Ever notice how your baby’s beautiful face—those chubby cheeks and sparkly eyes and that mischievous smile—is somehow more fascinating to watch than any Oscar-winning blockbuster? That’s no coincidence. The two of you are hardwired to thoroughly enjoy each other’s company. And if you follow your instincts and develop a great rapport now, you could set up a lifetime of stellar relationships.
You will feel connected to your children and they to you when eye contact is made regularly. Fortunately, it’s not something difficult to do. While playing, talking, changing, feeding or putting them to bed, you have plenty of opportunities to demonstrate active listening and looking at your baby.
A sense of touch is so important. Through touch, we build all kinds of relationships, relieve stress and feel connected to those around us. This is due to the skin being connected to our nervous system and helping us release pent up stress and toxins. Babies are no different. Whether it is mom’s gentle cuddling, tickling or holding, or a massage, your baby will reap many benefits from the skin to skin connection.
The art of music, hearing it and singing it, is very soothing to the human body and mind. This is no different for babies who love melodies from even inside the womb. The other good reason to sing to babies is that they love the sound of their mother’s voice. Even when inside the womb, talking to them and singing to them helps with connecting better to them.
Reading is a great way to bond with your baby. Usually, the baby will be in the mother’s arms when she is doing this, so it’s the added combination of several wonderful elements that keep this special; touch, the sound of mom’s voice and hearing interesting sounds that baby will soon be able to translate into single words and then language.