Reading to LO - help please

DiFazette

We haven't been as diligent in reading to LO as I'd like to be. Partly because he tries to either eat the book, or tear out the pages. Also partly because the only time he sits still is when he's eating or sleeping. He loves when we sing to him, so we do lots of that instead. Any suggestions that might help us be more successful?

coffeeandbooks

you could do the board books....that way if he does eat them it is no biggie...also maybe try the interactive books like Pat the Bunny or the ones that crinkle and make sounds...I think those are good for an active baby.

emmy236

MIL got R a book that's meant for the bathtub but he loves it. He can bite it without any problems. We use it all the time. Don't stress too much about reading. It's about him hearing words and starting to associate what they mean. R won't sit still to save his life so we walk around the house and show him things. This is a door. That is a dog, etc. the important part is that they start to correlate a word to what it means.

MOMama987

Along the same line as board books - we have a couple of these, too: https://www.indestructiblesinc.com/ They're super skinny and easy to toss in the diaper bag. 

mommatotwo2

Board books, cloth books, foam books, and bathtub books are all good for babies. But I second @emmy236, don't stress about the reading at this point. It's more about them hearing words. Our pediatrician told us with DD1 that it was much more about her hearing lots of words and that we should just walk around talking about what we were doing. "Now mommy is emptying the dryer" "Daddy is outside mowing the lawn" "Sister is eating her a peanut butter sandwich", "Mommy is touching your toes and your belly!", etc. It's obnoxious, but it does help them build a vocabulary, even if you do it sometimes

MOMama987

OLJ1010 said:

AllisonO78 said:

Along the same line as board books - we have a couple of these, too: https://www.indestructiblesinc.com/ They're super skinny and easy to toss in the diaper bag. 

We have two of these as well, and he loves them. We have the two baby books that have words next to the pictures (ie: baby, chair, bottle, truck, apple, etc etc)
They come up on Baby Steals every once in a while, you may be able to check the archives.

That's the ones we have - and where we got ours!

BigEasyPreggersGirl

I sometimes give her another book or toy to chew on while I'm reading to her, and that helps usually.  She also likes the ones that make sounds.  There are several Eric Carle board books you can get with sounds like Polar Bear Polar Bear, Big Friend Little Friend, and Around the Farm.

watuzzigal

So first, don't sweat it. My baby is also pretty active, so the stuff I say below is really recent. I'm just giving you the ways we get reading and books (in some form) into most of our days. Also, I don't think any of these are THE answer--just things we do.

I started buying and was gifted more board books. I had very few to begin with; I didn't realize how much I/she would like them. I let her hold and mouth those. She finally sat through a reading of If I Were A Cow last week. It's just a very short sensory board book. It's nothing special--just the one we've had out, so maybe it's become familiar? Usually, I just try to get through one page and see if she wants more. I have read a LOT of first pages over and over.

She loves playing with the one crinkly book we have: Peek-a-Book Forest. She also randomly started sitting through a read or two of that one last week. Again possibly it's the familiarity since this one stays in her play area?

We also have two indestructibles that she likes to look at/listen to me talk about for almost a minute. Then she plays with it.

And one last thing, we read to her as background noise when we can tell she needs to wind down (or because we just feel like it). Sometimes we read children's books, but sometimes we read books in my H's or my areas of work/interest. Honestly, I've even read stuff from TB, and my H is a news junkie, so that happens. We don't even try to hold her in our laps during these times. We are just letting her hear words.

ETA we do not do all of these every day. We try for one, and if she's not having it, we move on.

drhibbard

M loves the Sandra Boynton board books.  Mostly because they are board books she can chew.

Boo0512

DD gets pissed when I read to her because she wants to shove the entire book in her mouth.

I don't read to her very often now because I don't see the point. She doesn't look at the pictures or words, she just gets frustrated. I keep trying here and there but I probably won't push it until she actually pays attention.

beatlechicksteph

Board books are awesome. DS loves listening to us read, but we've been reading to him every night since he was 8 weeks old. I just read while he crawls around the room, and he'll eventually crawl up next to me and just stare at the pages while I read. He's very attentive.

mslynn2012

We use board books with DS. We have read to him daily since he was born. He sits in DH lap on the bed (DH sits cross legged and DS sits in his lap... I hope that makes sense)
DS now sits for 2-3 books, and hits the pages, but does follow along. I think it's because we have been consistent. Just keep trying

huzzahuzza

We read every night before bed. Dh will sit on the floor with the book while J and I sit in the rocker. J also likes board books but he wants to turn the pages before I'm done.

SpanFran

We read before naps and before bed.  DSs faves are the Dr Seuss books, which I attribute his ability to sit through them to.  I think he enjoys the rhyming, almost song-ness of them.  For me, it's easier to memorize them, so he can eat the book while I still "read" it. 

DiFazette

SpanFran said:

We read before naps and before bed.  DSs faves are the Dr Seuss books, which I attribute his ability to sit through them to.  I think he enjoys the rhyming, almost song-ness of them.  For me, it's easier to memorize them, so he can eat the book while I still "read" it. 

@spanfran - thanks for this. I loved Dr Seuss as a child, too, and still have them memorized. That could work well. We have a few of the classics.

kmcd23

Books with mirrors in them helped us get him to sit still with it. Now he likes to be read to for about 5 minutes tops.

jedimindtrick

Boo0512 said:

DD gets pissed when I read to her because she wants to shove the entire book in her mouth.

I don't read to her very often now because I don't see the point. She doesn't look at the pictures or words, she just gets frustrated. I keep trying here and there but I probably won't push it until she actually pays attention.

Same. I was a reading teacher and will read tons to my kids. But not right now. Books become "open, close, throw on floor" with us. It's frustrating for both of us. So, as others said, were doing a lot of talking now and will read when he can sit still and listen a bit better.

flyliceandcoffee

*sigh* I want to read to S, but honestly I have no time. I don't get home from work until she's almost ready for bed

KLJ3

Like @watuzzigal, we'll read to C while he's doing other things because he won't sit still for a book. DH reads him the news.

On the few occasions that C has sat and paid attention to the book, he just grabs the cover and goes open-close-open-close-open-close...

smg2302

DD gets distracted if I read to her, but if I pretend to read to DH, she'll cozy up and listen.