by Carol Bloomfield

Created on: February 06, 2009

Books are filled with facts, stories, pictures, information and inspiration and it is never too early to introduce your baby to the delights contained within their pages.

Introducing books to your baby from their first few days at home will open up a whole world of additional fun for them. Think of books as toys. The key to reading and sharing books with babies, as with older children, is to keep it fun. Spending time with your baby looking at books should be time spent talking, laughing and playing games. Do it with enthusiasm and pleasure, and your baby will love books too.

Books designed for the earliest age range are made to provide visual stimulation through use of bold patches of bright colours or black and white in very simplistic form. A couple of these cloth books for your young baby to gaze at sit nicely alongside other toys that are suitable from birth. As the baby grows and begins to use their mouth and hands to explore their surroundings cloth books are soft and pliable and perfectly designed for this activity. Often there is crinkly padding or squeaks added to the books providing audio stimulation too.

People often think it would be crazy and pointless to read to a newborn baby, but the truth is books don't have to be just about reading. From day one a baby will delight in hearing your voice whether you actually read from it or just talk about what you can see on the page; in fact many of the most basic books for the youngest babies contain no words.

As the months pass and your baby's awareness of the world increases, some of the best books to move on to have patches of different textures within them. Touch is still a vital sense for baby to discover their surroundings and even though they will not know the words you use to describe these sensations their sponge-like brains will be absorbing the information for the future.

When the child begins to talk a book can be used to prompt conversation' first pointing out familiar objects and naming them, and as they get older chatting about what is in a book. Time spent doing this will help increase their vocabulary and understanding of the world around them. Choosing books that contain subjects they enjoy will mean they want to come and look again and again.

There are also some brilliant books available that require the child to be really hands on - lifting flaps to reveal pictures, turning wheels to change colours and so on. It is always exciting for little ones to look at these kinds of book, especially when there is a group of children together for story time.

Libraries offer a wonderful service, often with story time and rhyming or singing sessions available. Making regular visits to a library when you have plenty of time to spend there means choosing books and reading them can be a day out too.

Some of my most treasured possessions are books that come from my childhood. Starting a collection of the child's own is a great gift. Encourage other members of the family to choose books as gifts for birthdays and special occasions, and ask them to read with your baby; the more people who share in this pastime the better.

It is easy to list the benefits of reading and sharing books. Sitting with a book on your lap creates a cosy togetherness, the sound of your voice is calming, babies love attention and sharing a book together gives them just that. Language, listening and communication skills all develop through reading. As do the capacity for learning and the ability to focus on an activity.

All these benefits increase self-esteem and happiness. We all like to be happy and seek to do things that make us feel good, so by giving this gift to your child from the very start they will always come back for more a bookworm in the making.

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