The Benefits of Reading to Your Baby
Babies don't have much concept of language yet—so why is it so important to read to them? Infants might not understand what you're saying, but they reap surprising benefits from the simple social interaction of reading the best baby book to them.
What Benefits Do Babies Get from Reading Time?
Although babies might not have a firm grasp of storylines, plots, and character development, they still benefit from the cognitive and social developments that accompany reading time with mom or dad.
Language Development
One of the most obvious benefits of reading with a baby is the development of language. An infant might not start out able to read, but they do start to recognize the tone and cadence of voices as parents and older siblings read stories. Furthermore, repeating popular books helps drive home connections between specific sounds and rhythms and their matching images. (For example, reading a book about a brown bear will help strengthen connections between the words "brown," "bear," and the picture of the bear in the book.)
Social Development
Reading time is also a time to establish deeper social connections. The playful experience of reading a book together helps to develop deep bonds between baby and parent. Cuddling helps establish sense memory and sensory development during reading time. Meanwhile, babies who start to become familiar with vocal cadence and rhythm may begin to respond to reading. They might babble, repeat sounds and syllables, or imitate your hand movements. They also start to get a grasp of things like emotions and interactions between other people, as characters in the stories go through their own adventures and problem-solving experiences.
Educational Development
Even though babies won't pick up on reading right away, the fun of reading time as an infant can help set up a natural interest and excitement in reading and learning once they reach school age. They also start to recognize things like shapes, letters, colors, and numbers—even if they aren't able to firmly grasp or use these concepts, they gain the basic recognition that will turn into actual educational development once they start preschool.
How Should You Read to Babies?
It's important to note that you're not going to get through an entire book in every reading session. If babies want to take a break to hold the book, play with the pages, or even chew on the spine, that's okay. These exploratory moments help babies develop their senses and their concepts of the world around them.
Start reading time by setting up a comfortable space to cuddle. With the baby on your lap, start with a small, simple book. As they grow older, you can extend the length and complexity of the stories you read together (but you might want to leave Game of Thrones until they're a bit older). By starting out slow, you can build babies' concepts of language and vocabulary, as well as their ability to comprehend simple storylines that gradually get more complex.
As the baby starts to show more interest in the pictures and repeats some of the syllables and sounds you're making, you can expand to more development-focused interactions. Point to characters and objects in the image and ask, "Who is that? Do you see the horse? Look at the bunny!" As kids get older, ask more pointed questions and have them point out and tell you the answers. "Where is the horse? What color is the bunny? What is this character doing?"
What Books Are Best for Babies?
The best baby books are ones that are easy for small hands to hold and interact with. Some of the best baby books are "board books," made of a high-quality heavy cardboard with glossy illustrations. Other baby books are made from cloth, plastic, or wood, and often have pop-out pieces with sensory development benefits.
All in all, reading with your baby is a wonderful time for bonding, skill development, and cognitive development. As babies grow and explore the world around them, they start to get a deeper understanding of the people, objects, and experiences that make up their little slice of the universe.
As you read with your baby, don't expect to have their full attention right away. If your baby would rather put the book in their mouth than try to figure out what's going on in the story, that's totally fine. From Green Eggs and Ham to The Giving Tree and on to War and Peace, starting early with reading with your baby will help set them up for success in the future.
Resources— Kids Health, Parents, Bright Horizons
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