Introducing Reading!

If you are reading books for her age level (board books) she will sit still for a few minutes, which are all these books require her to do, as they are short.

My daughter loves, 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' and Baby Bear, Baby Bear'. She will know take the books by herself and you can hear her say "baby bear baby bear". She is seventeen months old.

Another favorite is 'The Belly Button Book'.

Good luck...early habit making now will create a life long love of reading.

In my opinion, they are never too young for you to start reading to them. I read to my babies and they are grown, but their vocabulary is extraordinary and they still read. They always did well on their tests. I always tell my students about the importance of reading so go ahead and start now.

My daughter is 16 months. I guess we started reading to her right away. At first she did not seem interested at all! From 6 months to 13 months she really wanted to eat the books, but she did love the Peek-A-Boo books where she could turn the flaps. She liked turning pages of board books then too but she's usually turn way too fast. Now she has favorite books. She will go get them and bring them to me. She loves Goodnight Moon and will look at it herself and say "bye bye" and wave at each page (she's trying to say "goodnight"). She loves books with dogs and bears and will get all excited and say "woof woof" and "Bah!!!!". She also loves books on babies. One we have is called Baby Faces and she really likes it. We ask her to point out the baby's eye, nose, mouth. She just started doing this in the last month. When she was younger she would not sit still. I would read to her anyway even if she was walking around me. Sometimes I would carry her and walk and hold the book out with my other hand and read it. Now she will sit next to me or on my lap and she seems to really enjoy it for a little bit anyway! Yay! Have fun reading!!

I started reading to my son as soon as we were home from the hospital, so i'm not sure about INTRODUCING reading, but I'd say at that age, pick up some board books, things with a few words on a page.

My son and I read Goodnight Moon every night for about the first two years. The Going to Bed Book is another bedtime favorite.

She probably won't sit still very long, but if you make it part of bedtime, you can nurse her, then read when she's already quiet and sleepy.

Have fun,
T.

I highly recommend Karen Katz "lift the flap" board books. These are the books that I started reading to my son when he was a tiny baby. He's 4 now and he still enjoys the books. The books are interactive - your little one can lift the flap to see what's behind it. The colors are bright and the stories are easy to read. This is a great starter set: Baby's Box of Fun, which includes these books: Where Is Baby's Belly Button; Where Is Baby's Mommy?; Toes, Ears, & Nose Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/Babys-Box-Fun-Lift---Flap/dp/068903...

These books are great - I have all the holiday ones (I almost have all the books!!) Currently I am reading the "Where is Baby's Valentine" book w/ my son.

Here's a listing of all her books: http://www.amazon.com/Karen-Katz/e/B001H6TYBW/ref=ntt_ath...

I promise you that your little one will enjoy these books! Reading to our little ones is so precious. I look forward to this every night w/ my son.

We loved the "Pat the Bunny" books as well as other touch and feel books. This way I could read the words and my little one could interact with the book. Later, lift the flap books were added to our library.

Go to the baby section in Barnes & Noble. They have all the classics like "Goodnight Moon" and "I'll Love You Forever" and other cute little books for bedtime reading. Get board books that she can play with without damage. Start with "Goodnight Moon" (short and baby friendly) maybe before or after you nurse, and then find your own favorites. My daughter had one for her daughter that involves kisses on fingers, ears, toes, and so on that she loved. I can't think of the name. Have fun with this, it is never too early to instill the love of books!

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Go to the baby section in Barnes & Noble. They have all the classics like "Goodnight Moon" and "I'll Love You Forever" and other cute little books for bedtime reading. Get board books that she can play with without damage. Start with "Goodnight Moon" (short and baby friendly) maybe before or after you nurse, and then find your own favorites. My daughter had one for her daughter that involves kisses on fingers, ears, toes, and so on that she loved. I can't think of the name. Have fun with this, it is never too early to instill the love of books!

Wonderful that you're starting early with the reading! Here are some tips and full article and more at the link below. Also a link about reading and sign language:

http://blogs.goddardsystems.com/Cedar-Park-TX/2009/08/10/...

http://blogs.goddardsystems.com/Cedar-Park-TX/2009/12/22/...

Put reading books and signing together, and you have a double dose of language development! Not only can we empower our children by giving them the opportunities to share what’s on their minds, but also we can help develop their imagination, verbal and language skills.

In a study conducted by Marilyn Daniels, she showed that signing with books increases reading readiness, develops literacy skills, and enhances comprehension. When we sign while reading, we teach children to read and scan the most important words in a sentence.

I think I read to mine from the day they were born. Maybe nurse 1st, and then read a story before bed. Then slowly shorten and get rid of the nursing if that is what you want to do.

I started reading to my daughter when we were still in the hospital. At 1, she was very into the touch and feel books. Now at almost 2, she still loves to be read to, but also likes to "read" them herself. As for sitting still, read very short books and feel free to summarize until her attention span increases.

I would read to my kids as they played in the tub. It would relax both of us.

You can start at birth. There are adorable little books that you can show her with lots of enthusiasm--the cardboard ones work well. A favorite of my little 4-month old grandson is what we call his "bubble book"--with baby Sesame Street characters taking a bath, also touch and feel ones with animals, especially familiar ones. Any book that she can sit on your lap and see and hear your enthusiasm helps her learn to love books. Don't worry about reading the exact words, just have fun with it!

I read to myself while nursing (only thing that kept me awake for the 1.5 job in the middle of the night - avg 45min nursing, 45 min burping). I'd sometimes read out loud, but more often read silently.

