Books are not food, baby!

[McGucks]

My nine month old eats books every time he holds them.  They are the board book kind, and every time he holds them, he chews enough off that I am worried about whether it can be bad for him.  If it looks like he is getting too much, of course I take it away, remove the gunk from his hard palate where it tends to collect, and offer him something else, but he just really loves to gnaw on those books.  I love reading with him, and when he was around 6 months we jokingly referred to his "Read a book, eat a book" early literacy program...but now that he has teeth, it's not so funny.  Any advice?

[P.J.]

My 7 month old also loves to eat any and all paper, including board books. His first one is almost so battered as to fall in pieces. I actually just bought him a few new board books today with a Christmas gift certificate, and I plan on doing some more reading with him. I was wondering when the book eating thing will be over and we can actually enjoy the story and/or pictures together...????

They make fabric books, maybe try one of those for the time being.

[MusicianDad]

I'm also going to recommend fabric books. They are made specifically for this reason. They can be chewed on without falling apart and you can toss them in the wash too.

[katelove]

I'll third the fabric book idea. They don't usually have much of a plot  but they are great for chewing. J also likes to chew her plastic bath book so, if you don't object to plastics, that may be an option as well.