Baby doesn't like books :/

[jinglet]

I have a 5 month old who I've tried reading to since birth. Sadly, he'll look anywhere else but at the book. He shows no interest in any of it. Should I give up? Try again when he's a little older?

I was totally useless at putting on a performance for my babies until they were more interactive so I can’t say I even bothered that much with books at that age. At 20mo and 4yo they are both mad for books and we have shelves and shelves groaning with them so I really wouldn’t worry yourself.

Have you tried dear zoo. Or where Mrs zebra these are flappy books and my son loves them he's had them since 4 months andbow 18 months. Also you can also read to babe when they are playing even of not sitting on your lap this is good for development as they are still taking in words and hearing your voice. Abe really interactive when reading books make noises point to the pictures and descripte them. I do this with my son as he loves mog books sits for them and they are quite long but he knows it's his cat books 😂

My LO thinks books are for taking off the shelves and for chewing. I'm hoping he'll show an interest at some point in the next 17 years.

*Leave books until your baby is 1. 5 month olds are not interested in books!,
Even if the child isn't interested in the pieces of bound paper, they will still enjoy the focused attention, the sound of the parents voice, the repetitive pattern of you reread the same books etc.
Don't give up OP, just keep the books very short, colourful / noisy / fun, let him manhandle and chew and explore them, make them just part of his toys so it normalises them.

DH, who is nearly 4 and oy really started verbalisong even vaguely clearly a few months ago, always amazes me with how much of his books he can recite. He has hundreds but always wants the same few tad!!

I think this is a nice thing to be worried about!
My 5 month old won’t sit and listen to a story either. What he does like though is propped up board books to look at whilst doing tummy time. I lay down with him and turn the pages and talk about the pictures.

Definitely stick to it and allow him to flip the pages. But make sure it's thick board books as he won't be able to flip normal thin pages. This will keep him interested. But even if it doesn't he'll love books in a few months when he's a little older!

@notacooldad stop underestimating children. My son began flipping book pages at 4 months and loved books since he would sit on his own.

At that age, mine liked the ones with pictures of other babies in them or the puppet ones like calm down boris but that was more to do with the moving puppet.
Don’t worry about it but keep trying?

When my DD was that age, I come home from one baby group and wept. Everyone else was talking about how much their baby adored books, but the only interest my DD had in them was eating them.

DD was recently rejected from Oxford, so it’s clearly evidence of future academic failure .

Agree it's nothing to worry about. Keep books around though.

At some point he'll suddenly like diggers/farm animals etc and want to look at them in any context, including books. Flaps, textures and noises are a bonus.

You can always use the book as a screen for playing peekaboo in the meantime!

Bless you, he is too young to do anything but drool on a book. Maybe gnaw it if he is advanced.

notacooldad stop underestimating children. My son began flipping book pages at 4 months and loved books since he would sit on his own.

Why have I have been singled out?
Others have said at that age they have a concentration of a nano second. Some one else told her to calm her tits!!! Some one else tod her time chil followed by a Jeez but you picked up on my list because either I said the kid was 5 months and not 5 or I said what if the child never became interested because it's not every childs thing?
So what was your issue with me but not the others lovely36?

The first book that my DS ever showed an interest in was one that we got from the health visitor which had pictures of babies with different faces on each page - happy, sad, silly, peekaboo. Think he was maybe 7 months or so then, not sure. Later we moved to Dear Zoo. He’s now 2 and a half and although he loves books and makes us read about 5 to him every bedtime it’s still mostly about us talking about the pictures together- he knows all his ABC and can count up to thirty so he’s no slouch but he doesn’t really care yet about the narrative arc . So put that in context of a 5 month old- you have literally years before you’ll be enjoying actual stories together. We definitely didn’t try to read bedtime books until he was at least 18 months.

Have you tried musical books? DS wasn't interested until I bought a book that has buttons on each page that he can press to play a sound. Eg, on a page with a horse, the button neighs, on another one with a star you get the first line of Twinkle Twinkle. He now goes to that book before any other, and often plays with it instead of his toys.

My DD2 was not interested in books at all as a baby, she'd just eat them or try and rip out the pages and as she got a bit older she would just turn the pages before I could even read what was on it! She definitely preferred more tactile books with flaps, different textures to feel like the "that's not my..." series. My first DD loved just listening to stories as a baby to the point where I'd have to lift any flaps and move her hand to make her touch a different texture! They're all so different. Now at 2 and 4 years old they both can't get enough of books. DD2s interest definitely grew the more she child actually understand language. Don't lose hope!

My children were the same as - when very small they were only interested in books with clear photos of babies in them. This was what was recommended for tinies at the time (90s)

The point is to sit with child and talk to them. So reading simple words and turning pages. They will enjoy the repetition.

They will benefit from the attention but get baby books they can chew and handle .

They will benefit from the attention but get baby books they can chew and handle
There many ways to give babies attention.. I used to have mine on my hip and stir food talking all the time , or hold him in my arms dancing to a cd, it doesn't have to be a book. If it's not working out just leave it a month or two rather than getting stressed about it and do something else.
As long as there is lots of eye contact and talking I don't see the problem.

At that age, I alternated between simple interactive books (like the That's Not My...) from the library, singing and just talking about random crap, at bedtime, if DS wasn't too tired, and always had books we didn't mind being chewed around. He didn't show much interest, but these were more interesting to him than any other books.

I'm not entirely sure when the transition happened, but at 20 months, we read two stories a night, he has definite favourites that get read most nights, and he has a box full of picture books - some quite long - in the lounge that he digs into nearly every day, presenting one to the nearest (willing or unwilling!) adult. He also still has plenty of interactive books he looks at independently.

Basically, though, I would recommend just having books available. Making them as appealing as any other toy/activity. Some children don't enjoy books until later on, but being surrounded by them does help.

I read to mine from birth. Just keep going and choose repetitive books or books with sounds.

I think at this age you’re reading more for your sake, which is fine. I liked to read books with a really bouncy rhythm and rhyme, as well as some of my favourite children’s books or poetry just for the sake of reading.

The first book my Son ever paid attention to was this one, so board books that have shiny holographic pictures or high contrast Black and White images are good. Also the cloth books that make a crinkly sound are good.

Oops, forgot the picture.

I can’t post my picture but it is Twinkle Twinkle from the Amazing Baby series.

Not showing an interest in books at five months is nothing to worry about. Honestly most five month old babies probably want to play with rattles/teddies/anything that spins or makes crinkly sounds and want to eat anything within reach so I can see why a book wouldn’t be interesting to him!

At 5 months mine were reading Dickens.