Best Practices For Reading to Your Baby

Reading to your baby is a time for bonding and fun when your child creates a positive association with books. Research shows that reading boosts language skills and its benefits extend through the school years. And the earlier reading starts at home, the greater the benefits.

We've partnered with Little Feminist, a subscription service for children's books, dedicated to helping families diversify their bookshelves, to include some book title recommendations, too. (Save 15% off LittleFeminist.com with promo code MONTI15)

Here are some tips for getting the most out of storytime and fostering a love of reading in your baby.

1. Choose books with real imagery when you read to your baby

Babies, eager to learn about the real world around them, benefit most from books that feature things they see in everyday life. Before the age of three, children are concrete learners, meaning they absorb everything in their environment as reality, so we recommend saving the unicorns for later years when they can distinguish between real and make-believe.

Infants learn best when their books feature one realistic image per page. Books with no written words are a powerful language tool and help you to model active engagement with a book.

Tip: Make a book with pictures of family members and just a few words of text. Your baby will enjoy seeing familiar faces while learning new words and names.

2. Engage in rhythmic conversation when you read to your baby

The ideal way to read with a child is to actively engage them. This means asking questions about the book and then inviting your little one to elaborate, expand, and discuss. Setting up these habits is important from even the earliest months, as your baby will grow accustomed to reading as an interaction rather than a passive activity.

For example: “This is a wooden book. This is a dog. This dog has soft white fur and a little black nose. Can you see his nose? It’s here.”

When you come to the end of a book, choose a phrase like “We finished reading!" or "The End,” and repeat this at the end of every book. Your child will soon recognize this as a signal that storytime is done. If they are still interested, you can read it again.

3. Keep a basket of books and rotate

Choose a few books for your child to choose from and display them in a basket or low shelf. Rotate the books every couple of weeks just like your child’s toys to keep things interesting. Once your child starts walking, you can start using a bookshelf at their eye level.

4. Embrace repetitive reading

Children often request the same book be read again and again. This repetition helps develop literacy. Repetition is favored by children because of the comfort, confidence, phonemic awareness, and expanding vocabulary that comes with it. Incorporate reading into your bedtime routine. Ending the day with a favorite book establishes a nice routine and sense of security with which to end the day.

“Reading the same book each night at bedtime signals the end of the day, gives children a sense of security, and helps them begin to connect the spoken with the written words.”

5. Encourage exploration with the eyes and hands

When you finish reading, offer your child a turn to explore the book. It is normal at this stage for babies to want to explore everything with their mouths. If your little one starts teething on the book, it’s best to offer a teething toy so he learns that books are for reading and looking, and not for teeth!

6. Promote sensorial learning

Children learn through their senses and reading is an opportunity to engage with all of them. Your child listens to your words, watches your lips produce them, notices your facial expressions, engages with the contents of the book, and feels the warmth of reading with you. All of these moments create the magical experience of storytime.

“Your child listens to your words, watches your lips produce them, notices your facial expressions, engages with the contents of the book, and feels the warmth of reading with you.”

Favorite titles from Little Feminist

• Baby Says: This infant pick has 20 pages with less than 20 total words in the book. The theme includes sibling sharing and the author/illustrator is a person of color.
• They She He Me and Lovely - two other short books exploring and celebrating differences in human appearances and bodies.

• Love Makes a Family: Sweet board book with repetitive language. Our favorite book featuring diverse family structures.
• Kiss by Kiss: With photos on one page and simple text on the facing page, this book by an Indigenous author offers soothing, rhythmic language.
• I Believe in Me: New in the world of children's literature, this is our favorite book about kids exploring their own independence. Featuring diverse kids and rhythmic language, we love the subtle representation of boys crying, male caretakers, and differently-abled bodies.
• Little Feminist On-the-Go: Repetitive and rhythmic, with photographs of diverse families living real life. Find this title individually on LittleFeminist.com. On Amazon it's sold as a set.
• More favorite Montessori books for babies here >

Thanks again to Little Feminist for suggesting these books. Save 15% on a subscription at LittleFeminist.com with promo code MONTI15.

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