Despite being hectic, pregnancy is largely a surreal experience. Only and only a mother is privy to this magical feeling of a life growing inside her! There is no description of the beauty of pregnancy. The bonding growing inside you is you, but another life. All the time, so many thoughts crowd to your mind that you feel like talking all the time to the precious one.
Why Is It Important To Bond With Your Unborn Baby?
Bonding with your unborn baby can be the most rewarding experience for any to-be-mom. An healthy attachment between a mother and the baby is formed when the baby is still in the womb. Because pregnancy is such a topsy-turvy ride and can be very much stressful and tiring, bonding with your unborn baby will not only calm your apprehensions and ease your fears, but also your baby. It is a known fact that babies respond to external sounds and their mothers’ moods.
6 Ways To Connect With Your Baby In The Womb
- Talking with the baby: Do you know your baby can start hearing in about 23 weeks? Your baby can not only hear the growls of your stomach and your heartbeat’s sound, but also the music you are playing, or the song you are singing! Infact, if you have been talking to your baby when she is in the womb, your baby will feel much more connected to you when she is born. There is totally nothing weird about talking to your bump! It is natural and scientific actually. In fact, your baby miraculously responds by movement! When you suddenly stop speaking or switch off the music, you may be in luck to feel the divine ‘kick – knock’ from your baby
- Talk about your dreams. Expectant mothers naturally dream a lot because so many dreams of future are constantly going through the mind every waking moment
- Read fairy tales to yourself
- Sing nursery rhymes or something of soft melody
- Talking with the pictures. In India, pre-natal pregnancy scans are forbidden legally. So, you cannot get a scanned image of the baby. However, you can always find hundreds of cutest baby pictures everywhere. You can see your unborn child in every child’s smile. If it helps, just talk to the photos to feel realistic. It is actually very real!
- Touching your belly: While you talk, gently hold your tummy. Be careful about massaging your bump though, especially during the first three months of your pregnancy. Do not use any conventional cosmetics for stretch marks as not much will help even if you shed thousands on cosmetic creams. These contain toxic chemicals and have been linked conclusively with birth deformities. Use home remedies such as fruit pulps and milk cream. You can read more on them here.
Your touch will tell the baby that you are there. You can also respond to your baby’s touch communications. Often, babies respond back. Again, such emotions and experiences are beyond definitions. The ecstasy of motherhood can only be felt wordlessly sometimes - Bonding via water: Since your baby is floating in a mini ocean within your womb, you can also connect to the same experience with water. If you have a bathtub, gently lay in lukewarm water. Relax. You can also go for pre-natal swimming with a trained instructor. You don’t even have to swim if you don’t want. Just stand there at the swimming pool for the sometime whenever you can. Take care that you are holding some kind of support because swimming pool floors are slippery.
In this context, do note that natural water birth is actually possible. In India, you can find several natural bath spas in Kerala. Sometimes, good spas also make special arrangements for expectant mothers. See if anything like that is available where you live. Water births are virtually painless and very relaxing. Very miraculously, every infant actually knows how to swim right from the moment he is born! - Prenatal yoga: In almost all metros you can find prenatal yoga classes. Find a good center with a female instructor. Yoga amazingly helps you to balance your spirits. It also freshens your spirit and casts away fear. You will become more aware of what your body is doing, and also get to pay closer attention to your baby growing inside you. Yoga is not always about adjusting the body to complicated positions. Pranayam or breathing techniques are also integral aspects of yoga. Your breath is the best understanding of soul. It is airy, and it is life! Now, your soul has a separate body, growing in you. Every breath you take, you share with your baby as well. Enjoy this magical connection
- Take time for walks: Take solitary walks with your baby. Of course, your loving partner will also accompany you. Talk as if you are already carrying the baby in between. Talk about your dreams about his future. In fact, bonding with your baby also opens up amazing windows of connecting with a true partner as well. Nine months is a long time. When you conceive, consider planting a growing sapling. Water the plant. Watch it grow. You can also feel the life within. Pregnancy is rich with these magical experiences
- Help Daddy connect too: In this amazing journey of pregnancy, make sure that your husband is not left out. Let him help you and make some snacks. Make him feel the kicks, and tell him when the baby moves. Make your husband talk to the baby just as you do. Remember, you are in this pregnancy together, it takes a team to raise a baby. Not only will this make your partner feel close to the baby, but also feel involved with your pregnancy
There are so many amazing ways to bond with the unborn child that every moment can be a dream. You can write letters to your baby. Write them and keep them somewhere. Sometimes, you should just sit quietly, maybe in a slightly darkened room, and feel the tiny heartbeat from your tummy. It is an almost imperceptible feeling, but in silence it becomes conspicuous, just like the ticking of clocks in night. It is beautiful.
