https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 07 May 2026 08:23:59 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1912066 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 08:02:15 +0000 illumina 1912066@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mae: With my LO it varies...she was massively into them early on and then when she became mobile she had no time for sitting still, or books! Now at a year old she will often spend time sitting by herself going through her books. I find it quit stressful to read to her though...she won't really sit still with me and wants to turn the pages quicker than we can read! Does the same thing happen if your DH tries to read to her? She will sit so calmly with him reading for 10 minutes before bed, but not with me!</p> <p>Another idea for winding her down, but keeping her upright could be just walking around the house with her over your shoulder (like in the burping position) pointing out interesting things or looking out of the windows. I used to do this often with LO to calm her before naps. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1912064 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 08:00:39 +0000 Mrs. Twine 1912064@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Lorelei was a little over a year when she started to tolerate them, by 18 months she had favorites and would sometimes ask to be read to, and now at 2.5 is a book LOVER. You will get there. I actually did a post about encouraging reluctant readers (I think it was called "Reading is the New Black"). I learned a ton trying to get Lorelei interested in books! I think the best points I took away were, 1)Don't force it-- if they are miserable, just let it go (and yes, in the early months it meant we had some book-free days on multiple occasions), 2)Experiment with illustration style, topics, and book types (black and white pictures? flaps? touch-and-feel?) to get an idea of their preferences, 3)Use times of the day when they are more likely to be receptive (maybe if she's doing tummy time? sitting in a bouncer? just woke up from nap?), 4)Keep books handy around the house. We have baskets in most rooms that we spend time in. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1912063 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 08:00:22 +0000 twodoghouse 1912063@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mae: We do books as part of the bedtime routine after bath and before bottle/nursing. We actually don't do the 20 minute rule anymore! We're such rule breakers. But Alice has pretty much outgrown her reflux and Blake's spit up seems to be tied to quantity he eats and what I have eaten (so far he seems sensitive to caffeine, chocolate, tomato sauce, garlic and spicy foods). Also they fall asleep while eating usually (or immediately after bottle before I get a chance to nurse!) so we just don't mess around with the upright thing anymore. We wake Alice up a little to put her down awake-ish, but Blake does just as well going down all the way asleep since we did two nights of CIO last week.</p> <p>On a book-related note- I was talking to my aunt about this because she is a now-retired reading specialist. She thinks at this age the exposure to books is just as important as them listening to the whole story or paying attention to the pages. We read before naps, bedtime, and several times throughout the day and we rarely make it through a whole book with them showing interest. But getting them to touch the books and hear a few pages is just getting reading part of their lives at this point. We also have good luck with touch and feel books (Pat the Bunny, etc) because they are really into putting their hands/mouths all over everything right now! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1912053 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 07:51:09 +0000 MapleMoose 1912053@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have a cute picture of LO propped up on the couch "reading" her all time favorite book at about 4 months old. She always sat for the whole book and still does. But that's the only book she sits through in entirety. We've been reading to her since she was a month or two old. Around 9-10 months she started getting books from the basket or end table and bringing them to us to sit in our lap and read. Some of the longer books she just wants to flip the pages and point out pictures. Other times she wants the whole book read. She's 12 months now and we read frequently throughout the day. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1912048 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 07:43:23 +0000 edelweiss 1912048@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>we read to LO from day 1. once as he became mobile (i.e. no longer a captive audience), he had no interest in books. also not a cuddly baby. so many months we would read to him while he was crawling/wandering around the room, and doing anything except sitting down and paying attention to the book. at around 12 months, he actually showed interest. that lasted about 2 months. he went back to walking around the room while we read. then he became really interested in books, wanting us to read and read and read...now at 21 months, his interest is waning again. </p> <p>so for us it's been very up and down. we've done everything "right" in terms of reading to him every day and leaving books in various rooms and trying different kinds of books, so i'm just going to chalk up this behavior to my LO's personality. