When did you start reading to your baby?

[1stimeboymum]

Just that. My son is 4 months (3 corrected) and I haven't started to read to him yet as he doesn't seem interested. Should I be reading to him or does it not really matter at this age?

While pregnant (baby books not Dostoyevsky), which are mainly pictures anyway. I'd read about them becoming familiar with your voice and thought it would be lovely to read them to them again when they could focus on the pictures- that they might on some level be familiar with them already.

Like when you play certain music and it soothes them when they're born.

I kept reading to them both until they were moody pre-teens and booted me out of their rooms.

From 3 months when we started a loose bedtime routine.

I read to mine from birth because I'm an avid reader. So we'd sit an nurse and I'd read aloud whatever I was reading. Switched to kid books from about 4m- mainly because I was finding it difficult to concentrate. Reading a story became part of our bedtime routine. Now at 2 he likes to 'read' to himself. Obviously he can't read, but he takes the book and goes through all the pages one by one. I hope he starts letting me read to him again soon though as there's so many children's books I want to share with him 😊, but I take his interest in looking at them by himself as a sign that he'll be a reader too.

From as soon as baby arrived home. My voice was soothing and helped calming, and now, at 8 months it's a daily ritual after breakfast and before bed.

I read whatever I was reading out loud to DS1 before we moved on to picture books at around 6 months. He still insists on 3 books every evening but has no interest in reading himself (even though he can!).

From about 6 months, I mainly used to do singing with puppets before then. My 15 month old is not very into stories but loves the lift the flap books and the words books with lots of different pictures. He seems to gravitate to the pages with food pictures and most of his vocab is food related!

From a few weeks old, but we really ramped it up around 6 months as DC grew so keen. I read a great quote somewhere that said something like: "picture books aren't just for children, they're for the space that parents and children share". It's a moment of togetherness, leafing through interesting pictures and enjoying the rhythm and sound of the story (rhyming books are always a big hit at our house). Pick books you like - your enjoyment will rub off. And don't feel you have to stick to simple board books - mine loved proper picture books (the kind meant for ages 2-6ish) from babyhood (although went through an unfortunate phase of ripping them too).

We did from day 1 - obviously they had no clue what we were talking about at first but it was a good way to pass the time and they seemed to enjoy the interaction/attention :)

Very very early. Hes 11 months now and loves books.

Probably from around the time they could sit up. However I sang nursery rhymes from day 1. I sing like a crow and only to my small children, but I think the repetition and rhythm are really helpful for language acquisition.
All tiny children seem entranced by “Pop Goes the Weasel”, “Tommy Thumb”, Two Little Dicky Birds” etc.., with actions. They anticipate and get very excited from very little.

I liked the fact that a nursery rhyme is manageable on 3 hours sleep and 2 brain cells.

From birth on and off, every day from about 3 months

With DD, we started when she was a week old, mainly as part of her bedtime routine. She absolutely loved it and as she grew became an avid reader. Her grasp of language was phenomenal and she left primary school (an inner city one - we were poor and live in a deprived area), her SATs score in English was in the top two per cent of the country. I don't know if the reading from an early age made a difference really, but that's what I put it down to.

She's now almost sixteen, and although she's expected to achieve a grade 9 at GCSE English, I don't think she's voluntarily read a book in two years. She lost the bug once she became a teenager, which makes me a little sad, but ultimately its up to her what she does with her time.

DS is fourteen months old. I started reading to him when he was a day old, which might seem ridiculous, but it was more about intimacy. He absolutely loves books, but isn't actually reaching his developmental milestones, so who knows if it's actually doing any good. We all enjoy it though.

I'd say DS actively disliked books until about 9 months, then tolerated them until about 1 when he became very very interested! He's always been very active so bedtime has always been a last burn of energy rather than any relaxing time! We have just had a long chat about when the library is reopening!

Baby DD gets to listen to her brother's stories most nights and I show her suitable picture books but she's showing the same lack of enthusiasm at this stage.

I read to mine every day, he’s 3 months. He obviously doesn’t understand any of it but he likes the pictures and it’s a good habit to get into.

Immediately - used to read my Kindle out loud whilst he was feeding.

In terms of being propped on my lap with a book, I did it every other day but never fit much interest until 6-7 months. But DS got really good at turning the pages of board books and now at 13 months will take himself off to a corner with a book or two to leaf through. It’s adorable.

Mine are 14, 11 and 9.

I figure I'll start one day....

But seriously, I just talked to mine. Though I did read DD(14) the Harry Potter books a few years ago. I'm going to read them to my 11 yo soon. Might see if I can convince my 9yo to join us so I don't have to do it a third time.

Day 2 of his life.

From about a month old. Reading has been enormously important to me personally and I wanted to share that with my DD. I read poetry to her at the start, for the sing-song nature of it; now we read everything from books I loved when I was a kid, to Julia Donaldson (her personal favourites).

Baby is 4 months and read with him since he was first born, but recently most days. Often when we first wake up in the morning and then usually a book a couple of times though at some point in the day. He definitely looks at the pages more now.

In womb! They love the sound of your voice and cuddling up, start reading now! Have a bedtime story routine. Young babies are meant to like simple pictures, black and white to start with. One of mine was happy being read anything too, the other one preferred baby books only and was very opinionated on what we read to him! Not at 4 months but later on! Reading a book to someone is about spending time, being close, hearing loved ones voices, they don't need to interact and point at the pictures to enjoy and benefit from books!

@PolytheneHam don't be disheartened, I stopped reading for a few years in late teens, but started again and love reading more than ever now!

A couple of weeks old, i m dyslexic and since it can be genetic I thought I better start early in case it makes a positive difference for him as it seemingly did for me

From birth. He was a very unsettled baby, but reading to him calmed him. We didnt read baby books until he was a couple of months old, but he did like listening to the Communist Manifesto when he was newborn for some reason.

As soon as we bought our son home from hospital. It's a lovely bonding experience for all three of us. Can't wait until the libraries are back open and I can get him a membership.

I have read to my daughter every day since she was 10 days old. Bath time book and a bedtime story after her bottle.