The Daddy & Family Magazine Winter 2014 Issue #1 | Page 26
BABY BONDING FOR DADS
By Elly Taylor
Both parents bonding securely with their baby is
essential for the wellbeing of a family, but bonding
doesn’t always happen as quickly or easily as
expected, especially for new dads. Knowing what
bonding is, why it’s important and how it’s
achieved are important first steps to ensuring an
enduring, loving closeness between all of you.
Bonding, a sense of an intimate and intense emotional
connection, is a process that unfolds over the first few
weeks, months and years as we interact with our baby,
become familiar with them, learn their little signals and
build our confidence to respond to them in nurturing ways.
Start at the beginning…
Bonding, even for fathers, can begin during pregnancy.
Attend pre-natal appointments with your partner so you’re
familiar with the issues that are raised. Seek out good
quality antenatal education that covers parenthood as well
as childbirth and is father inclusive so your hopes and fears
are addressed too. Talk with your partner beforehand about
how involved you would like to be in the labor and delivery
and share this with your doctor, midwife or doula. Share
your desire with your partner to be equal in all aspects of
of your parenting team. And make sure you have a
support system in place so you can both have
breaks afterwards. It really does take a village and
for a whole bunch of reasons it’s important for the
two of you to have couple time while someone
else cares for the baby.
Make yourself
a priority in
your baby’s
life right from
the start
During pregnancy your partner will have already
had several months to become acquainted with
the new life inside her and, especially if she is
breastfeeding, to have more opportunities to bond
with your baby. Some new fathers can begin to
feel excluded from the growing relationship
between their partner and their baby, so it’s
important to create your own opportunities for
you to bond with baby.
During pregnancy your partner will have already