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It took me a while...maybe 8 weeks or so - to start bonding. I'm not sure why, I was just so emotional and hormonal right after I had him and so so exhausted from the lack of sleep. Now I really like him!

Bonding has always been an issue for me. I've always been the primary caregiver and I nursed him for 7 months, but I never really felt bonded to him and even though he was a great baby with both eating and sleeping, I was miserable. I'm not sure if I had some kind of postpartum depression or anything, but as he started to reciprocate love back to me more and more it got better. He didn't smile for 6 weeks, and as a baby he preferred the swing or bouncy chair to being held, so it was hard for me to feel close to him, even though I was nursing him every 2 hours. He's 22 months now and we definitely have a great bond, but it's not like a baby/mommy bond. It's more of a kid/mommy bond. I'm curious to see what the bonding will be like with our next baby.

It really freaked me out when I didn't bond with my daughter right away. I have a much younger sister, and when she was born I was in love with her from the first moment I saw her. But with my daughter it felt like she was a total stranger. It took a few weeks for me to feel comfortable with calling her my daughter and feeling like we had a connection.

With my daughter I think it took about a month. When she started smiling and reacting to me around 4 weeks old, our bond really grew.

I definitely wasn't in the love-at-first-sight camp. The hospital I delivered at doesn't go straight to breast, they do the whole cleaning/testing thing first. It's not so bad, as it's in your room and they don't take your baby away. I was totally fine with not holding her since I tore pretty bad, and my epidural wore off so the stitches were painful. My husband held her first, and I'm so happy they got to have their little bonding moment.

She's 8 weeks now, and I'm just now starting to feel the tug between us. My heart aches a little when I'm not holding her. She's smiling pretty regularly now, and is almost to the laughing stage. I cannot wait for that!

I bonded with my LO as soon as I found out we were having a girl. She suddenly became very real to me.

It took about 4 weeks for me to bond with my son. I had a very suprising pregnancy, I found out i was pregnant at 20 weeks, so everything happened so fast. I think i was still a bit in shock. We are totally bonded now and his smile just makes me melt.