7 persuasive reasons for reading to your baby (and the best books to buy)
After the 3459th read of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, you may need to remind yourself why reading to babies is so important. We all know it’s something we should do. But why?
I love books but I’ve been known to bring bedtime closer by missing out chunks of text and skipping whole pages entirely. So I went on a quest to discover exactly how it helps with your child’s development.
These are the seven reasons I found to help keep me going. Plus thirteen must-have books for your baby’s development and enjoyment.
How reading helps your baby
REASON ONE: It’s bonding time
It’s hard to read to a baby without sitting very closely together. There’s a good chance they’ll be on your lap. This closeness will not be an unusual occurrence with younger babies but as they get older and more active, reading is a great opportunity to snuggle up. It gives you some special one-on-one time where you are both focused on the same thing. Just as long as you can maintain your focus on where Spot is and not be tempted by a quick check of your phone.
reason two: It’s a soothing ritual
Before they can understand words, a parent’s voice is very soothing to a child. And a familiar routine can be very relaxing for babies. Which is understandable. Everything around them is so new and unfamiliar. They’re trying to understand that a Chihuahua and a Great Dane are the same animal. And why babies get milk from humans but everyone else gets it from cows. And why they are properly cleaned after a poo, whereas adults just wipe themselves with dry paper.
When you’re having to process all this it must be good to have a reassuring, solid daily framework to be relied upon. And reading before bed can be a great part of this. It signals that it’s nearly time to go to sleep while also calming and soothing the child. Although they may lay awake confused about that hungry caterpillar turning into a butterfly.
Reason three: It helps build their vocabulary
Numerous studies have shown that children who are regularly read to have a larger vocabulary than those who are not. They are exposed to many more words. I’m sometimes surprised by the complexity of language in some books for babies and toddlers. For example, in one of the all-time favourites, The Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson uses the words - stroll, frightfully, sped, prickles, knobbly and astounding. These are not words I’d expect a pre-Gruffalo child to know. But you can be sure that they do after the 8723rd read.
Reason Four: It also helps with other cognitive skills
It’s not just their vocabulary that benefits. They are exposed to so much more than words, like colours, textures, numbers and shapes. With newborns, black and white books are very popular as they love the high contrast, which also stimulates their visual development. (Although it’s a myth that newborn babies can only see in black and white as from birth they can see intense red and by two months old they can distinguish between red and green.)
It’s clear that it can aid so many facets of brain development: memory, speech, listening, concentration and imagination. It can’t guarantee they’ll star in the TV show Child Genius. But lots of early reading will give them a good start in life.
reason five: It encourages fine motor skills
You don’t just want your baby to be able to swipe on a tablet. Turning pages is a fine motor skill they can learn from reading. The baby may also be pointing at the pages and with certain types of sensory books, they can be touching and interacting with them, including lifting the flaps. They may also want to practise their tearing skills so baby books are often made of fabric or stiff board. And they’d have to be a baby Hulk to rip through a board book.
Reason six: It aids emotional development
Spend five minutes with a child under 5 and you can see there are a lot of big feelings going on. Reading can help a child make sense of it all. There is love in Guess How Much I Love You, excitement and fear in We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and relief that the tiger who came to tea didn’t maul Sophie and Mummy.
As they get older they can learn about topics such as sharing, losing someone and friendships and it gives them the words to name their big feelings.
Evidence has also shown reading can encourage empathy in a child as they may be imagining how it feels to be the characters. Although my son said earlier, “Mummy I’m going to get a sword and cut your tummy open and take all the big bones out”, so I think he needs to read a few more books.
reason seven: It helps create a love of reading
Time spent reading with your child from an early age can teach them that it’s an enjoyable pastime, rather than something to be endured at school. Giving them a love of books opens up a whole world of incredible literature to them. And whether they end up fans of Jilly Cooper or Dostoevsky, they’ll benefit from the escapism that reading brings.
Where to get free baby books
If you don’t want to read the same book over and over again and have a limited budget, here are your options for getting free baby books:
Your local library. Find your nearest here.
