Six Ways to Show your Love for your Baby

1. I only have eyes for you
gaze at them more often and for longer periods. So when you are feeding or changing your baby, make sure you and your baby only have eyes for each other.

2. A cuddle and a kiss
Touch your baby frequently and hold your baby close as often as you can. The close contact soothes babies as it reminds them of the comfort of the womb. When caring for your baby's needs – whether it's changing, bathing or dressing, use gentle affectionate movements.

3. Who’s a good baby then?
Talking encourages a baby to look and pay attention. Use 'parentese', repetitive simple sentences that encourage the baby to babble in return and prepare for later language development.

4. Create an exclusive little club
Have little rituals and ways of doing things that are special to you and your baby. For example, come up with a special song that you sing while bathing. This way your bond with your baby is unique and can't be imitated by any other person.

5. Know when enough's enough
Mothers who have a strong bond with their baby, adjust their behaviour to the state of alertness of their infant. Babies are easily over stimulated, so pay close attention to your baby’s mood. Your baby won’t always want to pay attention or to interact with you and will turn away from you. That’s not rejection of you just simply that your baby has had enough for the moment.

6. Big daddy
As babies get older and become more active they begin to appreciate the particular qualities that dads bring with them. Fathers with their physical play, the way they often set more challenging goals and just the sheer novelty value of dad being around can all be very stimulating to a baby.