Do people really read to newborns/young babies?

[Anonymous]

I keep reading how reading books to babies as young as 2 months is beneficial to them -- even though they can't understand the books, obviously, they supposedly enjoy hearing your voice and this is supposed to be a good activity to do as part of a bedtime routine. Fair enough, I bought some board books for my three-month old... but she hates it. She won't ever sit still on my lap for more than about 10 seconds before she starts grunting and flailing around. She either wants to be held while I'm walking, or do tummy time, or lay on my chest, but she definitely doesn't want to sit and look at a board book. This leads me to wonder... do any infants really enjoy this? Is my DD unusual or is this par for the course?

[Anonymous]

My DD really enjoyed being read to at that age; my son is more wiggly and not so interested. I found both of them really enjoyed bath books, since the water called them and they can't play in the bath yet anyway.

[Anonymous]

we did it, but that's because my son seemed to enjoy it. we only did it before bed because we were trying to establish a bedtime routine. but if he hadn't liked it, we would have stopped and tried again later.

[Anonymous]

When baby girl was tiny, I tried reading her baby books and we both got bored. So, I read aloud whatever trashy fantasy novel I was reading. She couldn't understand the words, I figured, and she seemed to enjoy the sound of my voice. Once she hit 3.5 or 4 months and was more aware and inquisitive, we switched to board books. She liked to look at the pictures and grab the pages once she was capable of that. At 10 months, that is still pretty much what she likes to do, although she does enjoy the ones with tactile elements - fluffy puppies and the like. Sometimes she seems to actually follow along a bit rather than attempt to eat the book. dunno.

[Anonymous]

My wife and I are singers. And we found that our twins preferred to be walked around with us singing to them. Same effect, but they liked moving and looking around at things and people instead of sitting and looking at books. We read some, but for us, books didn't become a big thing until more like 8-9 months. Now at 2 years old, they **LOVE** books.

[Anonymous]

I pretty much just read at bedtime - we incorporated books into our nighttime routine early. DS usually fell asleep.

He loves books now at age 2. Probably no correlation to when we started reading though.

[Anonymous]

We read only a couple of books but, what I found fascinating, was that later if my son was fussy I could start reciting the words of the book and he would calm down immediately and listen to the cadence. We read "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb" if I can remember correctly.
Months later he would still quiet down and listen as we recited the refrain of the book. It was great to get him out of crying jags until he was well past a year.

[Anonymous]

No, I think it's ridiculous. But I'm from Europe and it's not promoted there. We start reading books when they can understand them. Talking to babies is of course very important, and if it's books that gets you talking to your baby, then read.

[Anonymous]

I did and my kids loved it from early on.. since they were babies (3+ months) theyve liked to sit in my lap and read.

[Anonymous]

11 month old DS loves being read to. He alternates between studying my mouth, trying to turn the pages, and looking at/stroking the pictures. He has 1 book that he loves and will whine when it is over and stop as soon as we start it again.

[Anonymous]

i started reading to DS at a few weeks old. i didn't know what else to do with him to pass the hours in the day that he was not sleeping our nursing. now he's almost 3 and loves books more than almost anything.

[Anonymous]

My baby tried to eat books until he was 11 months old so I didn't bother. Now at 15 months he is obsessed with them. Reading to infants is overrated.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I read to both my children starting at around 3 months. They still like to read now (3 and 1.5 years later).

[Anonymous]

I did a lot of reading aloud to my stomach when I was pregnant, but always just whatever book I was reading.

My nanny often reads to my baby and I think she likes it, but seems to be more interested in eating the book than sitting still. We do not do books at bedtime (plan to start once she can understand the story), but sing as part of our bedtime routine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My baby tried to eat books until he was 11 months old so I didn't bother. Now at 15 months he is obsessed with them. Reading to infants is overrated.

Agree. My daughter had absolutely zero interest until she hit 10 months or so--wouldn't sit still, tried to eat them, etc. She's now almost two and is obsessed with books, whether we're reading them to her or she's "reading" them alone.