In the most literal sense, the baby life starts by bonding with you. The bond that develops into the placenta and the umbilical cord, literally connects the baby to you. The umbilical cord is snapped at birth but the bonding between you and the baby takes a different form.

The love for the baby begins way before the baby is born.

When you get to hold your baby in your arms and feed him with all your love, the bond between you and the baby takes a totally new dimension. The physicality of the bond is replaced with the emotions that no one other than you as the mom can understand.

You would feel as if all you want to do in the world is to stare at your baby, a piece of your heart, and shower all your love on him. The more you and your baby are together, the more bonding between you and your baby increases.

It would not be surprising that your husband would sometime feel lonely because all your attention would be on the baby and you might feel a bit bad about it. The father, would also need to bond with the baby. Some fathers tend to take the attention of the mom only towards the baby, a bit personally, but the majority of the fathers also shower their love and attention towards the baby. It is no wonder that if the baby is picked up by someone else, the baby starts to cry until he is back with the mom or the dad!

A good way to increase bonding with the baby in the weeks right after the delivery, is to hold the baby on your bare chest. The baby would recognize the smell of your body and you would love hers. When the baby is close to the chest, the softness of the breasts and the recognition of the feeding site makes the baby feel very comfortable and secure.

It is normal to have immense love and affection for the baby. However, some mothers develop apprehensions that they might harm the baby or may not be doing all that they should. As a result, they get withdrawn from the baby. In such situations, the baby is not breastfed at regular intervals making the little one hungry and crying. Not realizing what actually could be wrong, the mothers start feeling frustrated which reduces the amount of milk their breasts can produce at a time. The baby, as a result of less frequent feeding and with not enough milk in each feed, stays hungry and therefore cries more to be fed.

Interestingly, the fact that some mothers are not able to bond with the baby right away, is also normal. The process might be slow in the beginning, but sooner or later it picks up and the bonding starts. Sometimes, a counseling session with an expert can help .

It is said that the bonding formed at the infant’s age, stays with him or her forever.