Reading to 6-month-old at bedtime - how to go about it?

[Zinger]

This is probably a really stupid question but I've been 'reading' board books with DS for months - he grabs them, turns the pages, looks at the pictures etc. But I want to introduce stories as part of his bedtime routine, and board books aren't really strong on storylines - in fact I think of them more as toys than books really. We have Winnie the Pooh, Moomins etc. - tried that but he seemed completely indifferent to Mummy droning on beside him with nothing for him to look at. In between lie the storybooks with colour pictures and paper pages aimed at older children - should I be reading these and showing him the pictures? I think he'll just try to grab them and get over-excited - not the idea at bedtime. I've heard people talk about reading to babies from about 2 months or earlier, so am a bit puzzled as to what that entails. Am I overcomplicating things? It just doesn't seem to work so far!

At this age we used books like 'Dear Zoo'- sorry can't remember author - basically picture (board) books with a very minimal text, and just chatted along really. Also unaccountably popular was a dreary one about the day in the life of a tractor. I don't think you need to be at all formal about 'reading' just chat about what comes up. As he gets older he may like a bit more 'story' try 'Bear' by Mike Inkpen, my ds loved that from about one. But its suprising how individual their tastes are, from about 18 months we used the library and we go thro about six or seven books a fortnight, some are loved and asked for again and again, others not. I think if he's grabbing pages and intent at 6 months that's a pretty good result, and you are doing fine .

We started reading to dd from the day she was born. At 6 months she loved the lift the flap books eg Dear Zoo, Peekaboo Park, and all the Daisy, Buster and Spot books. At least it gives you something to do, plus you can point out other things on the page. She used to kick her legs with joy at certain things!

Thanks Wild & Countess. Did you actually do this with your little ones in their cots? I suppose I'm cautious because at present I just put DS down in the dark after his bedtime feed, tuck him in, say night night and leave. Very wary of introducing something so potentially exciting at this time of day ...

Drat - just wrote a message and then internet explorer crashed!

Yes - reading is brilliant and we've done it more or less from day one. At 6 months it was mostly board books, and showing the pictures. Dear Zoo is fantastic - nice strong flaps to lift, great pictures.

By about a year we were doing some soft-backed story books too. But even then dd was most interested in having stuff named for her - she went through a phase of loving books with quite detailed pictures, e.g. Allen Ahlberg's Baby Catalogue.

From about 18 months she started to get the idea of simple stories e.g. Owl Babies (the mummy goes away: boo hoo, then she comes back: hurrah!), Mr Gumpy's Outing, Duck in a Truck etc etc. There's so much good stuff out there.

Now she's 2 and we sometimes find her sitting on the sofa 'reading' a book to herself. And she'll happily go and fetch books off the shelf for us to read to her forever - we usually get fed up first and beg to do something different!

We loved Peepo! by Allan and Janet Ahlberg. Fantastic illustrations, a "nursery rhyme" type story line and the hole you look through to see the next page makes it interesting for babies.

Each Peach, Pear, Plum, by the same people is also brilliant. Lots of details in the pictures and a lovely childish rhythmical story line.

Board format is best.

You can also get Gruffalo as a board book - a stry line that your ds will grow in to, but a book that he can chew now!

We do it after dinner and bath, before bottle then teeth clean then bed. Always been that way. There is a little armchair in dd's room and she sits on our laps in there.

I read to ds from day one, he would lie in my arms and I would look at picture books with him. Some had words and some didn't, and in that case I'd just talk about the pictures. He just liked listening to my voice an to the rhythm of the words - we read Peepo a lot. But a baby of six months is FAR too young for stories and yes, I do think you are overcomplicating things a bit. I used books during the day to entertain him with rhythm and colour and shape, not to tell him stories as such. Singing is good too, just nursery rhymes and lullabys. I wouldn't worry about using them as a bedtime routine thing yet. Maybe just sing him a song instead - I used to sing You Are My Sunshine and nursery rhymes. At six months you are just introducing the concept of books so books as toys are great. Board books, texture books, books he can chew and handle are all excellent things.

Aha - Waswondering, you've answered my question. That sounds lovely. I should've worked that out for myself really!
Thanks to everyone else for all the book suggestions etc. Keep them coming - I'm making a list!

Sorry Countess, posted that before reading your message. The timing thing does make sense.

Agree with everyone's book recommendations 100%. Am a huge Ahlberg fan and Dear Zoo is great, as are simple baby books with mirrors and lift the flap bits - the Spot books are good, and Maisy. I certainly didn't read to ds in his cot at six months, we did our reading on the sofa, all cosied up. Even now ds is nearly 3 and I get in bed with him to read him his bedtime story, which is lovely.

