Hi guys. Welcome back to Cloudmom. Answering a question today from a YouTube viewer, um,
nor77838, she asks, "What age would it be good to start reading to my baby?" And I thought
this was a great question. And, um, I actually found a really helpful article on Parents.com
that I’m going to link to from my sites, by Melissa Balmain. She provides sort of a
guide as to when you can start reading to your baby and what books are helpful, and
what you should do while you are reading to your baby. Um, and here’s just a start:
I mean, many people actually start reading when their baby is in the womb. I know my,
my sister read Charlotte’s Web to her first baby, not the second or third, when that baby
was in the womb. But I think a general feeling is lately that you can really start from day
one. Try to have books, you know, around your home. Make books part of your every day rituals.
Try to read perhaps during meals. Try to make books really something that your baby feels
very comfortable, um, with, and part of what your baby associates with intimate time with
you. And here’s a little guide that I found helpful, um, based on what Melissa’s suggesting
in her article as to which books might make sense when, and what you can do with these
books so that your baby is actively involved and learning. So, um, zero to six months,
what’s generally suggested is books with little or no text and big, high contrast pictures.
You might see ones that are black and white. I know babies start to love books here with
actual babies in them. All of my kids really loved those. Interactive materials, peep holes,
things they can open and close, those soft board books are wonderful. Fuzzy books with
animals, where it’s very sensory. Those are really great for young babies that are
like zero to six months old. 7 to 12 months, babies might just start recognizing sounds
and associating those with objects that they see in the book. So it’s generally recommended
that you only have one object per page to sort of reinforce that. That’s what a lot
of people think. But you can be making your way now to things that are just a little bit
um, more text-based with some words. 13 to 18 months, so that’s a year to a year and
a half, books with a sentence or two per page. So still very, very simple and obviously with
huge and wonderful illustrations. Um, this Parents.com article recommends that you can
start acting out some of the sentences and being silly. I think that’s kind of fun.
And then at 15 to 18 months you might start asking your kid a question about the book.
What’s this? What’s that? And getting them to respond and getting them to interact.
So I find that helpful. Um, 19 to 24 months, and I remember this actually myself from when
I was little, I used to ask that my mom read me the same book every day before my nap,
which was Hansel and Gretel. I just loved it. That is actually a really, really good
thing. Your child might be associating that book with feelings of feeling reassured and
that might really be helping your child to develop a vocabulary. So I wouldn’t worry
if your child asks for the same book all the time. And you might even say, "Okay, we’ll
read your book first, and then we’ll read my book." What I’ve been doing with my little
girls lately, and they’re obviously older, they’re 3 and 5, but one night I’m like,
"Okay, you guys pick two books you want to read." Which is almost always the Bernstein
Bears, I love those books. And then the next night I’m like, "Okay now it’s Mommy’s
turn to pick two books." And that way I feel like I’m giving them a little bit of diversity
in what we’re able to read, but they also feel like they can have some ownership over
it by picking the books that they like. So anyway, back to 19 to 24 months, um, many
toddlers find it reassuring to read the same books and hearing them to be read in the same
way. And experts think this is really helpful and can help them to remember words. So anyway,
that’s just a little guide in terms of what types of books and how you might read to a
baby up until two years old. People that have had success reading to young babies please
weigh in. It can be really hard. Sometimes you’re sitting there reading and they’re
just sort of running around and you don’t think they’re paying attention. But what
I’ve heard and what my doctor recommended is words, words, words. Like you can be sitting
there reading and they’re running around, but still those words are slowly going into
their little heads and helping them, um, develop a sense of language. So it’s all good. So
anyway, please weigh in with what you’ve done with your babies, and thank you so much
for watching Cloudmom.