{"id":4010,"date":"2014-04-17T07:32:48","date_gmt":"2014-04-17T11:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/?p=4010"},"modified":"2014-04-17T07:33:05","modified_gmt":"2014-04-17T11:33:05","slug":"bonding-at-the-breast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/17\/bonding-at-the-breast\/","title":{"rendered":"Bonding at the Breast"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There are many ways to bond with a new baby and help that baby build secure attachments<\/a>.\u00a0 Some parents feel that bond right away but for others it takes a little more time, time to get to know one another and start to feel confident in their new roles.<\/p>\n

\"SONY\u00a0One way many new mommies work on that bond with a new baby is through breastfeeding<\/a>.\u00a0 There are so many benefits to breastfeeding<\/a> but bonding and creating a secure attachment is perhaps one of the most important.<\/p>\n

Snuggling a new baby close and continuing to provide all the nourishment a baby needs is an amazing thing.\u00a0 Learning to listen to your baby\u2019s cues and decipher his cries and then provide him with the comfort and closeness he desires helps him develop trust and an understanding that he can rely on you to be there and take care of his needs (this is the Basic Trust vs. Mistrust age of Erikson\u2019s developmental theory<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The time spent breastfeeding, however, isn\u2019t just about nutrition.\u00a0 It\u2019s about taking the time to get to know each other, to stare into each other\u2019s eyes, to just sit quietly together.\u00a0 Everything a baby sees and does in those first months is new and I can only imagine how overwhelming that can be.<\/p>\n

Babies naturally use nursing for comfort whether scared, tired, hurt or hungry.\u00a0 A mommy\u2019s embrace is warm, her smell comforting and her heartbeat familiar.\u00a0 A new baby takes comfort in being soothed by her mommy and quickly learns being close and nursing makes them feel better. \u00a0And older babies and children will continue to use the \u00a0closeness of nursing for comfort and reassurance.<\/p>\n

Breastfeeding does not just help promote bonding and a secure attachment for the baby, though.\u00a0 The \u201clove\u201d hormone, oxytocin, that makes people feel happiness, elation, comfortable and relaxed is secreted in the mother during breastfeeding and can literally help a mommy \u201cfeel the love.\u201d\u00a0 And when mommy is in love with her child, she is more likely to meet baby\u2019s needs quickly and lovingly which promotes the bond and attachment.<\/p>\n

\"DSC04706\"<\/a>\u00a0Of course, breastfeeding is not the only way to promote a secure attachment.\u00a0 Mommies can still promote bonding and secure attachment while bottle feeding<\/a> by being responsive, holding baby close and interacting with baby.\u00a0 And if nursing isn\u2019t possible, pumping or expressing milk will still provide mommy with the oxytocin benefits, especially if she pumps while baby is close by or while looking at a picture of baby (most pumping mommies know they will get an easier let down and more milk when away from baby if they look at a picture of their baby or watch a video, that is oxytocin doing it\u2019s magic!)<\/p>\n

While I’m not always tuned into my babies while nursing, often taking the opportunity to catch up on email (especially when baby is sleepy), I always take the opportunity to interact when baby engages me. \u00a0I can’t resist a high-five when Doodle reaches his little hand up, or miss the opportunity to promote his language development by naming my features as he gently touches my eyes or nose. \u00a0And NOTHING is cuter than a giggling little baby getting kisses from his loving big sister while snuggled close to mommy!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are many ways to bond with a new baby and help that baby build secure attachments.\u00a0 Some parents feel that bond right away but for others it takes a little more time, time to get to know one another and start to feel confident in their new roles. \u00a0One way many new mommies work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,16,158,9],"tags":[160,39,46,178,40],"class_list":["post-4010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-baby-business","category-breastfeeding","category-monthly-milestones","category-family-life","tag-attachment","tag-baby","tag-birth","tag-bottle-feeding","tag-breastfeeding-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4010"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4014,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4010\/revisions\/4014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}