Kids Health

Why does a baby love the mother?

The mother's voice and smell are familiar to the baby. The baby can listen to the mother's voice for weeks before he or she is born.

Does a baby love her mother unconditionally? Well, not quite. Here are some ways in which the baby gradually begins to love his or her mother:

1. Familiar voice and smell of the mother

The mother’s voice and smell are familiar to the baby. The baby can listen to the mother’s voice for weeks before he or she is born. “The baby has just been born, his vision is not great, but the moment the mother starts to talk in a soothing voice, the baby will turn toward her or open his eyes. If I pick a baby up and cuddle him in the same way as the mother, I don’t get the same response,” Laura Riley, MD, obstetrician and author of You and Your Baby: Pregnancy, was quoted as saying.

2. The mother provides food

Babies are meant to be breastfed for at least up to the first six months after birth. Breastfeeding not only provides the necessary nutrition to the newborn but also calms the crying baby down. And when babies understand that their needs will be met each time, they don’t cry as much.

3. The baby likes the mother’s face

“One of the first objects a baby will focus on is a face,” Elaine Zwelling, RN, PhD, director of the Lamaze International Childbirth Educator Certification Program at the University of South Florida, was quoted as saying.

4. The mother protects her baby

Of course, mothers usually take extra precautions and steps to protect their baby, be it baby proofing the house or taking care of his or her health and other needs.

5. The mother talks to the baby

It is through the mother that the baby gets introduced to his or her language. The baby responds to the mother more while nobody understands the little one better than the mother herself.

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