Reading to Newborn Babies: The Benefits

Your delightful little newborn baby is acquiring an amazing amount of fresh information each day. Even though the way babies communicate, through crying, body language, and eye contact, is quite limited, they are always listening to the sounds of people around, which helps them develop their language abilities.

Talking directly to the child is the main way you can aid any baby in developing their language abilities, although, if you’re not used to spending much time around newborns, you may find the thought of talking to a newborn somewhat silly as they are not going to talk back. Also, while “baby talk” by parents and other adults who talk to babies is natural and acceptable, not all adults are comfortable doing it. This is where you bring in the activity of reading to newborns. The more a child is read to by you, the more likely you will feel comfortable talking to the baby.

Addition Benefits of reading to Babies are:

• While reading and cuddling together, an emotional bond is fostered between the reader and the child.
• After a long day for the baby, reading to them may be a good way to help them relax.
• You can keep the baby busy and distracted by books, when you’re out at the doctor’s office or are waiting in line somewhere, and the baby starts to get impatient.
• Reading to a baby shows to the baby that the family feels that reading for fun is a meaningful way to spend time, and this will encourage the message that reading is an enjoyable activity.
• By reading to your child, you help them develop cognitive recognition skills, which are valuable pre-reading skills. They also gain an understanding of start and finish.

Can reading to your babies make them more intelligent? Intelligence is influenced by a range of various factors, many of which are genetic. Nonetheless, many studies have been conducted whose results show that children that have been read to while they were newborns, have a larger vocabulary, as well as more advanced mathematical skills, as compared to other kids their age, right before commencing kindergarten. These children also are more likely to have more advanced problem solving abilities and a longer attention span, which are essential skills for being triumphant in academics. 

Choosing Books to Read

It does not make much of a difference what the reading material read to a child is when the infant is still a newborn. You can gain the complete benefits by reading any magazine article of your choice to the newborn child. You could even read aloud a section of a novel that you are reading in your spare time. If you are enthusiastic about reading, his can be an excellent way for you to gain some time for an activity you enjoy, while being able to spend quality time with the baby.

However, if you would rather select books that are especially written for children, there are many choices available. The books that are the best to read to infants are short story books that have many pictures, and those with animal sounds in them or rhymes are very well-liked by children and those reading to them. When selecting books to read to a newborn, take into account that their attention span is only about five minutes, and choose accordingly. To get the utmost benefits of reading to babies, give reading for numerous short sittings each day a go, rather than one long sitting.

Some of the most commonly suggested works for a newborn baby’s book collection are:

• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
• Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle
• Mama, Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Joosse
  

  Cover of Pat the Bunny (Touch and Feel Book)