I have always read him poems too. Personally I love A Child's Garden of Verses, ds liked The Swing best.

Must second JanZ's mention of Peepo and Each Peach, Pear Plum ... totally fantastic.

If you're worried about excitement before bedtime - pick a story that is nice and calm. Maybe 6 months is a bit young to understand this, but there are several books that wind up with the protaganist going to bed, e.g. Peepo, also Shirley Hughes "Noisy" (which sounds boisterous, but really isn't and ends "All quiet, not a peep, everyone is sound asleep"

Agree with Wild - join the library! Then you can get loads of different sorts and see what works. We read the Mr Men books to dd at this age. But she quite liked going to sleep to the sound of Daddy droning on!

We loved: Clap Hands, All Fall Down, Say Goodnight and Tickle Tickle all by Helen Oxenbury - nice big board books, simple pictures, 4 pages with one line of simple verse on each page - got to the stage where our ds would do the 'actions' to the words. Was a bit sad when he out-grew (is that a word?) them.

2 books dd loved for a LONG time were "It's time to wash" and "It's time for bed" - fairly self explanatory, and good for end of the day reading. We did a combo of reading the words and talking about the pictures - the words were very basic, but plenty to talk about. (Nice too as they were produced an outfit called Bright Sparks - if you bought 2 books they donated a third to less fortunate children)

I went to several school fetes and nct sales and bought loads of baby books for around 5p or 10p each. Hence dd (10 months) has a crate full.

Ds has loved books with black and white close-up pics of babies' faces and simple text since he was a few months old; there's one called baby, boo! from Mothercare (others we got from NCT so probably out of print).
Is Dear Zoo the one where he sends each animal back unti he gets the one that suits him? Maybe I'm being a bit precious here but I found that quite worrying... never too young to learn respect for other living things!

Yes, it's a lovely thing to share with your children. Just introduce it as part of the bedtime routine. We sat on a chair just before putting ds1 in his cot from around six months and just looked at books and things progressed with his age. Six years on and we're halfway through Harry Potter (1st book). Also read to dd and hopefully by the time she's on HP, ds will be well able to read for himself. Ds2 is six months and the whole process is starting again. They love it and there's so much to be gained from it - being careful with books being one of them!

It's been a big part of our bedtime routine since she was about 11 months (obviously we read together before then but just not at bedtime) ... I introduced it so we could move her milk to before bath but still have opportunity for cuddle before bed.

We have a chair in her room so she sits on our laps, lights are dim and she has her special sleep toys with her. She loves Tiger Who Came to Tea, Monkey Puzzle, Dear Zoo, Spot, the Lettice Rabbit books, Paddington Bear and Winnie the Pooh picture books ... all sorts really.

She does get really excited and joins in at certain points (she's 18 months now) but then we have a cuddle and sing her a song then put her to bed. If I try to read to her when she's already in bed then she just stands up trying to get out so I find this works for her. I wouldn't be afraid to try books with a story in them, rather than just pictures ... Tiger who came to Tea is quite long but it has been a firm favourite since she was about 8/9 months old. I also got loads second hand very cheap - sometimes use the library too.

Wow, I'm impressed. I read bed time stories to my 2 year old every night (and have done since she turned 12 months) but certainly couldn't have been arsed to do that when she was a small baby - was too relieved to despatch her off to her cot. Now thinking I'm a bad mummy!

I've recently started making up stories for dd (2 and a bit) just because I remember my dad doing it for me. Now as well as her books she often asks for a 'her name' story - which just involves her toys, friends, activities etc She really likes this and I think it encourages her imagination.

This will make me sound mad but I used to read dd bits from from my uni course text books when she was a baby as it meant I had reading time and time with her we played games and read from her books then we would read mummy's books if nothing else it bored her to sleep and I got through my course. I think before a year it is teh introduction of the idea of reading and the pressnece and sound of your voice that matters as much as the reading material.

sorry havent read all messages.

Please relax about it. Don't do it because you think you should be. Your baby will let you know when he is ready for more. Six months is much too young for stories.

Dd2 didn't get the hang of stories until much later - agree with others that Dear Zoo or Presents (by the same auther and IMO even better for young ones) are perfect ones to start with. My two were both gripped by Julia Donaldson flap books like 'Rabbits Nap' and 'Hide and Seek Pig', but not until they were 11 months or so. Until then I used to let them gum on board books and play around with them as they wanted - I used to sing to them at nighttime instead. Now they hate my singing and both say 'No mummy!' if I attempt it .