https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 03 May 2026 15:35:24 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-just-wants-to-eat-books#post-2740018 Thu, 25 May 2017 10:55:01 +0000 looch 2740018@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is making me chuckle out loud, because my son never put books in his mouth (because he was a pacifier addict) and now, as he's finishing up Kindergarten, I can tell already that to make him sit down and actually read a book won't fly with him.</p> <p>I really think that you can do all the exposure to books, reading aloud, modeling reading, and on and on, but in the end, the process is driven by the person themselves. My husband is way smarter than I am and he never read much either.</p> <p>So don't worry, it doesn't mean anything! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-just-wants-to-eat-books#post-2740013 Thu, 25 May 2017 10:51:35 +0000 meganmp 2740013@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It is part of literacy development! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-just-wants-to-eat-books#post-2740004 Thu, 25 May 2017 10:45:40 +0000 Coral 2740004@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Don't worry! 7 months is SO young! DS has ripped his books to shreds, ripped off the flaps, chewed on them...they look awful but he loves them! Board books are like training wheels for handling "real books" so I let him interact with them however he wants. I do have a collection of nice picture books (not board books) that he can't get to at this time. I had the same dilemma that you have but now, at nearly 2 years old, he knows how to open a book, turn the pages, and pretends to read. I think it's because I let him have at them. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-just-wants-to-eat-books#post-2739981 Thu, 25 May 2017 10:21:05 +0000 Mrs. Blue 2739981@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The twins ate books. Then they jumped on them. Then they ran around with them. I was so disappointed because I love to read and thought my kids really just hated reading. Finally around 2, they actually started listening and looking at them. Now (at 4) they are voracious, little soon-to-be readers. They would happily listen to stories all day long, I think. </p> <p>Graham on the other hand loovved story time from the time he was little bitty. He would sit still for books long before the twins ever did. I know by 7 or 8 months we were reading short board books over and over to him. </p> <p>Every kid is different. Just keep trying and know a few books may be sacrificed to slobber and/or too much toddler energy someday, but if you keep reading one day, he'll sit down and kind of listen and before you know it, you'll be having to limit how many books you read a bedtime or it will go on forever! :grin: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-just-wants-to-eat-books#post-2739966 Thu, 25 May 2017 10:06:10 +0000 thepicklemonster 2739966@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks all! This makes me feel better. And, just because, here he is in action on our recent NYC trip :) </p> [attach=7022/17/oqikma.337x600.IMG_7588.JPG] https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-just-wants-to-eat-books#post-2739931 Thu, 25 May 2017 09:17:49 +0000 tlynne 2739931@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>LO will grow out of it. I had a book eater/thrower (DS1) until he was two and a half, when he began loving books. Now, he's an avid reader. DS2 is completely different and has ALWAYS loved being read to...but hated touch/feel books for the longest time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-just-wants-to-eat-books#post-2739918 Thu, 25 May 2017 08:58:30 +0000 T.H.O.U. 2739918@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>They are just too young. Around a year my kids would bring a book over and want to read. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-just-wants-to-eat-books#post-2739914 Thu, 25 May 2017 08:50:00 +0000 sauerkraut 2739914@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I was so sad that my baby didn't love cuddling and reading books together at that age. But now, at 11 months, something seems to have clicked and she'll now sit in my lap and pay attention to a book. She will even bring over a favorite book and say "up" to initiate reading. She still gets bored with it sometimes, and will flip through all the pages of a book super fast, then crawl away if she's not into it, but the difference from when she was just a little younger is really heartening to me. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-just-wants-to-eat-books#post-2739903 Thu, 25 May 2017 08:35:56 +0000 snowjewelz 2739903@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Mine didn't try to eat books, but DD1 wasn't THAT into books as a baby, and now at 2.5 she loves to read! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-just-wants-to-eat-books#post-2739888 Thu, 25 May 2017 08:27:57 +0000 Mrs. Starfish 2739888@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I can't tell you how many of our board books have bite marks from this! My girls also became so obsessed with some of the "touch and feel" objects in their books that they are nearly ripped out of the pages. </p> <p>But probably the funniest is that they love to lick pages. Anything that is "smell" oriented (smell the flowers, etc), instead they lick them. So then all the pages stick together. It's gross, but I try to tell myself that as long as they are interacting with their books, it's a good thing!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-just-wants-to-eat-books#post-2739841 Thu, 25 May 2017 07:26:48 +0000 erinbaderin 2739841@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We give my son an extra book so that he can chew one (he also likes to use it to hit the book I'm reading) while we read other ones. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-just-wants-to-eat-books#post-2739805 Thu, 25 May 2017 05:39:13 +0000 babypugs 2739805@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Librarian here-- totally normal and even good! That's one of the many ways that little ones experience books. I know it's annoying, but keep at it and you'll have a book lover in no time. :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-just-wants-to-eat-books#post-2739804 Thu, 25 May 2017 05:27:48 +0000 MrsF 2739804@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't know if my son chewed on them (he chewed on everything else, so probably) but he haaaated books as a baby and used to start screaming as soon as we were reading or tried to involve him while reading to his big sister. DD had always loved books so I was a little worried. I can't remember when it switched, but he's 2 now and has enjoyed being read to for a long time. Just a phase! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-just-wants-to-eat-books#post-2739803 Thu, 25 May 2017 05:10:39 +0000 kitty 2739803@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My son did the same thing and ruined my similar fantasies of snuggly reading! He grew out of it but not before ruining the edges of some books. I figured any interactions he was having with books were okay in the eary stages and just let him go. Now we talk about how books are not for stepping on/chewing/throwing and he's good 😊 I think it turned good at about a year or so. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/baby-just-wants-to-eat-books#post-2739801 Thu, 25 May 2017 04:43:02 +0000 thepicklemonster 2739801@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This seems ridiculous but I have insomnia at 2:30 am, so why not post this lingering question I have... My DS is 7 months old and it seems impossible to read to him because he just wants to put the book and in his mouth! Whenever I try to read, he literally wrestles the book out of my hand the ENTIRE time. I'm lucky if I am read two words before I give up. He has two teeth but isn't getting any new ones right now. He'll grow out of this, right?! (Totally not a serious problem, I know, but I had envisioned sitting in the glider snuggled up and reading to my little guy and it's not happening!) </p>