Baby in Wonderland: Reading to and with your baby in the first year

One of my fondest memories of childhood is losing an entire summer afternoon in a worn-out copy of Alice in Wonderland, lying next to the gazillion books my parents had and still have in the house. 
Of course it helped that there were no mobile phones, and no culture of watching TV outside of stipulated TV time, which was incredibly brief!

Contrast that with today's times of interminable connectivity, and complete dependence on technology, when everyone is glued to their LED screens all the time, and it is difficult to expect a child to pick up a book and enjoy it if no one else around them does so. How then, do you introduce your child to the written (or illustrated) word, and keep their interest? This was (and is) a big question for me, and I started doing some serious research in this area once I came to know that I am pregnant. Because all of us want to raise book-loving, curious, smart children, don't we? 

As my daughter inches closer to her 1st birthday, and I see her enjoying her books, and her story sessions with us, I am putting together a list of books that we have enjoyed over the last year to help all those parents who wonder about these things as much as us!! Here Goes:

1. Reading to Babies-to-be
This is incredibly important! And it works! Here are the books I read to my daughter in the womb, that she enjoyed incredibly as a very tiny baby too!

My favourites are Dr. Seuss and Mama Do you Love Me? Oh, Baby has a lovely rhythm to it and my daughter loves it even now. I used to read it daily to my belly during my pregnancy! Mama do you love me has some splendid illustrations and is slightly different because of its Alaskan setting. Get it for something different to read. 

2. Reading to Newborns

Yes...reading to your ever-hungry, continuously - wailing, poop-monsters, is not only possible, but also very very useful. It can help calm babies, especially if they were read to in the womb. It also helps them in bonding with your voice. Of course it is difficult to physically read from a book, while holding a newborn, but it is possible to read yourself and tell these stories to your baby. The books I found most useful for this stage include Grandma's stories by Sudha Murty, and the Usborne illustrated series which has options such as Fairy Tales, One Hundred Stories, Stories from around the world etc. 

I found most success by telling my daughter a new story every day during her breast feeding time before she fell asleep. 

3. Books from 1-2 months

This is the time when babies are learning to focus, and can make out black and white images. Color vision is yet to develop. Black and white books are a fantastic choice for this stage. The two my daughter adored and I would recommend, are, Hello, Animals! and Baby's Very First Black and White book series from Usborne. There are multiple titles available in this series, but my daughter loved this one so much I have had to replace her copy! Both of these books are printed on board so they should last a while.

4. 3 Months and beyond
Now you are entering the really interesting time of your baby's growth. Her vision is developing along with her other senses and you can introduce many different types of books now including:

i) Books from Eric Carle

These are the classics of the baby book world and rightly so. As you can see, we have collected a huge range, but our favourite remains the Hungry Caterpillar. There is simply no beating this book when it comes to reading to and with your child. Many friends have asked how you read to a 3 month old, and I am uploading the next picture to answer this. My daughter used to adore her reading time even at the age of 3 months and would get so so excited by her 
favorite books!

ii) Books from Julia Donaldson

Another fantastic children's writer, Julia Donaldson is known best for Gruffalo, which remains my daughter's favourite book till date. There are other interesting titles by her, and I would definitely recommend, What the Ladybird Heard, Room on the Broom and, Monkey Puzzle. All are gems! Julia Donaldson books have rhyming text and song-like quality so the entertainment value for your baby will be even higher! 

iii) Books with Finger and Hand Puppets 

As your baby becomes more responsive, you can now introduce books with finger and hand puppets. We found the Old McDonald and the Clap your Hands books to be most amazing and engaging. The next picture shows how much my daughter loved this book as a 4 month old.

