Love

[MoodyTwo]

Hi MN , I am hoping for a actual answer to an odd question and Google is no help.

At what age does a child LOVE his mother? And how do you know?

My LO is 4 months old and I know he feels safe with me, how ever, I don't think he loves me like I love him... I just don't know he is capable of that feeling... is he?
I know he knows I'm his food source ect, but when do they LOVE ?

Well, my DD is 5m, and she greets me, DH and DD1 with huge smiles and giggles and reaches out for cuddles. I'm BF so maybe it is just mummy=milk when it comes to me, but daddy and sister don't come with a food component, so I reckon she loves them.

Research has shown that it's not the food that makes a baby attached to his mum or caregivers but it's the feeling of being safe and sheltered...touch is a very powerful messenger of that.

When babies can feel love the way we do I don't know. I know kids only develop empathy much, much later (if I rnemever right around 7-8 years old) so his love will be very different to yours but nevertheless no less intense and powerful maybe.

So to answer your question I think babies can feel attachment and a sense of "this person(s) is very important to me...more than others" from very early on but empathetic love the way we feel comes much, much later.

Research has also shown that newborns favour their mums voices (if they have heard them in utero) immediately after birth and their caregivers faces very soon after birth.

It's a very interesting question. I don't think it's something anyone can accurately answer not least because it's quite hard to define love but I think it's safe to say that fairly young babies, maybe even newborns, prefer us to other people, want us and feel happy to be with us (as in their loved ones..The ones that look after them)