What was the best thing you did to bond with your baby?

[NordicPrincess]

What things have you/do you do with your child or baby that have bonded you best?

it was bathing with my son up until age 4, now hes preferring to bath alone.

My daughter it was breastfeeding

any others?

I have always loved watching him sleep, and love sleeping with him.

My favourite thing at the moment is when he wants to talk to me at bed time. Often the theme of these stories are very weird for a 3 year old, but I love hearing them, and really enjoy his "no, mine talking to you" if I try to leave.

I also really enjoy hearing about what he's learned at nursery as they have started teaching them about the alphabet letters and lots of other really great stuff!

I think that the key to bonding is making time out when your not stressed to just have some time with nothing else but you and them.

what knitter said,with the exception of co sleeping.

Loctite, even hanging underneath an aeroplane couldn't shift the bugger.

Ooo Oscalito do you have a labour thread? Good luck

For me: dc1 being in a childrens ward 24/7 with him
dc2 carrying in a sling, bedsharing
dc3 Sniffing her unwashed newborn head in the first 6 weeks. Orgasmic.

Breastfeeding helped with all of them.

babywearing,co-sleeping, baby led weaning was lucky enough to be able to do with all three children (now 17,11 and 19months) all are (so far!) happy, confident,veg loving,tolerant,open minded people and will no doubt set the world on fire!!

I'm all excited for you Oscalito, hope everything goes well, soon have them snuggling up to you

ds1 took a while because it was just a huge shock and hadn't got a clue what I was doing, blind panic, didn't bond over anything specific, it just came with time.
dd1, had pnd, so that took a while as well.
with ds2 probably bonded quicker because we had a lot of time in hospital when he was having tests and being monitored, had hernia op etc. Spent a lot of time together, just the two of us and I felt so protective towards him with so many people coming and prodding him and taking bloods. breastfed all three though and I think that was just a lovely experience and certainly helped with the bonding, especially the night feeds.

yabu/yanbu take your pick

bfing and sling

Yep co-sleeping her to with no.1. No.2 doesn't like being in our bed, but he loves to just sit and be cuddled so we do alot fo that.

Staying in, chilling out, sitting on thew sofa and just cuddling/feeding my baby. Not feeling any pressure to go out, see people, do anything, other than just bond with my baby.

I agree with sunshineriver just taking time to be with your dc while not stressed is the best.

For me this is during bedtime I put dd into her crib with her mobile on and snuggle up in me and dh bed with ds 3.11 and read him a story (we've just finished all the original winnie the pooh storys and are now Reading roald dahl's the twits) there's nothing better than cuddling up with your child and having them hanging onto every word you say. I then put him to bed.

Next I get dd 17 weeks out of her crib and we cuddle in bed and I give her last bf of the day (not of the night unfortunitly) this is the most relaxing of all the feeds just lying there looking at her knowing that there's nowhere else I have to be, nothing else I have to do other than cuddle and feed her in our own little bubble away from the stresses of the day.

Bedtime is total bliss the rest if the day is chaotic

i think for me it started well before the birth. as soon as ds started moving inside me it all felt very real. he was very mobile, he'd wake me up in the morning moving around and i'd say good morning to him and read aloud (i know sounds daft but it just felt right) and feel really happy. i'd take long baths and sing and he'd always move about loads when i was in there and i could just feel he enjoyed bathtimes.

the weirdest thing after my first sleep in hospital was waking up without him moving and feeling empty and strange and like i was missing something and then looking and seeing him there outside of me.

it was just a continuum from pregnancy.

i really believe it's important to give your pregnancy your attention and really connect with what is happening and how you feel and address your worries and issues etc. it's a time of preparation. sometimes think when people haven't done that the baby arriving is a bit of a trauma and all of their fears/worries/issues get in the way because they've been ignored during the pregnancy.

not saying that's what it always is obviously, lots of things can interfere with bonding.

Breastfeeding, lots of skin-to-skin, co-sleeping (cot in our room until nine months, baby in bed with us after the early morning feed), rocking and singing baby to sleep and then holding him in my arms while he is asleep just gazing at him and enjoying the closeness, lots and lots of cuddles, lots of talking to and generally interacting with baby.

Oh, yes, and lots of babywearing, especially in the early days.

7 weeks to go till I get to do all this! Bawling my eyes out!

do i take it 'babywearing' is some kind of new jargon for keeping your baby close?

Cuddles, kisses and smiling at him. Every opportunity I have, I give him a little squeeze. Iknow that the day will come when there are far more interesting things to do than cuddle mummy so it's lovely that we are both so happy to appreciate each other now.

Santa -babywearing = using a sling, often a lot of the day and instead of a pram/buggy

Singing, slinging, BFing, bathing together (still do at 2yo), co-sleeping, baby massage.

Since going back to work when DS was 9mo I drop everything when I walk in through the front door and do the entire evening routine, more or less on my own, before I do any of the work I bring home with me.

I guess allocating some time for it to be just you and him/ her.

DS1 - I breastfed for several months but hated it, so it wasn't that. I was obsessed with him though and used to stare at him for hours

DS2 - I loved breastfeeding him, such a different experience. Also carried him in a wrap sling a lot. He was unputdownable for ages so we had no choice but to bond

My baby boy was / is autistic but I didn't know that until he was about 2.5 so I'm glad that he was BF because I wonder if he would have bothered with me at all if it hadn't have been for that physical connection.

As it was, he was obsessed with the action (refused all other drinks for a year) and he hardly even looked me in the eye after the first night when he was born, BF with no eye-contact is pretty unrewarding but it was all I could get

It is lovely to read other people's stories though, and DS is getting much more affectionate now he is older. He "bonds" with DH by singing nursery rhymes at bedtime now. I have to sod off or it'll be Mummy Milk and no sleep but I quite like that at this stage as you can imagine

thanks brolly. don't think i like the term did that though - not obsessively though i liked letting him develop comfort in being in his own space too so would have periods where i put him in the bouncer on the desk beside me where i was working.

i kind of think comfort in your own skin is a good thing to develop.