Probably right around a year I started reciting poetry to him before bed (Eugene Fields, mostly, and some Kipling, and a lot of 'anonymous')... the rhythm helped him fall asleep. Also somewhere in between 1yo & 18mo we started heading over to Barnes & Nobel (giant bookstore) a couple times a week. He'd play with the Thomas the Tank Engine set and we'd look for books to buy (meaning *I* looked for kid's books that didn't bore me). More often than not, we didn't get a kid's book, but I got an adult book*

I BEST piece of advice I ever got with reading to kids is to read books YOU like. You liking them translates in 100 different ways nonverbally, ditto if you're bored/ don't like them/ think THEY should like them. The best way to keep a child's interest is to actually be interested in something yourself. This meant our book list was actually pretty short, as most kids' books (imo) are pretty terrible. There are some *great* ones out there, but there's also just a lot of garbage.

* I didn't read to kiddo regularly. I myself, however, read voraciously. So I just waited for him to ask. From our rainy day bookstore jaunts we had probably about 20-30 kids' books on the shelves/floor. When I was bored, I'd occasionally bring one out... and as soon as he started wanting to chew on it (board book) I'd hand it to him and start reading my own book. Then he started copying me. Gradually it shifted to HIM bringing out books and we'd read and read and read. I'd mess up the words from time to time to have him laugh and correct me. I'd always trace the line of words with my fingers.

By 2ish, without trying at all kiddo knew all of his letters. (Of course, some of the books were alphabet books... like Dr Seuss's ABCs... Aunt Annies Aligator! A, a, a! to Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz... why I am! - I haven't read these books in at least 4 years, pick your books wisely, you'll memorize them by heart). We also stumbled across www.starfall.com at right around age 2. HUZZAH! (I have an adhd-c kiddo, didn't know it at the time, of course... but that was my only hour of peace all day, him playing with his letters and words on starfall while I did the dishes, took a shower, etc.). The downside is that he was reading simple things by 2.5, and reading fluently by 3. ((The downsides of a reading toddler are enormous, but I won't go into them now)).

I actually read a LOT more to kiddo once he was fluent in reading than before he was fluent in it. I'm adhd-c myself, and get caught up in things. So when I'm reading out loud I do the voices I hear in my head. Kiddo LOVED silly voice books... so we did a lot of kid's books that leaned toward expressive reading. We'd often "test" how good a book was at the store by sitting and reading it out loud. If you get very wrapped up in the story you can end up with a whole garden of children at your feet the next time you look up. <grinning> Which is fun.

ANYHOW... never too young to start, but keep in mind that kid's learn far more from modeling then telling... and that they *pick up* on your frustrations (aka don't make it a chore), and your boredom (choose wisely).

*** PS ***

My son DROPPED reading like a ROCK at age 4. He'd found numbers, and moved on. He still has apx the same reading level now at age 8, as he did at age 4. Kids DO go through phases. I thought I had a bibliophile on my hands and was dead wrong. He loves stories, sure. But not reading. Reading he can do, but doesn't really enjoy it. Math, science, movies/filming he loooooooooves... but while he's very competent at reading, it's just not his schtick. As a writer, I've had to really check my ego on that one.

I hate that I cant see the other answers when writing on my cell. Was just going to say that my babe will be 1 in a week. She no longer breastfeeds but even when she still did we read books to her anytime she was calm and relaxed so that she would equate reading with enjoyable activities. Now she has gotten into the habit of bringing us books and crawling into our laps. She doesn't sit still long, she mostly just likes to open and close them and clap but its good practice. We keep her baby books within her reach. most of them are half eaten but she's getting over that;) id say just get her lots of fabric and board books she can't destroy easily and let her play with them like toys for a while. I think eventually with you reading to her she will begin to initiate the reading.....happy tales!

It's never to early to start. I think I started around 4 or 6 months. It's best to start with board books or very short stories. Even the books that just have pictures with the word written underneath are a great start.

Have your daughter sit on your lap or next to you when you read. Give her the opportunity to look at the pictures. Do now allow her to hold the book at this point. Once she understands that books are not toys and she's ready, let her hold the book and turn the pages.

Have fun.

Anytime is a good time, any book will do as long as you read to her. I started about 4 months with "On the Night you were Born" then I moved to the cardboard books, a simple book of colors the cover had a baby that looked similar to her and she loved the colors I would say them to her in English and in Spanish. She is now 10 months old and I have a book called "Mommy Hugs" that she loves to have read to her at bedtime. As long as the book has bright colors she will love it. By the way my niece is also into Harry Potter as well and would read to her and she liked it too. Her soft voice when reading it made it fun for her. As I said any book will do. Good Lucky!!

I started reading to my son while he was still in the womb. It's never too early.

Board books and touch and feel-type books are great for a one-year old. Several have mentioned Pat the Bunny, but there are others that are great. My little one loved the Eric Carle books. When buying books I tend to gravitate towards Caldecott award winners. Some are better for little ones than others, but you know you are getting quality literature when you buy a book that has been awarded the Caldecott medal.

You could have started before she was born. You could have started when she was born. You could certainly start NOW.

For now, start with smaller/shorter board books. As time goes on, increase the level of books you read. My daughter is four and now has us read multiple books to her each day. She sits and looks through/studies the page. She will read the few words she can read and retell the story or read the pictures. She loves learning.

My son on the other hand always cried everytime we tried to read to him. He still dislikes reading but is a sophomore at college. He is amazed at his sister and I believe secretly wished he had liked it early on which would have made school a lot easier.

Definitely start reading to her now! "Good Night Moon" is one of my absolute favorites!!! I suggest waiting until she is much older for Harry Potter (I can't wait to start that with my son too), but she definitely isn't too little to begin the reading process now. Read a book or two each night, and you will captivate her! :)