Baby screams and shrieks at books and tries to tear pages

[theotherfossilsister]

He's five and a half months old, and we'd love to read to him. We have lots of picture books and try and point at things, talk about the pictures etc, engage him. What are we doing wrong?

Literally nothing. Carry on as you are. Baby just sees the books as every other toy that they can grab at. They're a bit young to actually differentiate a book from a toy, I think.
Probably carry on as you are, but don't spend too long on one book- think 2/3 minutes would be plenty at that age.
Also think as baby gets older, you'll find that they'll focus more on the books and grab/mouth less.

Board books? Less possibility of tearing. Although they are great to chew on when teething

And soft cloth books.

You need cloth or board books. I he tries to chew/ tear them they will stand up better but at this age that is how babies interact with the world. Basically if he is trying to destroy a book he is enjoying it!

Nothing. Will he touch textures in board books?

This is what they do.

this is what board/thick card books are for.

My DS has been loving the “That’s not my…..” books. But storybooks they just don’t get yet.

He's a baby They just want to grab and mouth everything!

Get board books, but he might just not be interested for a few more months.

Another vote for board books. Babies chew them but it’s fine. Our library doesn’t charge for damaged board books as they accept that it happens.

Thank you. I'll try more board books. He has a big board book with sensory things in but shrieks at that. I also thought he'd like repetition abd rhythm so tried things like Gruffalo and Shark in the Park but he whinges and hits the page

This is totally normal.

Board books and plastic bath books.

Books at his age should mainly focus on different textures to explore, mirrors, flaps (you can get felt flaps that won't rip). And all made with board.

Try the “thats not my…” series, DD loved it and she’s pretty keen on books, “room on the broom” was her first favourite book and I was reading it to her over and over at 18 months. Let him hold them and manipulate the pages and chew on it. Don’t expect him to sit and listen to a story etc. picture books or sensory books will help build his vocab as well. “Oh look a yellow dog and a yellow duck” or “this feels soft, this feels rough”.

I think if you are trying to read the gruffalo to him you are skipping ahead too many steps. He doesn’t understand most of the words you use. reading him “long” texts is going to be fairly meaningless to him until he understands the words.

Ah sorry. Yes just keep up with the picture books, or leave them scattered around and let him pick them up himself. All of this is totally normal but at this age the world is still very fresh to them they want to hold things and lick them mainly.

I'd go for the softer textured books at that age - he will be able to engage with those. Or board books with textures incorporated. Others just won't be interesting to him yet! Our daughter is 17 months and we're still very much in the board books/books with flaps stage!

Books are for chewing and sucking at that age.

DS loved the That’s not my… books and a book called Mr Astronaut that had cloth lift up flaps and a mirror hidden behind the moon in the back page so he could see himself.
The moon has a large pink calpol stain which always makes me nostalgic!

Books at that age are more a sensory exploration and then getting them used to the idea of what to do with a book, like holding and turning pages.

You're probably about a year off from this yet. You're expecting too much too soon.

You need board books and cloth books and don't expect a 5 month old baby to do much else other than grabThis completely normal.

Go for cloth or board books. Persevere, but he may be a bit young. Dd loved books much earlier than ds did...

Is it shrieks of excitement, annoyance, frustration? You have to follow their lead at that age. Don't insist on reading all the text, or starting on page 1 and proceeding through. What does he do if you put him in front of a book on the floor, or if you open a book with him on your knee and see what he does without you trying to engage him?

Maybe you are a crap narrator and he is trying to critique your style? Only joking

Babies tend to focus on the last part of "read, learn and inwardly digest", all too literally.

I wouldn't actually read books like Gruffalo or Shark in the Park to him yet. There are too many words and he'll get bored. He won't understand the story at all. Just turn the pages, point at a few things in the pictures.and let him chew the books if he wants.

The gruffalo is too long for a 5 month old.

try shorter books like dear zoo or the that’s not my books. Nursery rhyme books too.
basically if it has flaps/colours/ textures you’re winning.