When did your baby start snuggling up for a story?

widdle · 2014-05-23T14:31:23+00:00

I had such pictures in my head of cuddling up with DS and reading him lovely fairy stories but at 1 year old it doesn't seem to be happening [grin] He loves books in a VERY active way - flipping the pages, chewing the edges, flinging them around the room but try and snuggle with him with a good Dr Seuss and he is struggling to get down or (if it's before bedtime) struggling to get to my boob. So how long do I need to wait before those lovely storytime cuddles start?

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GingerDoodle · 23/05/2014 16:05

My DD is 20 months in a couple of days and we still haven't got to that stage - she still is very much like your DS in flipping pages!

hotcrosshunny · 23/05/2014 19:07

2ish? Even then they hop on and off of my lap!

My 4 year old loves being read to so preserver! We started from birth. Same for my 2 year old but she is the one that hops up the most. However find a story she loves (I think she loved Charlie cooks favourite book at about 20 months) and she would demand it over and over again.

redandchecker · 23/05/2014 19:10

My DS is 4.9 ans started asking to 'snuggle up' only recently!

oobedobe · 23/05/2014 19:24

I think this is a personality thing, DD1 is/was much more ants in your pants type, but would sit and snuggle for a story by 2.5/3 ish, but still finds it hard to sit really still/quietly at 5.8 - fidget bum. DD2 is nearly 2 but will happily snuggle for booktime and has since 18 months, I often find her in the other room sitting looking through the books quietly! Such a difference from my eldest!

DontCallMeBaby · 23/05/2014 19:43

2.6 - I gave up when she was actually a baby as she was so incredibly fidgety it didn't feel like either of us got anything out of it. Started again when she was a toddler, went through many times when she was horribly wriggly, she's now 10, I still read to her and she STILL wriggles!

tryingtocatchthewind · 23/05/2014 19:45

I too gave up when my DS was younger but he's 2:5 now and loves his bedtime story and asks for more more more

Hamsolo · 23/05/2014 19:52

Oh, I'm going to look like a liar now but DD is 13 months now and will bring me books a few of times a day to read to her. She seems to enjoy it, likes turning pages, pointing at stuff. I would say she started enjoying at around 6 months, but that might just be when we regularly did it as bedtime routine. She is a really calm baby though, so I think is just a different personality type.

Nunyabiz · 23/05/2014 19:53

I think it is a personality thing as PP said but I wouldn't expect a child below the age of 2 to have an attention span long enough to sit quietly through a story. DD is 3 and looooves story time before bed now but still has to touch the pages, comment on all the pictures...interrupt lol. I sometimes get all "this is NOT how I envisaged it!" But then I have to remember who it's benefiting- me or her? It's all for her and if she gets her kicks and learns something by interacting instead of "chilling" then great! Maybe one day we'll get around to chapter books but for now it's lots of flip out, tactile, interactive type books hehe

LettertoHerms · 23/05/2014 19:57

It depends. Some take right to it, some don't. And flipping pages and playing with the books isn't a bad thing. But don't save reading for only bedtime. It can easily become something to act out against when it becomes only a sleep time routine, intersperse books throughout the day as well.

Hamsolo · 23/05/2014 19:59

I should add these are board books, not picture books. So Dear Zoo, Meg and Mog, Fox's Socks and that sort of thing rather than the Gruffalo. She doesn't have the patience for a proper story. We do 3 or 4 board books at bedtime. I think she must like the pictures, and the attention!

Ohnonotagen · 23/05/2014 20:16

my DS i remember it was just before christmas so he would have been about 2.6. However prior to that he really really loved books (and still does), he just liked picture books where pointed to different things and also the lift the flap type books he really loved. It was only after about 2.6 he would sit and listen to an actual story.

LittlePink · 23/05/2014 21:11

My lo is 23 months and had only just started to sit and snuggle with a book now and then. Generally only when she's tired though so if we've been out all day she will sit for a bit of time before her dinner or before her nap after lunch. Bedtime she's usually hyper though and she won't sit just wants to jump about and run around from room to room even though she's supposed to be winding down after a bath! Even when she does sit it's usually not for long as her attention span is still very short, quite often we don't make it to the end of the book or she gets bored and wants another one half way through!

