[shalom]

Hi guys. I know my post may sound silly, but please forgive me if it does. i am a first time going to be mother, currently 34 weeks pregnant. I would like to read to my newborn some nursery rhymes after he is born. Being born into a Chinese family where my family hardly spent any time with me, I am very ignorant about what are the nursery rhymes that I can read to my baby and how early i should read to them. I have seen my friend's child and he just loves it when his daddy read him his favourite ryhme. i went to the bookshop but there are just so many children books that i really dont know how to choose. I would appreciate it if anyone can share their experience with me on what's their child's favourite or what kind of books i should read to my new born. Thanks a lot.

[jane01]

My mum read to my brothers and me every night from when we were babies until (I think) teenagers and we loved it. I have really fond memories of cuddling up with her before bed reading books. She read to us until we could read, then we'd do the reading.

I started reading to my daughter regularly as part of her bedtime routine from about 6 months. Your baby might be ready earlier. By the end of the day my newborn was sooo overtired, I didn't bother much with reading. We'd just look at pictures in books during the day. At 6 months she seemed to like books with pictures of other babies best. I also read her 'Goodnight Mr Moon', which she still enjoys.

As a toddler she now likes anything with animals. She seems to prefer books with real photos, rather than drawings. She also loves lift the flap books. 'Dear Zoo' is a particular favourite. She also has a book of nursery rhymes which she likes me singing to her occassionally. I have friends with little boys who prefer pictures of cars, trucks and machinery. My daughter just isn't interested in them, such a girl.

I recommend just purchasing a few books and seeing which your baby prefers. As your baby gets older, you can always buy more. The shop assistants in Bookazine and Dymocks (Princes Building) can be very helpful.

Enjoy your reading time. I love snuggling up with my monkey at the end of the day to read a story. Nothing better.

[rani]

We started reading to Dhruv early as well. Some of our favourties were:

• Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed We had the song on CD and would sing it quite often too.
  Thats Not My Puppy: Its Coat Is Too Hairy
  The Going-To-Bed Book
  Where Is Baby's Belly Button?

You can purchase books online through the GeoBaby Store. We're 20-30% cheaper than Dymocks and Bookazine.

[nycschatzi]

Goodnight Moon is a lovely book for children. My daughter enjoys it before bed.
A suggestion, whatever books you choose, buy boardbooks for at least a year so the baby can open and shut the book without damaging.

[hkgirl]

It is so great to read to your children. They will learn so much and it's a great bonding time with them - Good for you!

I agree that board books are a necessity with little ones so they don't ruin the books and the pages don't give them paper cuts. That being said, my daughter has still managed to eat some of the paper off when I wasn't looking!

I've been reading to my daughter since she was born and she loves books. I find that books with rhymes really get her excited; Dr. Seuss books are great for this. Lots of bright colours are also really important to get their attention. You can point to things and tell them the name and ask him/her questions about the pictures and someday your baby will start to respond! Books about sounds are good as you can make the sounds and also doing voices for characters is very effective in getting babies interested. Things to touch that have different textures also make reading fun.

I'm not sure if you can get all these books here, but my daughter likes: Buzz-buzz busy bees: an animal sounds book by Bentley and Cahoon, Happy Baby Colours by Roger Priddy, Little Fuzzy Lamb and Puppy and Me both by Zobel-Nolan, all Dr. Seuss books etc.

[spsmok]

Hi Shalom,

I think your baby must be turning 1 year old very soon. Have you started reading to your baby?

I started reading to my baby when she was about 6 months' old. Basically she loved any book that I read to her, i.e., until she got older. When she was around 1.5 years' old, I noticed her enjoying some books over the others. And there are some books which she didn't want me to read her before, she now asked me to read them everyday.

Any quality time you spend with your child is good time, be it reading, playing or even bath time. And any book your child enjoys is a good book.