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1912040 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 07:30:19 +0000 Mae 1912040@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@twodoghouse: lol what do you do for the 20 min you have to hold your babes up post eating before bed?</p> <p>@Ree723: the reason I am doing books at bedtime is I started sleep training so I need to keep my lo awake but upright but not too stimulated for 20 min after her bedtime bottle bc she has reflux. I'm having a hard time filling that time!</p> <p>@looch: I haven't been for bedtime but I could try those! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1912005 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 07:03:31 +0000 Ajsmommy 1912005@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DD loved books from the beginning! I thought it was really odd but she still loves them to this day. I'd say she started to like them around 3-4 mos and she's now 11 mos and still loves them! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1912001 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 07:00:07 +0000 Tanjowen 1912001@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Starting around 5 months old he really took to the touch &amp; feel books. Now, at 10 months, he loves anything that makes noise and will crawl into our laps to sit and let us read to him - this usually means he is batting at the pages or pushing buttons, but he enjoys it! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911975 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 06:03:37 +0000 looch 1911975@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Are you using books with flaps, reflective surfaces, textures and such? My son LOVED those beginning around 4 months of age. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911955 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 05:06:58 +0000 Bubbles 1911955@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DS has had the patience for a bedtime story after his bottle since about 7 months. During the day he has just started bringing them to me at 10 months, but still will often decide the books need to be closed before I've finished! He is not a cuddly baby and trying to get him to sit on my lap never worked, I just sit by where he is playing and show him the pages. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911954 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 05:03:14 +0000 avivoca 1911954@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>She didn't get interested until about 10 months old, but all of a sudden she started bringing them to us and climbing in our laps to read. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911947 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 04:29:50 +0000 Mrs. Jump Rope 1911947@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mae: we didn't do bedtime books until she was after a year old. </p> <p>At 4/5/6 months I used to lay on the floor with her and read board books. Our favorites were moo Ba la la la, you are my sunshine.... Anything Sandra boynton, really. They were quick, fun reads and I'd point out the silly pictures and the colors. They were long enough that I'd have things to talk about but short enough that it kept her attention span.</p> <p>But by no means did we truly sit down and snuggle to read at that age! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911921 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 01:34:07 +0000 lemondrop 1911921@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My #1 didn't sit still for books until over a year old. At 2 1/2, he loves books and we can't have a bedtime or naptime without going through 2-3 books. My #2 loves books at 6 months. He definitely feeds off his brother's enthusiasm. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911917 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 01:05:47 +0000 Ree723 1911917@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DD1 has always been into books. I started reading to her at a few weeks old and she would lay there happily for up to an hour at a time whilst I read to her. Have you tried laying your DD down on the floor and laying next to her, holding the book above you both whilst you read? I'm fairly sure my DD would not have been happy to be held that whole time, but on the floor she could kick around and chew things whilst still looking at the pictures and listening. </p> <p>DD2 isn't as into books but to be fair, I haven't read to her specifically as much as I did with DD1 - she more gets the byproducts of me reading to my book obsessed DD1 throughout the day. At 8.5 months old though, she is now starting to take a much stronger interest once I start reading and will stop what she's doing to look at a story. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911908 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 00:23:38 +0000 erwoo 1911908@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Keep at it and don't give up on your reading routine. My oldest took to it very early. He still loves books at 5.5. My youngest, it took a while for him to start enjoying books and letting us read it from beginning to end. He used to make us stop a few pages in and off he went or he wanted another book. He's 2.5 now and loves books as well and will want multiple books to be read at bed time. I think he didn't start sitting through it until almost 20 months or so. My oldest sat through book since he was an infant. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911899 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 00:09:16 +0000 PurplePeony 1911899@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My DD is 10.5 months and she's loved to play with books for a few months now...but she doesn't like listening to us read them. She'll sit through maybe 2-3 pages and then be done. On her own, she'll pick a book up, turn pages, flip it around, etc. Around 9.5 months, she became obsessed with touch-and-feel books, but she couldn't care less about hearing the words. