Best Baby Books - A Jolly Good Read

The best baby books are bright, colourful and lots of fun, not only that, they are a great way to interact with your baby.

I don't think that any books are better than others. The idea is if you spend time reading to your baby, and looking at books together, any book, can be good!

Try and spend time reading to your baby as early in her life as you can (your baby's brain is like a little sponge, soaking up as much as she can). When your child goes to school (I know that's a long while yet!) you want them to enjoy books, and research shows that reading with your baby or child from an early age, encourages good reading in the future. When your baby is brand new, it doesn't really matter what you read to her, her interest will be in your voice. She will love hearing you talk and will watch the expressions on your face with great amusement.

As she gets older (four months plus) there are some wonderful best baby books that you can look at together, bright colourful pictures and a few words will hold baby's interest more at this early age, than books with a story to follow (don't forget that she doesn't really know what you're saying just yet) but she knows it must be good, because Mummy enjoys it! She may try putting books in her mouth around this age, so if you don't want her chewing on that new book that you just bought this morning, then do let her touch it and hold it, but watch for the signs of it looking 'tasty'! (when she does put a book in her mouth, she really is just exploring it, she will soon learn that these colourful objects are not for lunch!) Joe and Lauren both chewed their way through a few books before they really got the hang of what they were for :-)

By twelve months of age, your baby may be helping you to turn the pages, and playing with books. She may even look at them on her own if you leave a few on the floor next to her.

Best baby books - What are your choices?

Joe and Lauren both got a great deal of enjoyment out of lift the flap books, they couldn't wait to see what would behind the cupboard or under the bed! They had one called 'Dear zoo', it's still on Lauren's bed now, although it looks slightly worse for wear, it still gets plenty of use.

Pop up books are brilliant, but be very careful using these with a very young babies, if they manage to take hold of the pop-up bit, it won't be popping up for much longer!

Picture books are also great, baby's brain is developing all the time, and looking at pictures while you say the word is a learning process all in itself. You can get baby dictionaries, Joe had one of these and was always looking it.

My advice to you really is there are no 'best baby books'. You don't have to go out and purchase the whole book store either. Libraries have a huge selection of baby books for you take home and look at, they also encourage reading with baby from an early age.

When reading with your baby, don't feel you have to sit there and go from cover to cover. Even if you only look at a couple of pages of one book, and then switch to another. Your baby may get bored and turn away or wander off but don't worry or stress about this. Little and often is a good way to go with reading, and it will be become a part of everyday to life to her.

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