The charity Book Trust have a programme, Bookstart, which aims to give free books to children in England and Wales. They do this through health visitors, libraries and early years practitioners so ask if you haven’t received one.
The annual World Book Day have book vouchers, which you can register for online. They are £1 per book, which is not free, but a lot cheaper.
Not content with the astonishing feat of writing Jolene and I Will Always Love You in one day, Dolly Parton also sends free books out to children across the world from her Imagination Library. You just need to register your child. Not all areas in the UK are covered.
What are the ‘must-have’ books for babies?
Here are thirteen of the most popular books for babies from 0-12 months old.
1. Beiens soft tails books
Soft, fabric books with textured animal tails, crinkle sounds and squeakers. They are washable and available in Jungle Tails, Rainforest Tails and Farm Tails.
IF THEY LIKE THIS TRY: Peter Rabbit Finger Puppet Book
2. Baby Touch and Feel Animals
Lovely pictures of animals with a variety of textured patches for your baby to explore.
IF THEY LIKE THIS TRY: Other Baby Touch and Feel books like Trucks, Bedtime, First Words, Farm Animals, Colours and Shapes and Merry Christmas.
3. Black and White by Tana Hoban
This features high-contrast black and white images for babies. It is accordion style, so can be folded out and it’s sturdy enough to stand on its own.
IF THEY LIKE THIS TRY: Baby's Very First Little Black and White Library by Stella Baggott
4. Baby Touch First Focus: Faces
This has high contrast faces in black, white and yellow and a mirror at the end.
IF THEY LIKE THIS TRY: Other books from the Baby Touch series like Playbook and Peekaboo.
5. Usborne touchy-feely books: That’s not my bunny
These Usborne touchy-feely books have a wide variety of textures to stimulate and entertain a child and the bunny one is very popular.
IF THEY LIKE THIS TRY: One of the many other touchy-feely books like That’s not my chick, dinosaur, unicorn and elephant.
6. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
One of the most popular children’s books of all time. Babies will love sticking their fingers in the holes.
IF THEY LIKE THIS TRY: Peck, Peck, Peck by Lucy Cousins, which also has little holes on the pages. It’s also nice as the parent figure is a daddy rather than the usual mummy.
7. Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
Another classic. This lift-the-flap book features a variety of animals.
IF THEY LIKE THIS TRY: Oh Dear! by Rod Campbell
8. Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill
The first-ever lift-the-flap book, which spawned many more Spot books. In this one, turn the pages to look for where Spot the puppy is hiding.
IF THEY LIKE THIS TRY: The other books from the Spot range.
9. Where’s Mr Lion? by Ingela P Arrhenius
Another searching book with flaps to lift. This time the flaps are felt and there’s a mirror on the last page.
IF THEY LIKE THIS TRY: Other books from the same ‘Where’s Mr/Mrs’ range like Where’s Mr Duck.
10. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd
This classic book is a gentle bedtime story to help soothe your child at the end of the day.
IF THEY LIKE THIS TRY: Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney.
11. Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Alan Ahlberg
This book encourages interaction and features a range of classic fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters.
IF THEY LIKE THIS TRY: Peepo! and The Baby’s Catalogue by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
12. Ten Little Finger and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury
Babies often love books featuring other babies and this has ones from several different cultures.
IF THEY LIKE THIS TRY: Who? A celebration of babies by Robie H Harris and Natascha Rosenberg
13. Fox’s Socks by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler are best known for The Gruffalo but babies may prefer their lift-the-flap series of books. Fox’s Socks is one of the most popular and follows a fox searching for his socks.
IF THEY LIKE THIS TRY: Other books from the Tales From Acorn Wood series like Rabbit’s Nap, Postman Bear and Hide and Seek Pig.
If you buy through a link, we may earn a small affiliate commission. 5% of profits are donated to UK Baby Banks to help parents in need of essentials.
What do you think is missing from this list of must-have books for babies. Let us know in the comments below.
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