Why Reading To Your Baby from Birth Is Critical for Development
Candice Wilson, DNP, MSN, APRN, FNP-C
Pediatrics
Reading to your child from birth isn’t just a great bonding activity. It also helps build key language, literacy and social skills, which typically lead to greater achievements in school and beyond. But there are other benefits, too.
How Early Reading Sparks Newborn Language Development
By reading to your child starting at a young age, even before they’re able to communicate verbally, you help lay the neurological groundwork for effective language use and literacy. That’s partly because books expose children to vocabulary and grammar that they wouldn’t normally hear.
We talk differently than we write. Spoken language often has incomplete sentences and slang terms, as well as gestures and facial expressions. Written language, however, is more precise. As you read aloud to your child, they absorb your pronunciation of words and the rhythm of grammatical sentences. The sound of your voice reading to them stimulates the parts of their brain that are trying to figure out how to communicate through language. This can help them pick up on the meaning of words and phrases they hear in other situations, as well as helping them learn how to speak in a way that others can understand.
Research has found that young children whose parents read to them daily have been exposed to at least 290,000 more words by the time they enter kindergarten than kids who aren’t read to regularly. And depending on how much daily reading time kids get, that number can go up to over a million words. All that exposure likely makes it easier for kids to expand their vocabularies and understand the variety of texts they’ll need to read as they get older, both inside school and out.
The Role of Shared Reading in Building Toddler Empathy
Reading is an important tool for helping your child develop empathy. As kids read books about people whose lives are different from their own (and especially stories told from the perspectives of those people), they gain an appreciation for other people’s feelings, as well as other cultures, lifestyles and perspectives.
Your child will read about characters who may be going through emotions and experiences they’ll have themselves, and they can see how those characters deal with them. They’ll also witness ways to communicate those emotions to others. As your child gets older, you can use reading time as an opportunity to start such a conversation. For example, you might ask: “Have you ever felt as angry as the girl in this book? What would you do if you did?”
Strengthening the Parent-Child Bond Through Books
All families face issues of limited time and competition for kids’ interest and attention from other sources of entertainment, especially electronic media. But shared reading is worth the effort.
The American Academy of Pediatrics says reading is an opportunity to foster loving, nurturing relationships during a critical time of brain development. It recommends that pediatricians support families with guidance and books at well-child visits.
Shared reading offers comforting routines, calming strategies and a sense of security to children and parents. MRI studies actually show significant, positive associations between home reading and measures of brain structure and function in preschool-age children. And more advanced language skills help children express their emotional needs and understand the emotional meaning of family moments.
Age-by-Age Tips for Reading to Your Baby (Birth to 1 Year)
Here are some age-based tips from the AAP to help you and your child share the magic of books during their first year.
Birth to Six Months
Select books with simple rhymes and bold pictures.
Make eye contact and let your child see the expressions you make.
Try using different voices and sounds as you read and point to pictures in the book.
Six to Eight Months
Name and point to the pictures that catch your baby's attention.
Help your baby turn pages.
Consider sturdy board books and soft fabric books with different textures your curious baby can explore with different senses.
Act out pictures using your face, hands and voice.
Nine to 11 Months
Consider books with pictures of everyday objects like balls and blocks.
Name and point to the pictures your baby is touching or looking at. For example, “Look at the doggie. The doggie is helping the baby roll the ball.”
If your baby wants to turn to a different page, follow their lead. Remember that you never need to read the whole story.
Babies love repetition. Don't be surprised if they like sharing the same book or certain parts of one again and again.
Ask questions as you read. Even though they can't answer, "What does the cat say?" you introduce the idea of conversations. What will eventually become back-and-forth discussion is powerful in supporting your baby’s development.
In bilingual homes, make sure your baby’s books are in both languages. Don’t just rely on speaking both languages.
This content is not AI generated.
