Story time for baby? When did you start?

[Naomi72]

I was wondering when to start reading books to my son? He's now 9 months old and I was planning on strting when he reaches a year old!!
Thanks
 

[Samuel's mum]

I would start now to be honest. By 12 months Sam was choosing his books and requesting certain books in the day. We started reading books very early - soft books, rhymes and songs. Regular 'storytimes' by 6 months for sure (bit of book chewing but principles were there).
No time like the present!

[lilmonkey]

We started at 3 mos for both of mine.  DS joins dd in her room for one book as dh reads and then I take him to his room to feed and sleep.

[esthere]

We started straight away also 

You lucky Mama , there are so many gorgeous books for that age 

Enjoy !!

[sparks19]

We started with hannah when she was only a few days old lol... at first I felt silly reading to her since she can't really understand what is happening... but she was in the NICU and when you are there for hours and hours everyday you can only find so many things to say to her over and over before it gets too repetative.... so i started bringing books to read to her just so she could hear my voice.  the nurses would always AWWW about it... and the NICU Dr (he was wonderful) said "You are reading to her already?"  then he laughed and said that it is never too early... they need to hear language as often as they can and reading is a good way to do that.

So I have been reading to her almost everyday since then.

Books are fun for me and her lol

[jennyh]

i have read to both of mine from a few weeks old,so i would start now.
its one of our special times together everyday.

[{{{Angela}}}]

We also started at a few weeks old.  Lots of soft cloth books with textures and bright pictures.  Now DD reads with DS at bedtime and we do both the baby books and the big boy books that DS has.  DD often coos and ahhs while we're reading - it's like she's reading too, and she's very interested in the pictures.

[chrissie1982]

I started reading to ds when he was about 5 or 6 weeks old. I work in a library (when I'm not on maternity leave) and I always loved flipping through all the baby books there myself so I couldn't wait for lo to arrive so that I would have a real reason to read them 

He now gets so excited whenever he sees a book (so excited that there is no way we could have story time at bedtime!). His favourite ones are the touchy feely ones with all of the different textures. Even with just a 'normal' book he still feels all over the page for the textured bits.

[amywiz24]

I started right away as well.
At 9 mos, he will love to hear the animal noises, feel textures and look at the big bright pictures!
Have fun.

[NiknLily]

Hi can I borrow this thread for a while? 
I started reading to DD when she was about 3-4m,  she is now 21m.  She does love books we have stories at nap & bedtime but lately she has not wanted to sit and read at other times and I would like to read at least 1 time during the day other than bedtimes.  Anyone have any tips on how to keep an active toddler interested in books as my reading is very slow and I read very little as a child and really don't want the same for DD.

She has her own stash of books, which she may well be a little bored with but we also go the Libray every 2-3 weeks and stock up on new ones.

[sparks19]

Hi can I borrow this thread for a while? 
I started reading to DD when she was about 3-4m,  she is now 21m.  She does love books we have stories at nap & bedtime but lately she has not wanted to sit and read at other times and I would like to read at least 1 time during the day other than bedtimes.  Anyone have any tips on how to keep an active toddler interested in books as my reading is very slow and I read very little as a child and really don't want the same for DD.

She has her own stash of books, which she may well be a little bored with but we also go the Libray every 2-3 weeks and stock up on new ones.

The only thing I can suggest is finding a couple of books and reading them A LOT... most of the time they don't get bored with the same book... especially if it's a favourite.  And if you read it yourself a lot you will eventually start to sorta memorize it... that will help you not have to concentrate on the words so much and then you can really ad lib and make the story your own.

HTH.

[esthere]

You know, I have found with harry, that even if he is active , I keep reading the story if he goes off doing other things. He still 'takes it in' and will talk about stories later. This way, you can take your time, sit close to her and read ?

Reading at nap and bedtimes is great though, I love the snuggles 

[marensmama]

I started to read to DD1 at about 3 months, she went through phases of loving it and phases of couldn't be less interested (let her take the lead and if not interested, don't push it but suggest it a lot).  For awhile there she didn't want to even look at toys, it was books, books, books.  The plus side to it is that now she has amazing verbal and comprehension skills.  It has also taught her to respect books, we have lots of preschooler - not baby books - that don't have a single torn page.  We found one character she liked (Franklin the Turtle) and read every Franklin book we could find.  She still loves them!  Which reminds me, time to start with DD2!

[~S~]

We started in the womb with both of ours.  My lo1 is 8yrs old and now has almost a  7th grade reading level. (just a little proud).  I was much more consistent with my lo1 than I am now with my lo2, and she runs around more than my lo1 did during reading.  I agree w/ ppl it is helpful to read the same books over and over.  We just found one of my oldest's favorite books I had put away, hadn't read it in years, she was going to read it to her little sister, and I still knew it by heart, they stick in your head forever.  But then the lo starts to 'read' the books/stories and feel like they are, b/c they know the words that go w/ the page.  It is also helpful to run your finger under the words as you go, it teaches them the direction to read.  We always liked short books that rhymed when they get wiggly.

[lilmonkey]

We have Franklin too!  DD loves them.  She can recite the stories as she flips through the pages.