My Baby’s Gaze When I Breastfeed Him: A Magical Moment

Breastfeeding, breastfeeding, involves much more than nurturing a child to allow it to grow in a healthy way. It is also creating a bond and promoting an “awakening”. With this act full of affection and affection we promote an exchange of smells, caresses, looks and feelings that are offering the baby another type of food: the affective one.

We say to breastfeed, but giving the bottle is not excluded either. Because that contact in the arms is there, because we whisper in a low voice, and our faces and the baby’s continue to meet. Believe it or not few “scenarios” are so powerful to allow the correct maturation of a child than the arms of his mother and of course, of his father.

So much so, that there are many studies that support this claim. Even more: a child will begin to establish the communication process thanks to that interaction that his mother offers him while breastfeeding him. Your brain will begin to integrate sounds, gestures, voice modulations, and words to gradually tune in to language proficiency.

It is a process where the feeling of pleasure and well-being is essential. The child who receives the breast feels pleased and relaxed, and therefore, is more receptive to learning, to the connection with his environment . That physical and emotional sensation enhances the maturation of many neural structures so that one good day, do the following: look us face to face with your eyes.

Next, we explain what constitutes this wonderful process.

The first meeting with his gaze occurs in your arms

As is often said, few things can be as beautiful as a mother breastfeeding her child. However, there are many more aspects that escape us and of which we are not fully aware during this wonderful stage.

A sophisticated biological mechanism

We already know that pregnancy is a hormonal chaos where vital processes are activated to create that bond with our baby. Oxytocin, for example, is further stimulated when the baby begins to suck at the breast in search of food. This hormone acts in an almost synchronized way in our brain to promote the appearance of milk and in turn, strengthen that affective bond.

• Now, there is a curious detail to take into account. During the first two months of life, the baby’s vision has a very limited amplitude field. He can only distinguish those things that are little more than 50 cm from him.

• This is so for a very simple fact. The only thing a baby should focus on is the breast or the bottle.

• During these first weeks of life, our child will be guided by a single sense: smell. So don’t worry if he doesn’t look up at you during this time. It’s not the moment yet.

The magic moment happens at four months: he looks for you with his eyes

Each child undoubtedly has his own maturation times. However, it is around 4 months when a baby begins to develop both convergence and accommodation in his vision. They are two essential processes that will allow him to focus all his attention on what attracts him the most: you.

We cannot forget the long moments that we share with them during breastfeeding. Those moments of subtle intimacy, of words and caresses will make their visual field from one day to the next expand borders to find you. It is at this age when he also begins to play with your hair, with your clothes …

• Each child carries out its own customs while breastfeeding. Some are calmer and more nervous, but these behaviors change and mature from week to week.

It grows before your eyes very quickly and it is a good thing.

His gaze seeks something more than simple eye contact

This information is important. When your baby starts to stare at you, talk to him. Non-verbal language is important, but in those seconds when your faces meet, it is necessary to stimulate their emotions even more.

• The way you talk to him will make your child smile. Later it will be a syllable, a laugh, then a gesture of curiosity or provocation so that you interact more with him or her.

• Because let’s not forget, the eyes of a child are like doors that we must know how to open.  Behind them, there is a whole world to stimulate day by day through a single magical thread: that of affection.

Beyond what many may say, the first months of a child are not based only on the need for care and food. A baby is “waking up to life.” And there, each gesture counts, each touch edifies, each word ignites his mind, and each look guides him to look out into the world.