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When I was about 30 weeks pregnant with our second child, I started to panic just a bit: what if I don’t love this one as much? What if I don’t give my first baby the time he deserves because I am busy with my second? What if they don’t end up being friends? What if I don’t bond with my second baby like I did with my first? Today, I am partnering with Walgreens to share bonding tips for the second time mom…
By 37 weeks, our second baby had arrived and all of those worries went away. He was the perfect addition to our family. Just like my dad had told me, “Your love for your child is like a candle – think about when you have two of those candles… the room just gets brighter.”
While those worries went away, a new one arrived… he had low blood sugar and could not breastfeed. What?! I was confused, scared and worried that I wouldn’t have that same bond with him if I bottle fed him. I didn’t have a choice. He needed formula, so from day one, I supplemented nursing with baby formula.
A wonderful thing happened… now instead of JUST me feeding our son and bonding with him, I was able to expand that.
Mickey fed him, my parents fed him, Mickey’s parents fed him, his aunts and uncles fed him, even his older brother fed him. Instead of him bonding with me through these feelings, he was able to bond with everyone. Bonding with your newborn during feeding time is an amazing feeling that everyone can experience. Cuddle your baby, hold your baby, sing to your baby, let your baby hold your hands and wrap their whole hand around your one finger… use those precious 20-40 minutes of feeding time as bonding time.
The thing is, when you are new to formula, you don’t know where to begin. There are so many to pick from and how do you know which one is right?
I soon realized that you can get the same quality ingredients of name-brand formula for much less money, like with Well Beginnings from Walgreens. Walgreens is just up the road from us, so it was easy to run in there and find one that would work for us. Well Beginnings, exclusively at Walgreens, is just as good and costs much less than brand-name formula. (Which was great because just buying diapers for a new baby is expensive enough!) 😉
They have a great selection, too: Well Beginnings Premium Infant Formula with Iron, 23.4oz, Well Beginnings Advantage Milk Based Infant Formula with Iron, 23.2oz , Well Beginnings Sensitivity Infant Formula, 22.5oz, Well Beginnings Gentle Infant Formula with Iron, 22.1oz.
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Yes, I still d_most of the feedings (and what a great thing to look in their eyes while they eat), but now everyone else had these opportunities, too. Since our first son didn’t take a bottle (he actually refused), this was a whole new experience for us.
Bonding with your newborn during feeding time is so important. Looking in their eyes, talking to your baby while he eats, singing songs to him while he eats.
Even better? Watching our 17-month-old hold and feed his baby brother (with help). I think that this was a HUGE reason that the boys bonded like they did. As soon as Jack would wake up, he wanted to feed Beau. He wanted to hold him on his lap and look in his eyes, just like Mom and Dad did. He wanted to sing him songs and burp him. Beau and Jack, now 8 & 10, are still best friends. And when their baby brother, baby sister and baby cousins came along… they were the same way.
The best thing that I did for our family, welcoming this new baby boy, was to allow everyone to have these bonding moments with him. To allow him to be loved by so many wonderful people. Little did I know how great it actually was… because by baby #4, I was happy for the help and extra arms to hold ALL of our sweet children.
