Overall, babies simply find it easier to fall and stay asleep next to mom than they do dad. Mothers are also the source of breastfeeding which makes it much more natural to continue the night when milk is available.
This arrangement thus helps to regulate the infant's breathing, sleep state, arousal patterns, heart rates and body temperature. The mother's proximity also stimulates the infant to feed more frequently, thus receiving more antibodies to fight disease.
At the same time, both adults and babies sleep longer overall when they bedshare, probably because caregivers don't have to get all the way up out of bed to feed and babies don't have to call out, wait for help, and settle back down. And that longer sleep has implications for parent-child interactions in the daytime.
The group recommends against parents and infants sharing a bed, sometimes called co-sleeping, because of a significantly increased risk of death from suffocation or other causes.
Only between about 3 and 7 months of age do babies start to show a strong preference or attachment for mothers, fathers or members of their own family in general.
1-3 Months
The first three months with your baby often seem the hardest. Sleep-deprived parents can feel overwhelmed, but that is normal and you will quickly learn how to read your baby's cues and personality. Don't worry about “spoiling” your baby at this stage.
According to studies, breastfeeding is the most powerful form of interaction between the mother and the infant. Due to the physical closeness, the baby is more close to the mother than to anyone else in the family. As per a few studies, breastfed mothers are closer to their babies as compared to bottle-fed mothers.
The same sense of smell also helps the baby to recognize his / her mother after birth. A newborn baby's vision at birth is not so well developed as the sense of smell. This strong and unique sense of smell (learnt in utero by the baby) helps your little one to recognize your presence even from a distance after birth.
Babytalk | A baby's bond with its mother may start with the sense of smell. One of my favorite things to do is show mothers how their baby can smell them from as far away as 1 to 2 feet.
If you've found that your baby sleeps better in your bed, there are several reasons for that. Here are the most common: Your baby feels safer and more secure, making it easier to fall asleep. Your baby recognizes your face, voice, and touch more easily.
Physical contact, in close cosleeping, helps babies to "breathe more regularly, use energy more efficiently, grow faster, and experience less stress," says McKenna. Babies, too, who are not necessarily breastfed, as in the case of adoption, will also naturally reap the many other benefits of such close contact.
Do Babies Feel Love? In short, yes: Babies do feel love. Even though it will be quite a while before they're able to verbalize their feelings, they can and do understand emotional attachment. Affection, for example can be felt.
Most babies naturally prefer the parent who's their primary caregiver, the person they count on to meet their most basic and essential needs. This is especially true after 6 months when separation anxiety starts to set in.
“In the early years, the baby has an intense need to be with his mother which is as basic as his need for food.”
And babies tend to prefer mama early on for fairly obvious reasons — hers is the voice they're most accustomed to. But there are other reasons, too. Babies' senses of smell and hearing develop sooner than sight, and they tend to rely on those to recognize loved ones.
Your baby finds comfort in your arms
When an infant can be soothed by your voice or physical comfort, this is another way she shows she trusts you. Infants identify caretakers by sight, smell, and sound, and when any of these provide a level of comfort to a baby it is evidence of an established bond.
As a newborn, babies have no sense of themselves as individuals. Your baby thinks that the two of you are one and doesn't realize that the tiny hands and feet waving before them are their own.
Both the mother's breast milk and her body odor have unique scents that attract her baby. The smell of a mother's milk is known to have a calming effect on newborns. A mother's scent can sometimes be so powerful that it's hard for her baby to share a room with her and might cause more frequent waking.
Breastmilk or infant formula should be your baby's main source of nutrition for around the first year of life. Health professionals recommend exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, with a gradual introduction of appropriate foods in the second 6 months and ongoing breastfeeding for 2 years or beyond.
Kissing your baby will change your breast milk
When you kiss your baby, you are sampling the pathogens on her skin, which are then transferred to your lymphatic system where you will produce antibodies to any bugs. These antibodies will then pass through your breast milk to your baby and boost her immune system.
Breastfeeding creates a bonding experience between mother and child because it promotes skin-to-skin contact, more holding and stroking. Many experts say that affectionate bonding during the first years of life helps lessen social and behavioral problems in both children and adults.
Oxytocin, commonly heralded as the bonding hormone, is known to be released in large amounts during birth and breastfeeding to help regulate maternal bonding in mammals. However, less well known is that fathers experience rises in oxytocin equal to mothers as a result of interacting with their infants.
Most importantly, remember that it's totally normal for the breastfed baby to only want mom – and not to feel too discouraged if baby screams and cries in dad's arms. Remember that this is only temporary!
Studies have shown that infants as young as one month-old sense when a parent is depressed or angry and are affected by the parent's mood. Understanding that even infants are affected by adult emotions can help parents do their best in supporting their child's healthy development.