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Parenting

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Original poster

How old were your LOs when you started reading them bedtime stories??

29 replies

thethirdwiseeasterbunny · 26/03/2007 22:16

Just being nosey. My ds is usually ready to go straight off to sleep so unless we read to him 30 mins before bedtime, the story would fall on deaf ears. What age was your LOs when you started reading to them? do you read to them in their bedroom, once they're tucked in ??

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kittypants · 26/03/2007 22:18

day 1!!we usually read downstairs with drink save fighting over whos room stories in.but ds2 whos 15 months and goes bed earlier than other 2 has his upstairs.even if its 5 minutes its so worth it,the best bit about having children!!

ChasingRabbits · 26/03/2007 22:19

I was wondering when I started this with ds1, ds2 (14mo) is bf to sleep so not doing it yet.
I do remember thinking that I 'should' be doing it by now with ds1 - but doesn't seem to have harmed him, he loves stories, is just starting to learn to read etc

RustyBear · 26/03/2007 22:20

Can't remember exactly, but well before he was a year old - we started with board books with big pictures & went on from there - DD was 'read to' from birth, as I would read to DS while I was bf her.
But I was a children's librarian BC, so reading stories came naturally.

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babygrand · 26/03/2007 22:20

Well she joined the library at 7 months, so it must have been before that!

Hulababy · 26/03/2007 22:21

I read to DD from the very start. Not always children's books when a tiny baby though - just whatever I was reading. Then as she got bigger, moved onto baby books, etc.

TBH we read throughout the day, and after bath time, snuggled up in lounge, before bed was always a nice cuddly time to read quietly.

Started proper bedtime reading, in bedroom, when she went into her toddler bed at 16 months. At almost 5yo she adores her bedtime stories, and loves her books -s he takes piles to bed with her every night!

Frizbe · 26/03/2007 22:22

from about 6mths with both dd's

Debbsyandson · 26/03/2007 22:24

from about 4 weeks old

starfairy · 26/03/2007 22:25

3 months old.

Dd loves a story every night she goes to bed, & she has to "read" the story after me, she's 3.

losty · 26/03/2007 22:26

I have read to mine ever since they were able to sit and look at a book. I loe it. Some nights we dont read now, bnecuase they are too tired, but we always have nbooks off the shelf on the bed (alwasy done on my bed btw, and then they go to their own beds, always been that way too, even when tiny) if they are too tired we just lkook through the pictures. but now the good thing is that DS1 is reading so often reads to us. It is lovely. My m didnt read to me and I missed it (but still developed a passion for words) but it made me determined to read to my boys

PS it dioesnt have to be at bedtime btw, if your lo is falling askleep!

princesscc · 26/03/2007 22:28

I'm sure it was about six months. She used to like me to make up stories for her when she got a bit older. Not always easy to think on your feet, when all you really want to do in crawl into bed yourself!

DimpledThighs · 26/03/2007 22:31

really young - less than a year.

I think I did it because I thought I should - I don't know what diffrence it makes. Lot of pressure to get going with reading bedtime stories.

Second child just inherits the first borns stories anyway!

MadamePlatypus · 26/03/2007 22:31

before birth with DS. It was a wind down thing to do at bed time - the idea being that DS would get to know DH's voice. Don't know whether it worked or not but we read some good books. When DS was a baby DH would read to him/us as I fed him - it made the final feed less of a solitary affair. We read books for us rather than for him and it was a lovely part of the day. By about 18 months he really wanted his own story. Now DD (5 months) is fed while I read to DS and then gets her own story - one of those very simple baby books - as part of her bedtime routine. I think it is never too early.

losty · 26/03/2007 22:35

lovely to hear that it wernty on before birth. What a nice idea!

I second the thing about reading with a 1st child whilst feeding a second (or subsequent) I thnk it exposes them to books anbd stories as part of life from the beginning o their life. My bsecond son has alwasy loved books and will sit and emptyu a book case of books looking at each one and will sit and listen to stories read to him

ChasingRabbits · 26/03/2007 22:40

The feeding thing works early on, but I found once ds2 got to around 7mo that the books distracted him from the feeding, so I started separating bedtimes.

Agree that it definately doesn't have to be just bedtime.

shonaspurtle · 26/03/2007 22:41

From birth. I'm a sucker for children's picture books and dh loves the sound of his own voice... erm, I mean loves reading to ds

Dh keeps asking me to get more books because ds is getting "bored" of the ones we have - he can't even make out spoken words yet

I do love it though. They're never too young for looking at books and it's a nice excuse for a sit and a cuddle if nothing else.

frances5 · 26/03/2007 23:44

Stories don't have to be at bedtime.

We started bed time stories at about 12 months. My son started really enjoying bedtime stories at about two years old.

violetsmum · 26/03/2007 23:57

from pretty much the beginning - she's always had really good concentration too, and loves it - possibly not as much as I do...always read to her during the day too, specially if she just picks up a book - now 10 months old

violetsmum · 26/03/2007 23:58

Nursery rhymes and songs with pictures are good when they're really little

Aquababe · 27/03/2007 00:01

Womb, but she didn't get one every night.
my dh's idea.

katelyle · 27/03/2007 00:03

From before birth - and we're still reading bedtime stories 11 years later with no sign of them stopping!

jellybellynally · 27/03/2007 00:05

yes, before birth here too

violetsmum · 27/03/2007 00:06

from before conception...

mm22bys · 27/03/2007 05:55

We have a video of DH reading to DS1 when he's only a couple of weeks old.

As he got older he did definiitively not have the attention span to sit and listen, but now at 2.10 he just loves his books.

DS2 is only 4 months old but he loves being part of the pre-bed books too...

The earlier the better!

Mum2FunkyDude · 27/03/2007 07:24

Impossible with ds, 16 months, he wants to turn the pages so he "finishes" the book before I've even started the story, I'm now just giving him boardbooks with basic words and let him turn the pages. He has a bottle, which I have to hold, before bedtime and then it is straight to bed.

Original poster

thethirdwiseeasterbunny · 27/03/2007 22:49

Thanks for the replies, I do realise that you can read books at times other than bedtime and do!!! Like you mum2funkydude - my ds, turns all the pages quickly, but we persevere. I have always loved reading and think it's great to be able to pass this on to ds.
It's also lovely that some of you started so early, especially violetsmum

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