Bonding With Your Baby

New baby? Happy Mother’s Day! Spending quality time with your new baby is one of the best things you can do for both yourself and the baby. In fact, it’s one of the most important things you can do. New research is showing that a strong mother-baby bond may help ward off disease, strengthen immunities and increase a child's IQ.

The creation of a bond between mother and child starts from birth, so there’s no such thing as getting too early a start.

Here are some ways you can create that bond:

Spend plenty of time with them so you can get to know their likes and dislikes. These preferences are formed very early on, and the better you know your child, the stronger your bond will be. It works the other way too, so now is the perfect time to hum your favorite Beatles song.

Reach out and make contact. A baby’s senses are limited at first, so touch is one of the most important ways they gather information. It becomes almost an early form of language. In a very real sense, when you hold them or bathe them, you’re talking to them.

Start the day with a smile. Facial recognition is one of the first things a baby learns, long before they can process other objects. So even if it is three o’clock in the morning, greet them with a smile.

Remember that bonding is a process. As your baby grows, that bond will continue to get stronger.