Reading to your baby

[Auraji]

I love reading, to me, to others. I've always enjoyed it a lot and I've been reading to my DD who's now 9 months since day one, but the more she grows the more difficult it is to read to her. She always wants to eat the books and rip the pages and just play with the book. I know this is just a stage, but it's making me feel like why even try reading a book?

Most of her books are cloth and board books, so I do let her play with them, except for a couple that arent and I dont want her to break. Some of the things I do is give her one book to hold, while I read another one, but it doesnt really work. She wants MY book and what started as a fun activity turns into this stressing, baby crying, mommy freaking out thing. So I just stop. I usually can only get one or two pages into a story.

Any tips?

[not perfect]

I have a 6 month old and what i find works best is if i just put the baby down and read out loud to the room. she doesn't care about the pictures so i figure let her play with something else.

[hakeber]

I let him chew the board books...he ate a few of them.

I also got a few bath books, he chewed and I read.

ETA: the nicer books I put I away until he was done teething. Then he drew all over our copy of where the wild things are and I put the rest away until he out grew that phase. Now we read books without problems.

[LindsC]

I remember going through that phase with my son too. Heck, he still likes to rip pages out of books and color in them and he is almost 3. We just mainly stuck to board books and cloth books at that age and now we read the books with paper pages, but they are not left in his room where he can get to them.

[ellemenope]

I reccomend for you Usborne's "That's not my..." series.

They are really tough. Like the toughest board books out there. Plus, they have a different texture on each page, so it promotes her to be a little more interactive with them.

We started reading to DD at about 5 months with her in our laps and the book in front of her. She is in love with books now (18 months). She 'reads' them to herself. I think the early non-stop book in her face reading is to blame. but, she did not mouth her books...

"Thats not my..." books were by far her favorites at that age. We had like 6.

[Auraji]

Oh thanks for the advice anyone. I've got her like two books with textures lately, she does like them a lot.
Im ok with her chewing the board books. It's just she kinda takes over them and doesnt let me read them at all, so i just let her have them.

So I think I just need to be patient and think that she wont do this later on and save the non board/cloth/vinyl books for when she's older.

[claddaghmom]

Originally Posted by ellemenope

I reccomend for you Usborne's "That's not my..." series.

They are really tough. Like the toughest board books out there. Plus, they have a different texture on each page, so it promotes her to be a little more interactive with them.

We started reading to DD at about 5 months with her in our laps and the book in front of her. She is in love with books now (18 months). She 'reads' them to herself. I think the early non-stop book in her face reading is to blame. but, she did not mouth her books...

"Thats not my..." books were by far her favorites at that age. We had like 6.

Amen to this! I have every one available...my mom used them on some of the kids as well.

We were just reading the monkey one last night.

[Just1More]

Stop reading, and try just enjoying the book. DD (11mo) will sometimes actually listen, but often does much better if I am on a page for about a second or less. So, I point out the cow, then the elephant, comment on whatever she points at, and then we turn the page. We'll go through the same book 5 or 6 times before she's done with it, and I add a thing to two to show her each time. One time, I might just point out the bird on every page. The next time, I'll show her the bird, because she is expecting it, and then the hat. The third time, I'll go a touch slower, let her see the bird herself, then point out the hat and the dog. Sometimes we go through 10 books in about 3 minutes, just flipping through the pages, me saying "blue!" "red!" "dog!" as we fly through it. Oh, and when I sense she's not going to let me read anymore, I finish up as fast as I can, reasonably, and then hand her the book and let her explore to her heart's content. I do move her hand back when she is trying to take it sometimes and say, "No, no. Mama is reading this book. Do you see the duck?"

Ds didn't like to sit for books at all, so I started just reading one page, maybe two, at a time, in the same "Dog!" "Cat!" sort of way. Then I would hand it to him. Over time, his tolerance has increased a good deal, and especially now that he can follow the story line, he's happy to hear a book.

[1stBabyAt39]

My 7-month-old is this way too. At first she is interested in the pictures, but after a few pages she just wants to eat the book. I still read to her anyway, even if we sometimes wrestle each other for the book!

[JMJ]

DD has been like this since she started getting interested in books. The only one she'll usually let me read all the way through has mirrors on every page, so she enjoys looking at herself in the mirror. We have only board books, and most of them are damaged by her chewing, but they're hers, so I let her do what she wants with them. She's not really interested in feeling the textured books, but she has eaten some of the "fur" off some of them.

