Making a parental attachment with your baby and establishing a strong relationship is highly important. However there is no set way or parenting guidebook to state how a parent should bond with their child, every family is different.
Research has shown that there are many ways to help create a strong bond between baby and parent. These following suggestions were created by Attachment Parenting International to promote the best parental attachment development.
8 Tips on Parental Attachment
- Try to have a positive mindset about your pregnancy, the birth and becoming a parent. Eliminate any negative concerns or thoughts, thus making sure you are emotionally ready for parenthood.
- One of the best ways to create a bond with your baby is to breastfeed. this allows your baby to have the comfort of you and lets them know you are responding to them when they need you.
- Parents will communicate with their baby at any sign of conversation or emotion. A cry, giggle or tantrum are all signs of your baby communicating with you. Parents should respond to their baby and try to help them, don’t dismiss your baby when they are trying to communicate as this will decrease their confidence in expressing themselves.
- A baby needs physical affection as well as emotional. Comforting your baby by hugging them, kissing them and bathing them allows you to create a stronger attachment and bond. Skin-to-skin contact is highly effective, especially with activities such as breastfeeding.
- Babies need to be looked after all through the night as well as in the day. Babies will have different emotions such as hunger, fear, loneliness and illness, so as a parent you must make them feel safe.
- Children need to know they are loved at all times, not just when they are good but 24/7. Parents should comfort their child and have short separations in which another caregiver cares for the baby.
- Parents need to teach children right from wrong in a positive manner. there is no use shouting at your child for doing something wrong, you simply tell them what they have done wrong and why it is wrong and how they should have behaved. This allows children to develop an understanding of self-discipline.
- If parents aimed for a balance between their personal and family life then they are able to be better emotionally involved with their children. By putting family and friends first you can create a strong support network. Try to enjoy being a parent and not view it as a burden, take time for yourself as well as your children.
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