5 Essentials for Reading to Your Baby

#BookLover is one of the most popular hashtags on Instagram, and so is #RaisingAReader! Most research suggests that reading aloud stimulates a baby’s brain and sets them on the right path to better vocabulary, stronger comprehension and basically starting a habit that will most likely stay with them for many years to come. But for new parents, and especially those that haven’t been active readers themselves, it can be very daunting to figure out how to start reading to a baby.

Some of my friends actually put off reading until the kids start school, just because they don’t know where to start and believe that educators are better equipped to start this journey for them. They couldn’t be further away from the truth. As a rule, the earlier you start the better it is and rather than fretting about the “when”, a little more attention should be paid to the “how”.

So start NOW, it doesn’t matter if your child is six-weeks-old or sixteen-months. Technically speaking, you can start reading to your one-month-old baby, but infant books typically cater to an audience that can sit up by themselves (so say five to six months onwards).

And uncomplicate it. Irrespective of when you start, make it something baby looks forward to. You can foster a healthy loving kinship between your bub and the written word by keeping these 5 simple pointers in mind:

1. Don’t make a chore out of it: Infants have an attention span of 60-90 seconds (yes, seconds!), and they will be focused more on sounds than sight. As toddlers, the attention span doesn’t increase by too much, and their fascination may well be drawn toward the bright colours on illustrations. And that’s okay.
   The focus of your read-aloud should be FUN! Kids are not capable of sitting for hours and “curling up with a book” like adults do, and don’t expect them to understand nuances and plot lines.. just hold on to the pages and talk to your child to enjoy the time spent together.

2. Easy access will go a long way in habit-creation: Don’t get dissuaded if your child’s first instinct is to eat the book rather than read it! Let her get familiar with the concept of books – maybe have her toys and books share a common shelf so that she can associate both with equal anticipation. Montessori spaces focus on this aspect of easy reach and front-facing book-covers a lot (shelves like this one by Cuddlycoo Baby Products) And while you don’t need to splurge on additional shelf space, just increasing access to age-appropriate books is likely to make a huge difference in the time she will eventually spend with them.
   Also, while different children mature at different times, as a general rule try sticking to board book versions of books until 24-30 months. All popular authors have board book and paperback versions. Even though they are slightly more expensive, they can be easily managed by the toddlers themselves. Paper books tear easily and therefore need higher adult supervision. So rather than facing the unnecessary heartache of a good book getting destroyed, invest in board book versions till your child has better fine motor control.

3. Judge kids’ books by their covers (sometimes): While baby books are available online, you should try to head to a book store nearby for your baby’s first books. Books for infants are quite uncomplicated in their storyline, so just browse through a few and pick up some of the attractive looking ones to see if you get a reaction from the little one. You never know what may catch your child’s fancy. We had a silly little bath-toy baby book which was read a few dozen times per day!
   For babies up to 12 months old, go for a category of books which is commonly called “Touch and Feel”. These will have photos of animals or everyday objects, and some texture for the child to feel on each page, a piece of cloth, or some velvet, or plastic etc (like this book by Eric Carle, which was actually #NotSoLittleH’s first-ever book). While reading, make sure to put his hand on the texture and see the reaction.

4. Nighttime is the right time. We’ve all struggled with getting the baby to sleep on a schedule. Well, ask any sleep expert and the one tip they will surely share is to establish a routine that signals “end of day’s play” to the child. Reading makes for a wonderful bedtime bonding session that both baby and parent can look forward to. There are specific books (like this one by Leslie Petricelli and this one by Sandra Boynton) that are about bedtime. But to be honest, we preferred to pick a favourite and read it again and again and again and again!! In the very early days, I’ve also taken whatever book I was reading currently (so long as it isn’t something gory like the Game of Thrones!) and read it aloud with the baby in my arms. You can do this till 6m-8m when the soothing voice of a parent is enough to lull the baby to dreamland.

5. And lastly, use your imagination! Reading aloud to a child who can’t self-read doesn’t have to be literal. I’ve got so many books where I make up stories based on the images. These stories are not what’s written in the book. They’re just sentences put together basically, and I point out to objects. “Look at that blue train” (point to train), and “That’s a yellow duck” (make a quack-quack sound) and so on. Even when you graduate to storybooks, embellish them as much as you can – songs, sounds, actions. The more animated your story, the more likely it is that baby will enjoy it.

I’m sure even if you’ve never read any books in your life, you can find some joy in announcing my baby can read!

Do you have any questions or tips on reading to young kids to establish a lifelong habit for them? Drop them in your comments below, and since my favourite mantra is “Books are always the answer” you’re sure to find something useful in the responses!

Happy reading!

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