Reading to your baby

[daisybuchannan]

I don't think there's any more benefit from reading a book start to finish than a few pages at a time.

We read board books (usually goodnight moon, the runaway bunny, dr. seuss stuff) and sometimes he'll be interested for the whole thing, other times he only pays attention for a few pages.

[Deleted]

Baby doesn't know what the fuck is going on.

It doesn't matter.

[tdk2]

It'll come. You're familiarizing her w them and developing a love of books and reading together.

It takes them awhile and even just exploring them at times helps build the love.

We now read every night before bed. We didn't when she was younger- it was more bottle and pass out back then. I think we ramped up the books too when we were phasing out the bottle.

[mommytutu]

She's 5 months. My 2 1/2 year old can't even sit through a whole story.

[Deleted]

Man, I miss feeding Payne his night time bottles. He was the best baby to feed. His little eyes would roll back in his head and his whole body would relax.

A few pages of a book is plenty.

[Deleted]

She won't pay attention long because she is a... Baby.

Reading is great. But you could be reading the hunger games while she chewed on a colorful toy and she wouldn't know the difference. It's important for you to talk to her or read out loud whenever but don't worry about a routine with it at this point.

But for all she knows you are reading her your blog. Lol.

[tdk2]

C liked texted flash cards too when she was young. 8 months old? Basically, they were like a book pulled apart so she didn't have to work at turning pages. She liked looking at them and playing with them. I never quizzed her lol.

*textured, not texted!

[daisybuchannan]

Oct 29, 2013 22:07:45 GMT -5 @misoangry said:

Baby doesn't know what the fuck is going on.

It doesn't matter.

But....the studies!!!

[daisybuchannan]

Oct 29, 2013 22:08:14 GMT -5 @pnkybrwstr said:

Does Runaway Bunny make anyone else weep?

We joke that I'm totally the stalker mama bunny. He's going to move away and I'll be hiding in the shrubs "I foooound you Connor!"

[Deleted]

You should read her the dictionary.

Preferably all in one sitting.

[lissaholly]

With Daisy she took to books immediately and now is on the cusp of reading herself. She was funny because we would go to the library story time and she would run around the whole damn time dancing, socializing, what not. When we would get home though, she would sing a bit of the songs she heard or talk about a bit of the stories she liked. Active but listening. Story time has always bed. A part of her bedtime routine since we established one.

Clara couldn't care less about books as stories or even story time. I do not think I have read her one story on her own that she has sat thru, ever. She does however love my iPad books ( goldilocks, three pigs, Cinderella etc.) that narrate themselves. I was worried at first but she sees me read to Daisy and is getting better at sitting with us and listen a bit more. I read once that kids seeing their parents read is a behavior that helps foster a love of reading. I think kids cone around on their own timetable and it s good you are fitting it in, even if it isn't your preferred time.

ETA:  OH, 5 months?  Yeah, there was no routine yet.  It was just. get her to just pass out in the boob;)

[PeonyParty]

I'm sorry you got stuck with a rotten egg. My child was born with a book (very hard to birth, but totally worth it!) so I have never had this problem.

[Deleted]

My fetus is writing a book in utero.

[Deleted]

Really? A failure because your 6 month old doesn't pay attention while you read to her?

You need to stop reading other mommy blogs.

[Deleted]

Sofia didn't care about books until she was at least 1. I tried and tried and she wouldn't have it.

I don't even bother reading to Theo yet. He doesn't give a fuck.

[Deleted]

Oct 29, 2013 22:16:42 GMT -5 @theycalledherkate said:

Oh and LOL- everytime I get a catalog in the mail- whatever it may be- I open it up and let her turn the pages and I pretend I'm reading to her by describing what I see on each page. Then she tries to eat the pages...oh babies...

Yeah, my kid ate half of a pizza flyer. 

He's super fat, so I laughed and laughed. 

[Deleted]

Yeah, my 5.5 month old spends more time trying to eat the book than hearing the story. And we never read before bed because turning pages gets her all excited and busy (trying to grab it to eat)

It's an improvement from the melting down that used to happen

[lissaholly]

I am legit LOLIng at @misoangry and @ygmg.  Babies being fucking oblivious is awesome. That transition to treating them like little people that are able to comprehend things was kinda tough.  You have to stop eating food in front of them that they are going to want to share, watch what you say, stop passing catalogs off as books.  I miss that.

[PeonyParty]

Seriously though, babies are babies. They're little jigglypuffs of inattention. Just talking to her will help her, pictures in books just make is seem slightly more interesting for about 5 seconds. You're not doing her any disservice. We didn't really start reading until E was almost 2. She just turned 3 and LOOOOOOVES books and has the majority memorized.

[looseseal]

Oct 29, 2013 22:15:54 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

Oh, and I agree that just hearing words and the rhythm of your voice is most important right now, whether you are reading or just talking.

eta: I always go back to when J was a newborn and I asked her pedi if there was anything I should be doing with her, and he was like "just talk to her." That's something I've always made a point to do. I narrate things, talk to her like an adult when we're out shopping, ask for her opinion about stuff she'd never have input on. Yeah, reading is important, literacy, blah blah blah. But IMO talking to them gets them interested in words, instills a sense of curiosity about the world around them, prepares them FOR reading when they are old enough to get it.  And I like to think that including them in conversation even when they are too young to really participate validates them in some way, but that is just my own bullshit opinion and is unrelated to this thread. I don't read studies. lol

Also, I liked just having books around for her to play with, like someone else mentioned.

I listened to a Freakanomics podcast that I found really interesting. It was talking about preschool, literacy, vocabulary, and Head Start programs. It was almost sad, because it brought into question whether early preschool was enough, that potential could be maxed out before the age of 3. I don't remember the specifics, but it talked about studies that indicated the kids who did the best had parents who were talking a lot, and who used a variety and higher level vocabulary. The difference in the number of words kids in higher socioeconomic homes heard as compared to the number of words a kid in a lower socioeconomic home heard was really surprising. So, your pedi and you seem to be right.

