When you first bring your baby home it is the most wonderful feeling.
Matilda Mae came home with us on the day that she was born. For Esther and William it was the 59th day.
59 days old and still carried easily with just one hand.
They were still so small.
Too tiny for many of the toys and accessories we had bought for them.
Too tiny for chairs and bouncers and rockers.
Far too teeny for their bed!
Tiny little creatures lost in their pram.
Born too soon and too small.
I wish with Esther and William there had been two products that I know of now. The Baba Sling and the Poddle Pillow.
These would have given some comfort and security to the babies and me.
The Poddle Pillow could have been used to give an extra snug fit to prams and cots. It would have been a warm and safe place to lay and play or sleep. A comfortable place to be dressed and changed.
The Baba Sling would have provided a way of wearing one baby close to my heart while leaving my hands free for the other.
I did not just have one tiny baby to orientate with the world but two!
My bonding with all my babies began long before I brought them home.
I read and sang to both my bumps.
I spent every minute that I could with each of my newborn babes.
It is not always easy to bond with a NICU baby but these are just some of the things you can do.
Enjoy kangaroo cuddles
There is something magical about skin to skin cuddles for babies and their parents. It is a natural way to bond with your baby. It steadies the baby’s heart rate and can stimulate the mother’s milk production. It also melts your heart. How can you not love a tiny being you have created who’s warmth is on your warmth, heart beating with your heart and tiny hands placed so lightly upon you.
It is a wonderful experience that is good for the health and well being of babies and parents, premature or not.
Sing and read to your baby
I sang songs and read poems and stories to Esther and William everyday. It was all I could do some days to keep myself strong. Read to them the stories I wanted them to know. Stories from my own childhood or from my teaching. Stories with a message of hope. Of strength. I bought Esther and William special books during their NICU stay and I still share these books with them now. You are never too young or too small to enjoy the wonder of words.
Stroke and hold them
You have to touch a premature baby quite definitely. They can be distressed by a touch that is too gentle. They can get agitated by what we might think are soothing strokes. A firm stroke can reassure them and provide that skin to skin that all parents crave. Often what such tiny babies want and need more than a stroke is a touch. A hold. A comfort hold. This is where you place your hand on their head or their tummy to let them know that you are there. I remember holding Esther and William in this way as they had long lines threaded through their veins and blood taken from their heels. It was something very little that I was able to do.
Get Involved with Cares
Though a premature baby is in an incubator it is still possible for you to wash them and change their nappies. I used to love doing Esther and William’s oral care as whilst cleaning their mouths they also got their first tastes of breast milk. I felt that this was something so important to do and it helped me feel more confident that one day their tubes would be removed and I would be able to feed them myself.
Bonding is about developing a relationship and with these tiniest of babies making sense of what has happened and sharing a promise of hope. One wonderful way I found of doing this was by keeping something with me at all times that smelt of them and ensuring they had something that smelt of me. Scent is a wonderful sense that helps us get to know our world and in those dark earl days it helped my babies and I get to know each other.
Bonding with your baby is so important as a mummy. I love my children unconditionally and it is a good job as we are deep in the midst of the terrible twos now and some days can be a real challenge. But I love my babies. I have bonded with each of them from the start.
Once you bring a baby home you want nothing more than to make them happy and to keep them safe. As mummies we work hard to get our baby’s trust and their beautiful first smiles.
Baba Sling can provide you and baby with a closeness and security with each other that you need. Poddle Pillow provides a platform for rest and for play from where your baby may just give you that long coveted gummy smile.
You can read our reviews of the Baba Sling and the Poddle Pillow here at Edspire and for more detailed product information you can view each of their websites.
But together we would like to provide one new mummy some of the tools she needs to bond with her baby and make it through some of the more challenging days.
One mummy or mummy to be is going to win a Poddle Pillow and a Baba Sling to use with her newborn.
Here is what you need to do!
Good Luck!
All done. I’d love to win the Baba Sling, I’ve heard so many good things about them.
the baba sling will also help if you have a clingy baby leaving your hands free yet baby is still near you and not as distressed