baby bonding is a gentle, compassionate, and effective short-term attachment intervention for new parents and their infants aged 6 to 12 weeks. It is specifically designed to support primary attachment figures to form a secure early bond with their baby. It is also adaptable for other key attachment figures including non-biological parents and carers.
A secure attachment cycle is seen as imperative for the infant's long-term psychological and emotional health. It is also directly linked with parents developing a loving parenting approach characterised by warmth, consistency, availability, acceptance, reflective listening, limit setting and structuring. Many families are subject to factors which compromise this attachment.
Parents are invited to participate in a baby bonding programme. They learn easy and specially-adapted lullabies from around the world; practice gentle movements including massage with their baby; and practice a calming relaxation technique. There is absolutely no pressure on parents to sing. It is not the songs or relaxation exercise that do the work of supporting a strong attachment. They act as a means to evoke a special state in the parent, a state which sees a steady growth in parenting capabilities. This is intrinsically different to acquiring new parenting skills. Parents become: * More sensitive to their baby’s signals and needs * More physically and psychologically available to their baby * More accepting of their baby as a unique individual * More "in tune" with their baby emotionally * More relaxed during the challenges of new parenthood
Parents also have the opportunity to work alone with the group leader during the programme. Their own attachment history can be gently and therapeutically explored and how this shapes their relationship with their own child in the here and now.
This creative approach borrows the intuitive wisdom of many cultures who have been singing lullabies and calming songs to their babies throughout the ages. The UK has seen such a reduction in its singing culture that a new Ambassador for Singing was appointed by the government in 2007. Howard Goodall specifically refers to the importance of lullabies in creating “a vital bond” between parent and child in the earliest years of life (The Independent, 25 October 2007.)
baby bonding is a short-term, practical, and affordable attachment-based intervention supported by empirical research. Age-old cross-cultural wisdom comes together with the more recent fields of attachment theory and neuroscience to support this first essential relationship.