LittlePink · 23/05/2014 21:11

My lo is 23 months and had only just started to sit and snuggle with a book now and then. Generally only when she's tired though so if we've been out all day she will sit for a bit of time before her dinner or before her nap after lunch. Bedtime she's usually hyper though and she won't sit just wants to jump about and run around from room to room even though she's supposed to be winding down after a bath! Even when she does sit it's usually not for long as her attention span is still very short, quite often we don't make it to the end of the book or she gets bored and wants another one half way through!

LittlePink · 23/05/2014 21:16

My lo is 23 months and had only just started to sit and snuggle with a book now and then. Generally only when she's tired though so if we've been out all day she will sit for a bit of time before her dinner or before her nap after lunch. Bedtime she's usually hyper though and she won't sit just wants to jump about and run around from room to room even though she's supposed to be winding down after a bath! Even when she does sit it's usually not for long as her attention span is still very short, quite often we don't make it to the end of the book or she gets bored and wants another one half way through!

NoraRobertsismyguiltypleasure · 23/05/2014 21:16

Do I have an odd child then? My DD has sat and listened to whole books (e.g. The tiger who came to tea) since she was 12 months. I have to sit and read a dozen times a day, but then I am a total bookworm and started reading books from about 3 months (she couldn't move off my lap and had no choice but to listen!).

JassyRadlett · 23/05/2014 21:26

Nora, we are clearly the same person with the same child (only mine's a boy ).

I think others are right - it's temperament, not just age. We started stories v early (board books, that's not my...., etc) and he's a massive bookworm now at 2.8, and has memorised pretty much every word Julia Donaldson has ever written. He's not as good at other things as his peers, so it's swings and roundabouts.

Ragwort · 23/05/2014 21:38

Never - we read to him every night but there were never cuddles involved.

ktef · 24/05/2014 06:27

I'm going to sound like a liar too, but all three of my ds have been listening to books since around 10 months. They all started flapping the books and waving them around etc. But if you keep trying (and it didn't take very long - I think only a couple of days really) they soon got the habit and seemed to enjoy it. When I say listen to books, I mean I look at pictures and point out very simple things, and I didn't tend to read stories but describe the picture in simple words, making the appropriate noises etc. My mind has gone to baby mush long ago, so I would think I was exaggerating except my ds3 is just turned 2 and has been sitting and enjoying books for months and months and is now starting to enjoy Thomas stories. I don't think the flapping the pages etc went on for long. But maybe my children are calm book loving geniuses? (Although there is no other sign of this, the rest of the time they rampage around like they are possessed).

mrscog · 24/05/2014 19:46

Somewhere around 22-24 months, but what helped was toning down the story to very simple books. Julia D books are great but the story lines are quite complex and abstract for under 3s. Some children will obviously listen but not all, so don't worry about it and get some 'my first book of shapes' type of thing.

Lovelydiscusfish · 24/05/2014 21:22

Even at two, my dd is still kind of an active listener to stories. So her favourite at the moment is (bloody) We're Going on a Bear Hunt - she acts out the movements, joins in on most of the words, etc. Similarly she loves the Charlie and Lola one with the guinea pig, so she's feeding the guinea pig bits of toy food on the pages about it eating, shouting its name at the end etc. With Rumble in the Jungle she likes to act the poems out as much as possible with the animals from her Happyland zoo.
She never just sits still and listens, she is more of an active participant, but I don't see this as a failing on her part - in fact it's quite fun! Mind you, we don't do books at bedtime - it wouldn't help then!

naty1 · 25/05/2014 00:26

I cant remember it feels very long ago.. DD is now 2 and has been saying book to read and bringing 1 for months.
Yes not sure of gruffalo she doesnt seem as interested as i am.

You do have to catch them in the mood to sit still. At groups it seems like she is hyper as wont sit when others do for a book or singing i have to give her a snack. The difference at home is unbelievable.
Its hard to know what they understand of any book really though.
I like the ladybjrd read it yourself ones as the language is simple.
I have tried progressing to 'worst witch' etc but we are not there yet

Babesh · 25/05/2014 00:42

A couple of mine would do dtory after story at 9 months plus then the next took about five years before he would take part!