Differences In The Way Your Baby Feels About His Mom and His Dad

Mother’s being the ones that carry the baby in the womb and breatsfeed the baby once she is born as glorified and rightfully so. It is then assumed that babies bond with mommies more than they do with daddies. Let’s look at how babies bond with their daddies and how it is different from mother-child bonding.

Mother-child Bonding

Mother and child bonding begins right from conception, but it only heightens during labour. When the baby travels through the birth canal, oxytocin i.e the love hormone is released. This allegedly increases the bond. When the baby is placed on the mother’s chest for the first time, the skin to skin contact only increases more. Because of a mother’s role in her baby’s life, with breastfeeding as a part and parcel, her role is that of a primary caregiver. This means the mommy-child bonding is immediate.

What about daddy then? Is he not as important to the baby?

Father-child Bonding

So many dads find it hard to figure their role out in their babies lives since most of the initial day caregiving comes from their wives. However, his role is unique but so very important in his baby’s life. Since it is assumed that apart from the mother’s voice during pregnancy, the father’s is the second most heard by the baby. A dad too must sing to the baby, talk to her, and bond with the baby while still in the womb as voice recognition begins quite soon. Even once the baby is born, time spent holding the baby increases the bond. While the bond differs between mum and dad, there’s no reason to say one is more than the other.

Let’s have a look at the different stages and the factors that can play a role in the way your baby’s feelings for you and your husband develop.

0-6 Months

This is the time when your little one will actually learn a lot of stuff as her cognitive, language and motor skills begin developing. This period will mark the period when your little one will learn to balance and recognize people and things around. In general, your baby will be everybody’s friend at this stage as he is learning to recognize faces. Your baby will slowly learn about the world around her through the everyday routine and the way you handle her.

These six months are crucial for both the baby’s mom and dad because your baby would emote to you more strongly than anyone else. The more time you spend with your little one, the better the comfort, security and bonding will be.

6-9 Months

Usually, at around the end of the 6^th month, babies start developing emotions like insecurity and fear. This is because your baby is used to you being the caregiver and strangers are unfamiliar. If the father of the baby isn’t around much, your baby may shy away from him as well. Do not be disappointed. Babies at this stage are breastfeeding and that increases the mother-baby bond. As your child grows and understands the concept of parents, her affection for her daddy will increase too.

From 9 months to 1 year

All the aforementioned fear usually goes away by now and your baby starts making new relationships more confidently. The bonding your baby has with not just the father, but also with close relatives like aunts, uncles and grandparents is beautiful to behold. At this stage, your baby will love to explore new faces and people and will learn to show affection to family members.

Babies are receptive to love from parents, and that is our biggest source of learning. The more love a baby gets from her parents, the more love she will show back to both her parents. As you love her, you will begin to realize that favouritism won’t matter, you will just want to give her the best of yourself. Happy Parenting!