Some Parents Face Difficulty While Bonding With Their Children?
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Since every parent and child is different, it is only natural that the bonding process and timings will vary from one parent to the other. If you notice that your bonding process is not going as per your expectations there might be some reasons behind that. Some of the most common reasons behind delayed bonding are mentioned below.
- Parents often miss out on making eye contact with their children. Remember, even for a newborn, it is important to look into their eyes when you are snuggling them. Looking into their eyes will ensure better communication and induce feelings of intimacy, which will ultimately facilitate bonding.
- Make sure there is enough skin-to-skin contact. While this is a rather personal choice on the part of the parents, kangarooing (keeping your child on your bare chest) helps in the bonding process. The closeness and the warmth that the child feels while being in contact with the parents, help them bond better.
- Problems in breastfeeding may also cause troubles in mother-child bonding. Some mothers take time to get a hang of the breastfeeding process and that is absolutely fine. As a new mother, you should not give up on breastfeeding after a few failed attempts. Once you know how to do it comfortably for both you and the child, it would ensure a greater bond between you two.
- New parents often find their life overwhelming with a bunch of new responsibilities on their shoulders. The feeling of overwhelmingness also often causes hindrance to the bonding process. It is important to remember that as new parents, you can cut back on some of your daily tasks or social life to ensure you are spending as much time as possible with your kid.
Some Tips To Bond Better With Your Child
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New parents must remember that bonding is a process that will not happen overnight. While the love, affection, and care parents have for their children will be there from day one, the process of bonding might take some time. Here are a few useful tips that would help you understand how you can bond well with your child.
- Make sure to observe your child very closely. Look for behavioral patterns and things that make them happy. Doing those things will help your child get closer to you and will facilitate bonding.
- Even though your child will not be able to respond verbally, at least for a while, it is important that you make verbal communication with them. Making various sounds to draw their attention is also one good way of communicating verbally.
- When your child is a few months old, you can read things you think are suitable for a child. Listening to your voice for a prolonged period of time will help the child feel closer to you.
Parental bonding is something that happens almost naturally between all parents and children. However, for some, the process can be a bit longer than others. While that might seem disheartening at first, with the right steps and enough patience, the bonding will happen organically. Is there something else that you think helps in parent-child bonding? Let us know in the comment section!
