Reading To Babies

How To Do It And What To Expect

Babies And Books From 6 - 18 Months

Reading to babies gets a bit tricky around the age of about five or six months.

But babies grow fast and in no time at all your former newborn will be sitting up on your lap and wanting to play with the book as you read.

At this stage, many parents think reading to babies is a waste of time because their baby -

• seems more interested in chewing or playing with the book than listening to the story
• gets restless and doesn’t seem interested in listening after the first few minutes
• doesn't understand what they're reading

Pretty much all of us think this way at this stage of the game but don't give up!

This is all perfectly normal behaviour and does not mean you should stop - or put off - reading to your baby. By all means try to gently discourage too much chewing but do let your baby handle the books.

6 Tips for Reading To Babies

• #1 Choose short books for a while. As your baby gets older and gets used to sitting and listening to stories, you can gradually move on to longer books.


• #2 Your baby is listening, even if it doesn't look like he is. Keep reading!


• #3 If the book isn't a very precious one, do let him play with it a bit as you read. As he gets older, he'll want to turn the pages as he's seen you do.


• #4 Stick mainly to reading board books for a while. Most of the best books for babies are available as board books and these are obviously much sturdier than the usual paper-page versions.

  Reading board books means you can let your baby turn the pages and handle the book by himself, which is fun for him as well as being a great learning experience.



• #5 Try having board books and maybe some books you’ve found in charity shops scattered around the house for your baby to read whenever he likes.

  Choosing books like this means you can let him have free reign without worrying about the books getting damaged.



• #6 Place any special books on a high shelf to be brought down by mum or dad and read with supervision.

  This is a good way to protect these books and also teaches your child that some possessions need careful handling.

Books of nursery rhymes and poems for young children are a great choice and have the added benefit of playing an important part in toddler development.