Sometimes, we'll sit in a pile of books, and I'll grab one and read a couple pages before she wants it, so I'll grab another one and read a couple pages before she wants it. Sometimes, when I'm really close to finishing, I'll say, "Mommy is holding this one right now. You may hold this book." and give her another. It's not like she understands the whole story or will miss the second half of the alphabet or all the numbers after 3 at this point. The point is that I spend some time, even if it's just a little, reading to her every day.

[47jennifer]

DS is 10-months old and since he was born we've just kept his board books mixed in with his toys. Like all his toys, the books were simply chew toys for a while! Over the past few months, he's really taken an interest in flipping the pages of his books. He doesn't actually use most of his toys, but he does use his board books several times a day. This morning he was flipping through one that has pictures of babies and laughing out loud...so funny!

We do occasionally read to him, and we get the longest attention span if he's slightly sleepy. I figure that at this stage, it's more important that he get exposed to books and start to enjoy them than to actually sit and listen to stories. He really likes exploring them on his own, and I'm hoping that will last!

[hrsmom]

We definitely went through a pause in actual reading once my dd got old enough to grab the books. I agree, textured books are fun. Sometimes now (22 mo) I'll pick up a book and start reading it out loud, and she is interested. Now, of course, she wants to turn the pages herself. So we don't actually read through a book every day, which was ok once I got used to the idea!

[tessie]

We too love the 'That's Not My...' series.

There was brief spell when she wasn't interested in being read too. I think it was around the time she learned to turn the pages herself. However she now loves to be read too and is generally pretty gentle with books - although pop ups are the exception (I have a stash I need to glue).

[evening start]

I remember watching a PBS show about reading to infants and toddlers. They basically said that you should follow the child's lead, if they flip to the middle of the book, start there. If they get bored listening and want to chew, give them the book and describe what they are doing. We put away all the "paper" books and DS just gets the board and cloth books. I have some books memorized so that I can recite them as he plays/chews on the books, sometimes we just read parts of books, sometimes he sits quietly and lets us read the whole thing. The books with textures are a favorite right now, as are really repetitive stories (Brown bear, Brown bear is the current favorite). I think the purpose of reading this stage is to get him to love books, not to listen to a story.

[odoole]

Originally Posted by evening start

The books with textures are a favorite right now, as are really repetitive stories (Brown bear, Brown bear is the current favorite). I think the purpose of reading this stage is to get him to love books, not to listen to a story.

Mine too! This is the only story he'll consistently sit through at this stage (he's 6 mo.) I think he likes the rhyming and predictability of it. We read it so much I think he actually anticipates the animals coming up (and I always make the animal sounds).

I find there are certain times of day when DS is willing to sit and listen to a story, and other times of day when books actually make him VERY ANGRY!!!! Don't know what it is. He wants to chew on them, but seems dissatisfied once he gets them in his mouth.

I agree don't force it. DS was really enjoying books -- he was turning the pages on his own around 3 months -- but around 4.5 months he stopped enjoying them and now we just don't do it much anymore. Now that he's 6 months, I think he's starting to tame a little bit to where we can read on occasion.

[CookAMH]

I read to my 9mo while he plays or eats. I'm currently reading the old Pooh books and they crack me up. When I read with him in my lap, we look at board books.

[tzs]

i walked in on my 8 year-old neighbor reading to my babe who was sitting in the swing and my friend's babe who was sitting in his carseat. both 4 months. it was cute....like a little class. and they were both just staring at her so intently.

[sunshynbaby]

I've taken to reading lying down in bed with him with the book up in the air. He can't reach it that way.

[mckittre]

I think expecting baby to let you "read them a story" at that age is a bit unrealistic. Playing with books is good. And talking about whatever is in the pictures for whatever length of time the baby is willing to be on that page, in whatever order the pages should appear. That's about what we do with my 1 year old. He doesn't eat books, but he does turn pages at about one per second, and only pauses long enough to point to his favorite things. I don't think they really get much out of the stories until they can really follow speech well enough to understand a story.

[CookAMH]

Originally Posted by mckittre

I don't think they really get much out of the stories until they can really follow speech well enough to understand a story.

True, but having them engaged in hearing your voice is wonderful for them so it's nice to read if they're playing on the floor or otherwise occupied. They still tune in even if they don't comprehend what is said.