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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Don't like reading to DD - help

35 replies

aliphil · 17/12/2012 23:07

I am a complete bookworm and one of the things I was most looking forward to was reading to my DD. OK, she's only 4 months old, but I want to encourage her to love books ASAP. Trouble is, I am really not enjoying reading to her. In the day it's not too bad if I get round to it because she seems to like it, but it feels like the last straw - something like "You mean I've fed her, changed her, got her to sleep, and now I have to read to her as well?" At bedtime she screams if I read to her, though she seems to enjoy DH doing it - maybe she can smell the milk on me? - so that puts me off.

So my questions are, do I need to read to her at this age? Should I be doing it every day? How can I make it a bit more fun for me? And if I don't do it, how do I face my book-loving friends who all read lots to their children and naturally assume I am doing the same and loving it?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

sh77 · 18/12/2012 18:06

I just don't get the anxiety to read to a baby so young. I never bothered until ds started showing interest at 18 months. His vocab is above average and so I know I haven't deprived him by not actively reading to him from day 1. He brings me the books he is interested in. It really shouldn't be such a chore. My parents never read to me and I absolutely love reading and did very well academically. Your child is already at an advantage by the fact that you love reading and she will grow up surrounded by books. I played plenty of nursery cds and the radio is always set to discussion programmes. Ds picked up a few words that way.

Tigresswoods · 18/12/2012 18:18

My DS seemed to hate books when he was really little. Like you it was one of the things I was most looking forward to. However around a year or so he got more interested. Suddenly we were reading 4-5 books a night. Now he's 2.9 & we limit him to 2 books/stories a night or we'd be there for hours! Patience, it'll come

DoubleYew · 18/12/2012 18:27

Try Dr Seuss if you want something more engaging to read than That's Not My fucking Thing.

Soon enough she'll have her own favourites that you will hide under the bed to avoid having to read again.

brettgirl2 · 18/12/2012 20:42

We've just started reading to our 11 month old. The priority at 4 months is to get the baby to actually sleep I found.

Apparently me, dh and all our siblings slept through from 6 weeks they can remember well .

Me, I forgot everything in under 3 years and thought newborn babies had lunchtime naps and slept easily in moses baskets. Conclude from that the advice from MIL is often suspect

PerchanceToDream · 18/12/2012 20:51

I'm a massive bookworm too and read to DD, like a previous poster said, pretty much as soon as we got her home, but even so, it was just one book at night. Why not just keep it to the bedtime story. It'll become far more useful a tool in terms of a winding-down routine and it'll keep it special and intimate.

Just wait 'til you have to read THE SAME BOOK 7000 times...

TreadOnTheCracks · 18/12/2012 20:57

I quite enjoyed a few action rhymes with mine at that age.

As they get a bit older I found the books got a bit more interesting, Julia Donaldson and similar.

Allegrogirl · 18/12/2012 22:38

My dd1 loved books from about 4 months on but I never read to her at bedtime until much later as she was too tired and just found it an upsetting distraction when getting milk and head down for sleep. DD2 wasn't remotely interested in reading until 14 months and now at 2.3 is obsessed and follows me around with armfuls of books demanding that I read them now.

So much will change in the next few months and reading will be a lot more fun for both of you.

ThisIsMummyPig · 19/12/2012 04:03

I read to DD1 because I didn't know what else to do, I didn't with DD2 because she was entertained by having DD1 to watch.

Now I read obsessively to DD2 (2) because she is always bringing me bloody books, and never read to DD1 who has just started reception, because she has had enough by evening (we do read at weekends though, and she does her reading book which she hates).

I think four months is a little early to worry.

rrreow · 19/12/2012 15:12

I'm very big on books and reading but DS wasn't really into books until very recently. Either me or DH would read a book to him as part of the bedtime routine (only from about 12 months though), but nothing more than that.

Now DS is 19 months and has recently really picked up on books. He goes to the bookshelf and pulls off books (his ones!) and comes up to either of us to read the books to him. He loses interest quickly (can hardly ever read him a whole book), but he definitely likes it and keeps doing this every day, several times. So I'd say if you don't do much reading you your DD in the early stages it's not really going to affect how she reacts to books later on.

rrreow · 19/12/2012 15:14

Also I remember once visiting a friend with a DS around 6 months old. She read him a story and he sat on her lap and looked at the book and was engaged. My DS just would not have been at that age, he just wasn't into books. It's difficult to read to a baby who isn't into it.

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