The process by which parents form a close personal relationship with their newborn child.

Bonding is the process by which parents form a close personal relationship with their newborn child. The term "bonding" is often used interchangeably with "attachment," a related phenomenon. For the purposes of this essay, bonding is confined to the newborn period. Attachment develops over the larger period of infancy and is treated in a separate entry.

The way parents feel about a new child is highly subjective and emotional, and can be very difficult to measure. Some researchers in the United States and elsewhere have attempted to show that there is a "sensitive period" soon after birth, in which the newborn is quietly alert and interested in engaging the mother, and the mother is able to attune to the new child. It is assumed, but not proven, that if mothers are given the opportunity...