Bonding & baby blues

Bonding - sense, feel, speak

Take time during your pregnancy to feel your baby.
You can feel it and talk to it.
Cuddle with your baby.
Give him lots of skin contact and closeness.
Pay attention to your child.
This will help you to get to know your baby’s needs: when nursing, breastfeeding or giving a bottle.
Comfort your baby immediately when it cries.
Pamper your baby with attention.
This will strengthen your child’s overall development.
Also pay attention to your own needs.
Accept help and plan breaks.
Encourage your baby’s curiosity.
Let it discover new things.

Tips on binding

The baby loves her voice and closeness
Talk to your baby.
Sing and read to him.
Pick it up.
Wear it.
Cuddle up.
Encourage eye contact.
Play, for example: cuddles, hopscotch, finger games…
Make sure you go slowly.
At the rhythm of your child.
Your child needs the same, reliable people around them in the first year of life.
(= attachment figures).
A good bond enables the child to discover everything.
First themselves and then the world around them.
Encourage this
curiosity.
Media-free time is valuable time.
Television, cell phones, computers, radio, etc. overtax your baby’s brain development.

Baby blues or more?

For the time after the birth: think about support early on.
Accept it.
Ask your partner or those around you to be there for the baby too. Allow yourself to rest and take breaks. Also take time for yourself.

For negative feelings, sadness and mood swings during pregnancy and after the birth: Talk to a trusted person.

Professional help is available when mood swings and overstrain last longer last longer than two weeks.

Recognizing the baby blues

You can recognize the baby blues:

Strong fluctuations in mood
Great tiredness and exhaustion
Sadness, irritability, anxiety
Problems with concentration
Sudden crying for almost no reason
Your own child seems strange to you

If feelings like these last longer than two weeks: It is essential to seek professional help.
Postpartum depression occurs in 10 – 15 percent of all women.
In rare cases, fathers are also affected.

Especially in this situation, you need another sympathetic person for your baby.
Preferably the same, reliable person (=caregiver).
This is important for your baby’s development.

How common are the baby blues?

The baby blues is a mother’s low mood in the first two weeks after giving birth.
It is usually harmless and affects 75 percent of all mothers.

Sources:
K.Brisch (2010): SAFE – Safe Education for Parents, Publisher: Klett Cotta, ISBN: 978-3-608-94601-7
K.Brisch (2022): Kindliche Entwicklung zwischen Ur-Angst und Ur-Vertrauen, Publisher: Klett Cotta, ISBN: 978-3-608-98434-7
U.Ziegenhain et.al.
(2016): Lernprogramm Baby-Lesen, Verlag Thieme, ISBN: 9783132192614
H. Renz-Polster (2018): Kinder verstehen, Verlag: Kösel, ISBN: 978-3-466-31184-2
M.Sunderland (2007): Die neue Elternschule: Kinder richtig verstehen – ein praktischer Erziehngsratgeber, ISBN: 9783831010011
Stiftung Lesen | Reading aloud study 2014: Reading aloud makes families strong | Survey of 250 fathers and 250 mothers | 2014