The small Caterpillar book and the Mummy/ Daddy and Me books (in the picture) are not very high on content, but great to engage the baby for a short time. Especially excellent as diaper bag contents! 

iv) Sound Books 

These combine visual stimulation with audio input, and are a great way of engaging your growing baby. I bought my daughter's first sound book at about 4 months and she started responding to the sounds almost instantly. Now of course she insists on pressing the buttons herself too. There are many books available in this category, but the best buy overall is, Farm Hullaballoo by Ladybird. It has board pages and is value for money too. The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Polar Bear Polar Bear come a close second. Peppa Pig's book is great but the pages are not board and you might experience your child destroying this book as he or she grows up.

v) Cloth Books 

These are my personal favourite for babies!! They are part-book, part-toy, part-teether, and babies love them! Just be careful about introducing them when your baby learns to grip, otherwise there is a danger of choking on the material.

The top book in this category has to be Roger Priddy's Fuzzy Bee. It is attractive, makes fun sounds and is super easy to clean. Also it will act as a safe teether  for your baby. My daughter loved her Fuzzy Bee, right from when she was about 4 months old. You can imagine how popular

this book is, by the fact that someone actually whacked it from us! After I lost this book, I found the Farm Friends crinkle book toy (The yellow one in the picture) from First Years which made for a fantastic replacement. It is much more expensive though - so choose the book that suits your budget.

Another category of cloth books have a small puppet attached to them - and my daughter loved the classic, Are you my Mother, with its small toy bird. She has successfully chewed this bird to death over the course of the last 6 months or so.

vi) Books with fantastic stories to be told......but not so easy to hold!

I am putting together in this category, 4 books that my daughter really enjoyed while she was unable to destroy them (Till she was about 7 months old). After that, the sense of touch overtook her other senses and she wanted to feel, tear, and eat the pages of these books. Hence, they are great for babies up to about 7 months or age - depending upon how destructive your child is.

I personally love Ganesha's sweet tooth, and it is one of the very few Indian books I found for my daughter.

vii) Bath Books

A lovely addition to your baby's bath time. We loved the Magic Fish book in which the Fish and other Sea creatures change color when immersed in water. There are other titles available in this series so you can choose the one that appeals to your baby.

viii) Classic Board Books

As your baby develops over the first year, you can choose from the many classic board books available for babies that have been loved by many generations of kids the world over. My daughter's collection is on the left - and her favorite ones are Peepo - with its fantastic game of peekaboo, Lost and Found - with its minimal text and endearing pictures, and Little Blue Truck - with its lovely rhythm and crazy farm animals!

ix) Peep-Inside Series

I have to confess, these books are as much a guilty pleasure for me, as a delight for my daughter. Once again, Usborne, probably one of the best publishers for children, has come up with this gorgeous series which is unputdownable. Laser-cut pages, and stunning illustrations, bring classic fairy tales to life, as you literally walk into them. Hard to pick favourites here. Just get them all! (P.S. - they have released Red Riding Hood and Sleeping Beauty too, which I shall review as soon as I get my hands on them!)

x) Touchy - Feely Books

This is an exciting category of books and there are many different kinds available. Useful once your baby is excited by touch, these books combine bright colors, different textures, and flaps etc. to appeal to babies. Pick carefully though, because very soon those cute fingers are going to move from touching to tearing, and from licking to chewing and ripping apart everything!

I found the Peekaboo book by Ladybird to be sturdy and well constructed, and my daughters loves the pictures and textures in it. It is also value for money.

Another fantastic choice is the, 'That's not my.....' series. Another offering from Usborne, this series has 50 titles to choose from including Puppy, Monkey, Lion, Elephant, Robot, Monster, Dinosaur etc. There are fun, textured patches, and these books are sure to be a hit with your baby. Just a word of caution - they do tend to be repetitive so don't get too many titles together.

So that is my list of books for the first year of your baby's life. My daughter's collection currently looks like this

I hope this list is useful for you, and if you and your baby have any favourites that we are missing - please leave a comment for us! We would hate to miss out!

Till my baby sleeps long enough for me to post again......Happy Reading!