Simple Ways to Bond With Your Baby in 2025

By Amelia Rowe, Senior Parenting Editor | Home & Care Column | Childcare Standards Council In the early days of parenting, everything can feel new, tender, and a little overwhelming. Amid the feedings, nappy changes, and interrupted sleep, it’s easy to wonder: Am I doing enough to bond with my baby?

The good news is, yes, you are. Bonding isn’t about perfection, routines, or expensive toys. It’s about presence, touch, eye contact, and shared moments that whisper you are loved, you are safe, and I’m here.

In 2025, the emphasis in infant care is shifting away from “milestones” and toward emotional connection. Responsive parenting, slow moments, and mutual attunement are what truly nurture that powerful parent child bond.

Here are simple yet meaningful ways to bond with your baby this year.

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1. Practise Skin to Skin Contact

One of the earliest and most powerful ways to bond is through skin to skin contact. Holding your baby against your bare chest helps regulate their heart rate, breathing, and body temperature, especially in the first few weeks after birth.

It also triggers the release of oxytocin, known as the “love hormone”, in both you and your baby, deepening emotional attachment. Skin to skin can happen any time: after feeds, during naps, or even when you're just relaxing at home.

And it’s not just for mums, dads, partners, and carers can all share in this bonding experience.

2. Make Eye Contact and Mirror Expressions

Babies are born ready to connect. From just a few weeks old, they begin to focus on faces and respond to expressions. One of the simplest ways to bond is to gently gaze into your baby’s eyes and mirror their expressions, smile when they smile, widen your eyes when they do, and speak in a soft, animated voice.

This kind of back and forth is known as “serve and return” interaction. It builds trust, strengthens communication, and helps your baby learn about emotions and social cues.

3. Talk, Sing, and Read Aloud

Your voice is a powerful comfort to your baby. Whether you're narrating your day (“Now we're changing your nappy...”) or softly singing a lullaby, you're helping your baby learn the rhythm of language and the tone of loving connection.

In 2025, many parents are embracing “emotional storytelling” as a way to bond. That means using your voice to tell gentle stories, talk about your feelings, or explain what’s happening in a calm, nurturing way. This builds emotional intelligence from the earliest age.

Reading aloud, even from day one, also strengthens the bond. It doesn’t matter what you read: a baby book, a poem, or even a magazine in a soothing tone can be comforting. It's your voice and presence that matter most.

4. Carry Your Baby Close

Babywearing is more popular than ever in 2025, and for good reason. Holding your baby in a sling or carrier keeps them close to your heartbeat, your scent, and your warmth, all of which help them feel safe and connected.

Carrying your baby during everyday activities (walking, cooking, even light housework) helps them learn the rhythm of life while staying securely bonded to you. It also gives you hands free freedom and can help reduce crying and fussiness.

Choose a carrier that supports healthy hip positioning and always follow safety guidelines to ensure your baby’s airway remains open and their posture is secure.

5. Use Gentle, Intentional Touch

Your baby’s skin is their largest sensory organ, and they use it to learn about the world, and you. Through stroking, massaging, and cuddling, you’re communicating comfort, love, and presence.

Infant massage is growing in popularity in 2025, often integrated into bedtime routines. Use a natural, unscented oil and warm your hands before beginning. Soft, slow strokes across your baby’s legs, arms, tummy, and back can be deeply soothing and improve sleep quality.

Beyond formal massage, gentle everyday touch, like a hand on the chest, a stroke on the cheek, or a soft hold while feeding, builds connection and signals reassurance.

6. Establish Simple Routines

While newborns don’t need strict schedules, they do benefit from gentle, predictable rhythms. Creating consistent routines, such as a calming bedtime sequence, or always singing the same lullaby before a nap, gives your baby a sense of security and belonging.

Routine helps you bond by creating shared moments that you both begin to recognise and rely on. Even something as small as always cuddling in the same chair after a bath can become a beloved ritual that deepens your relationship over time.

7. Respond with Presence, Not Perfection

Bonding is not about never getting it wrong. It’s about showing up, even when you’re tired, unsure, or learning. Responding to your baby’s cues, feeding when they’re hungry, holding them when they cry, making eye contact when they seek it, teaches them that they matter and their needs will be met.

In 2025, the focus is on “good enough” parenting. It’s okay if some moments are messy or missed. What matters is your intention and your presence.

Babies thrive not on flawless parenting, but on feeling seen, soothed, and loved.

8. Let Quiet Moments Count

It’s tempting to fill every moment with activity, especially with the pressure of social media and parenting apps offering “developmental” goals. But some of the most powerful bonding happens in quiet stillness.

Holding your baby while they nap, sitting together in soft light, or simply lying on the floor with them as they explore, these slow, unhurried moments are full of connection.

Leave space for boredom, simplicity, and silence. They’re not empty, they’re sacred.

Final Thoughts

In 2025, bonding with your baby isn’t about keeping up with trends or expert schedules. It’s about slowing down, tuning in, and nurturing a relationship built on love, presence, and everyday tenderness.

Whether it’s a shared smile, a song before bed, or a warm cuddle at dawn, these simple acts become the foundation of your baby’s emotional security and your own confidence as a parent.

So be gentle with yourself. Trust the small things. And remember: every loving glance, every calm response, every whispered “I’m here”, it all adds up.

Bonding doesn’t happen all at once. It grows quietly, steadily, beautifully.