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Bonding is commonly perceived as a natural and instinctive process. This is particularly true if you are the mother. New dads are given slightly more leniency, however it is still often expected for bonding to just occur naturally.

On some levels, bonding is natural and takes little effort, though there are some who would beg to differ. There are a number of parents, both mothers and fathers, who find they like to nurture, encourage, and assist the bonding process. In today's world of new age thoughts actively enhancing the bonding process is very fashionable and a great experience for all involved.

Having established that bonding is not always instinctive, it may be of assistance to understand how bonding occurs. Bonding has four main elements.
1.Sight
2.Smell
3.Sound
4.Touch

Ideally when actively trying to bond with baby, the new dad should try to ensure that all four elements of the bonding process are being acknowledged. This can prove to be rather difficult, but not impossible.

There are many articles written on the topic of bonding and they provide a range of suggested bonding activities for dad to try. Spend quality time with the baby, cuddle, read books, sing songs, play games, assist in the daily care of baby, the list goes on. All of these are great ideas and certainly can assist with bonding however they don't always encompass all four elements of bonding.

I would like to draw your attention to another method in which dad's can actively bond with their new bundle of joy. One which is able to incorporate all four elements as well as some of the activities mentioned above (singing, quality time) and has a huge range of physical benefits for baby. Infant Massage.

Infant Massage provides the perfect opportunity for dad to bond with baby while actively assisting in the infants development. Other than bonding some benefits of Infant Massage include, helps tone muscles and aids growth, strengthens the immune system, increases circulation and infants body awareness, increases oxygen and nutrient flow to the cells, helps encourage midline orientation, provides quality time for working parents, increases the parents ability to help relax their child in times of stress, relaxing and fun for parents, enables parents to be more receptive to their babies, relief of discomfort, assists with nerve development which can aid digestion and respiration, plus a whole lot more!

Making time to bond with your child is extremely important. The relationships between infant and

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