to not read my 9mo baby stories?

[musicmaiden]

I love, love, love reading, am a total bookworm and would love to encourage similar in my 9mo DS. But if I get a book out he invariably just wants to grab it off me and suck the pages. He doesn't yet seem interested in looking at it really, so I just think he is too young to bother reading to yet.

But I see/hear so many people including books into their bedtime routine I am starting to wonder if I am wrong! What do you all think?

(BTW I still sing to him, play him music and talk to him lots and lots, just not books yet...)

YANBU

I expect you always have books lying around, you will know when the time is right.

I read to both of mine from 6 weeks . Only bit of the day I like and they actually pay attention to.

YANBU - obviously depends on the child. DD1 loved stories at that age - anything with a rhyme or compelling rhythm. DD2 was a book eater like yours at 9mo. It wasn't long though before she started liking books with flaps, textures, etc - good 1st birthday presents.

Well at that age you don't necessarily have to read a story out of a book do you? Can't you tell him a bed time story without?

If I were you, I would read to him. By him hearing the same words read from the same page in the same book, it will help him to realise that certain shapes (ie letters and words) always say the same thing.

If you don't read to him, he will learn it later, so YANBU, but the earlier he realises this, the quicker he will grasp the basic principles of reading later on.

YANBU - my DS1 3.4 now LOVES books but really didn't get the idea until a bit over 12 months. And for the first few months was very excited about 'list' type picture books with pictures of lots of different things in, basically seemed to want to learn vocab. The idea of a story narrative only got interesting after about 18 months (maybe a bit later?), and he will still sometimes happily choose a 'list' picture book rather than a story.

DS2 is 17 months. He's a bit more in to stories, but probably only because he tags on to older brother's stuff. He'd probably prefer to be doing all picture books.

With DS1 I remember being a bit worried that I was meant to be reading him bedtime stories etc but he wasn't at all interested. But it was very easy to add in time reading books once he 'got' what it was about.

My 8 month old is the same. He actually CRIES when I bring out books - I think he is a very 'sucky' baby so doesn't really like interacting with things visually.

I do feel a little worried as DS1 was 'reading' books on a daily basis from 3 months. People laughed at me but he could read at 2.5 yrs and is now, at 4, a great reader (probably reading at about a 9 year old level). I had planned to do the same thing with DS2 but, as I said, he cries when I get the books out so have now given up completely. There is no point in putting him off books. (Am an English teacher if you hadn't already guessed...)

Of course YANBU, and your son will probably grow up loving books as much as you do if they're around the house, and he sees his parents reading.

However, I read to my dd at nightime from a few months old, and in the daytime from about 6 months. I enjoyed reading the bedtime books like reading poetry aloud (an example that springs to mind is We're Going On A Bear Hunt) with pictures she could see. I love the sound of the words - it's as much for me as her, as I could have just told her a made-up story, or talked about her day, or sang a lullaby (which I do as well - albeit tone deaf!).

The daytime books were all board books, touchy-feely/lift-the-flap/peekaboo ones that she could chew away on, grap, even rip... they remain her favourite toy, we keep a stack in the living room, with the nice paper books in her bedroom.

It's entirely personal... Do you not like the sound of your own voice reading aloud?

YANBU- I read in any spare moment I've got, but was alsways relaxed about it with ds, as exactly the same thing was happening ie tearing the pages, not listening etc. He was raised among the books, so to speak, and taught himself to read when he was 3 and loves reading now at 8.

Am doing same thing with DD, she's 16 mo and still doesn't have a lot of patience, so I just let her play with books, point out the animals etc in the pictures etc.

Sorry for the many typos, most embarrassing in a thread about books... Think I'd better take myself off for a nap!

YANBU, I wouldn't worry about it either. I'm sure with my dd (PFB) I read to her from a very early age and she is a real bookworm now but with ds1 and 2 I didn't have the time. In despite of that ds1(4) loves being read to and ds2(2) has started bringing me a book the minute I sit still.

If there are books around and they see you or others reading it just soaks in, I think.

YANBU!!

I come from a family of avid readers. My littlest brother (14 years younger than me) had the same thing where he would always grab, suck and rip books (until he was about 1 year, 3 months). We (encouraged by my wonderful mum) used to tell him simple, silly stories instead, complete with funny voices, sounds and actions (think animal noises, arm as trunk for elephant, steering actions for a car etc etc). When he moved on to books, he saw it as the same thing - stories!

No, YANBU. I have a lot of books. A lot. Well over a thousand. I joke that I married a carpenter so he could keep up with my demand for bookshelves. I had these fantasies about snuggling up with my daughter and reading her stories while she sucked her thumb, rapt.

And until she was around 13, 14 months, she couldn't have cared less. I read to her anyway; when she was a newborn and just needed to hear my voice, I read my books aloud to her. At the age yours is, I would rock her with one arm and read from Winnie the Pooh with the other.

And she didn't care until around 15 months, and now, at eighteen months, she LOVES books all of a sudden. She'll ask 'book? book?' and go choose one and make me read it three or four times in a row, then take it to her Dad and ask for it again.

So you are NBU, and also I bet your son will love being read to sooner than you expect.

Thanks for all your replies so far - very interesting!

5 foot 5 I could tell him stories without a book, and sort-of do, but actually his bedtime routine just consists of a splash around the bath, PJs and milk/cuddles - he is nearly always completely cream-crackered by the time he has finished his milk and crashes immediately.

He is a very curious, physical baby, and at the moment sees a book as another toy to chew. He has a lot of the 'That's Not My...' series and will touch the feely bits but doesn't seem to really respond to me 'reading' it or talking about it to him. However he does laugh at me saying to him: 'we're going on a bear hunt/we're not scared' before we go out, and he does love the repetition of songs and rhymes. Possibly just not physical books yet.

i dont think i started reading to DS at bedtime till he was about 2.

But at a younger age he did love the picture and word books and would tell me what each picture was, but that was always a daytime activity. Night time was just for pj's cuddles and maybe a lulaby before 2