[Gato]

I don't think either of my kids was into reading before 6 months.  Sometimes I could show my older daughter pictures for hours, though.  She's more passive and liked staring at things.

They both grew to love reading.  We read 2-3 board books to DD2 (who is 17 months) before bed and each nap.  She also just loves sitting down with me and reading.  Sometimes the same book over and over.  She'll say "Read it... AGAIN!" and what choice do I have, really?  She's too cute to resist.

My older daughter reads on her own now before she goes to bed.  I miss reading to her.

[redheadk]

DD has no interest in sitting through an entire book even now at 15 months. Turning the pages and looking at the pictures while babbling to herself is what she likes. We read maybe 5-6 pages (with her flipping the pages) before she wants to just turn the pages, get a different book, whatever.

I just let her go at it and read from a different book. I figure she can still hear the rhthyms, rhymes, vocabulary, animal noises, etc. while flipping pages.

[sonrisa]

At that age we didn't do stories at bedtime. That started more after she weaned at age one.

For the first while, I focused on books with good rhythm and rhyme and would change inflection and do voices rather than trying to engage her in the pictures and stories. (Bear Snores On, Hand Hand Fingers Thumb, etc.) She'd look up each time that bear sneezed.

Once she was sitting up well on her own, we switched to slowly paging though books she found visually interesting (and I found dull as dirt) like those photos of babies books, or touch and feel books, or the Black and White books.

She didn't really engage with the whole story until later on. Now she loves books and will sit with rapt attention for story hour.

[sonrisa]

Also: I think there are studies showing that reciting nursery rhymes works just as well as reading stories for literacy. Something came out a few years ago and all the libraries around here implemented "Mother Goose" hour for the under 2 set.

[looseseal]

Oct 29, 2013 22:47:42 GMT -5 @kirkette said:

Oct 29, 2013 22:39:12 GMT -5 looseseal said:

I listened to a Freakanomics podcast that I found really interesting. It was talking about preschool, literacy, vocabulary, and Head Start programs. It was almost sad, because it brought into question whether early preschool was enough, that potential could be maxed out before the age of 3. I don't remember the specifics, but it talked about studies that indicated the kids who did the best had parents who were talking a lot, and who used a variety and higher level vocabulary. The difference in the number of words kids in higher socioeconomic homes heard as compared to the number of words a kid in a lower socioeconomic home heard was really surprising. So, your pedi and you seem to be right.

We talk about  vocabulary and language acquisition gaps all the time at work.  It's not from Freakonomics, but here's a commonly referenced study.

centerforeducation.rice.edu/slc/LS/30MillionWordGap.html

OK, this may have been the study they were discussing. I remember them saying it wasn't heavily publicized because of the school. It was very interesting, and made me want to go home and talk in front of my baby.

[lissaholly]

Oct 29, 2013 22:39:12 GMT -5 looseseal said:

Oct 29, 2013 22:15:54 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

eta: I always go back to when J was a newborn and I asked her pedi if there was anything I should be doing with her, and he was like "just talk to her." That's something I've always made a point to do. I narrate things, talk to her like an adult when we're out shopping, ask for her opinion about stuff she'd never have input on.

I listened to a Freakanomics podcast that I found really interesting. It was talking about preschool, literacy, vocabulary, and Head Start programs. . .So, your pedi and you seem to be right.

This is great advice. We have never really simplified our speech for our girls and my 5 year old has a great vocabulary ( Toot! Toot!). I was the idiot at the grocery store asking my baby if we should have asparagus or broccoli for dinner and then agreeing that the rubbed pork chops do go well with the asparagus. And I LOVED when she called adults out who were teasing her at 3 asking if they were being sarcastic;)

I talk significantly less with Clara ( because if Daisy isn't talking I relish the silence. Ha!). and she us decidedly less verbal at comparative ages.

[Shreddingbetty]

I didn't really start reading to DD until she was close to a year old. She would like to be read to while she ate another book. I didn't reAlly start bedtime reading until she PT so around 26 months. And it means that she sits on the potty while I read her a story and I will read her one after I brush her teeth. She loves to read. She still nurses too and that's when we do a lot of reading. Several books a day.

i did (and still do) talk a lot to her and I think that talking is much more important at that age (infant that is) then trying to read books. Dd has alway been a talker even before she could actually say any words. She would have whole "conversations" with the daycare lady like she was actually telling a story. 

[youbetcha]

I talked about this the other day, but we read from the day they were born. BUT we read board books when they were tiny and we didn't always finish them. The point at your DD's age is speaking to her, as Tamb said.

Keep it up! You're doing great.

[starlily]

I remember our pedi saying something about only needing to read 1-2 minutes at a time when they're that young. Basically, that any amount of time was fine.

DD is almost 3 now and we don't read at home every day because she doesn't always want to. She has opinions now and isn't afraid to express them! But I do know that they have story time at least 2x a day at daycare.

[rugbywife]

Oct 29, 2013 22:51:40 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Also: I think there are studies showing that reciting nursery rhymes works just as well as reading stories for literacy. Something came out a few years ago and all the libraries around here implemented "Mother Goose" hour for the under 2 set.

This is what I was going to say...sing songs...it is important for little ones to hear sounds, more than see letters.  Sound acquisition needs to come before code acquisition.  A lot about what we know about struggling readers suggests that they don't hear the sounds that letters make and that it is that skill that impacts their ability to assign a sound to the letter (code) it is assigned to.

So sing songs, sing nursery rhymes, talk to your baby...at this point that matters WAY more than daily reading time.