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911898 Thu, 23 Oct 2014 00:07:32 +0000 lamariniere 1911898@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My son was interested at 9 months. He was also particularly patient and could sit in my lap and be attentive while I read several stories, not touch the books or try to destroy them. By 11 months, we could read for 20-30min with him paying attention the whole time. </p> <p>My DD is 10 months and is only just starting to be interested, but she is more hands on and we can't read more than one short one at a time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911893 Wed, 22 Oct 2014 23:48:31 +0000 jhd 1911893@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My LO is just a few weeks older than yours and genuinely loves books. It probably just depends on the baby. One of his favorites is "The Babies on the Bus" board book. It's brightly colored &amp; I sing the song (like The Wheels on the Bus). I just ordered a Twinkle Twinkle Little Star board book for him for Christmas because that's his favorite song. We usually read in bed in the morning after his first bottle and before his first nap. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911889 Wed, 22 Oct 2014 23:41:02 +0000 twodoghouse 1911889@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My kids are obsessed with books. You know, trying to eat the corners, trying to rip them out of my hands, trying to bang Sophie against them. I'm voting for this is normal at this age? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911837 Wed, 22 Oct 2014 22:02:46 +0000 fairy 1911837@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My DD has always liked looking at them and touching the pages even when really really young like a few weeks old, but she really got into them at about 11 months when she started bringing them to me to read all the time! I've read to her everyday since she was a newborn (used to do it during tummy time to get her to stop crying) :) and now at 16 months she wants to read all the time, and even "reads" to our cats.</p> <p>Sounds like what your LO is doing is normal - sometimes they are really focused on new things like crawling or something new they found. I found that reading while she was eating or relaxed or while she was in her play gym got the best focus haha. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911832 Wed, 22 Oct 2014 21:57:49 +0000 autumnlove 1911832@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>15-16 months. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911830 Wed, 22 Oct 2014 21:56:50 +0000 blackbird 1911830@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>11 months? One day she just started to sit in our lap while we would read. Honestly I didn't even start reading to her before 8 months because she had zero interest. </p> <p>I'm so sick of reading to her sometimes now lol! Now she wants The Nose Book ten times in a row. It'll come :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911815 Wed, 22 Oct 2014 21:46:17 +0000 MamaChin 1911815@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DS was obsessed from the get go, he'll sit and listen to 20 books if I'll read them. DD is 7 months and has no patience for reading. She's only interested when I'm reading to them both, but only to eat the book. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911774 Wed, 22 Oct 2014 21:04:51 +0000 Skadi 1911774@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Six months. She learned to turn the pages and might enjoy doing that as much as the pictures or anything else (she's almost 9 months now). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911772 Wed, 22 Oct 2014 21:03:46 +0000 MOMTOLITTLEB 1911772@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My little guy is 10 months and will tolerate a short story. I've noticed over the past month or so he seems more interested. Unfortunately we haven't worked it into bedtime but a few times a day I'll sit on the floor and read and sometimes he'll crawl over to join me. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911769 Wed, 22 Oct 2014 21:02:22 +0000 Synchronicity 1911769@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The LO I nanny had zero interest until she was just over a year old (and they read to her a lot). Now, at 19 months, she is obsessed. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-babychild-start-liking-books#post-1911765 Wed, 22 Oct 2014 20:59:39 +0000 Mae 1911765@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So we've been reading to LO every day (or almost every day) since she was a few weeks old, and for the last few weeks we've incorporated a book every night at bedtime as part of her new sleep training bedtime routine.</p> <p>But she hates books. She's 5 mo and she just doesn't get it at all. She isn't a super cuddly baby so she doesn't really like being held for no purpose (i.e. if I"m not carrying her somewhere, feeding her, or rocking her to sleep, I best set her down because she's got important baby shit to do and I'm cramping her style) and I think that she just isn't interested in books at all at this point. I try using voices and showing her the pictures but she just whines and squirms to try to get out of my lap. </p> <p>I'm assuming this is probably pretty normal at 5mo? But I'm wondering at what point babies start to get more interested and engaged in books. </p>