When Should I Start Reading to my Baby

As a new parent it is difficult to understand what you should be saying and doing with your newborn to ensure they don’t fall behind developmentally. With all the new challenges during the first few months, parents sometimes are unaware that their child has already started to develop their language skills. Many parents make the common mistake of not reading to their child until they start talking.

Reading to your baby has immense benefits for your child’s language development. In fact, reading to your baby is the best way to develop your child’s language skills. When listening to you read your baby can pick up on the rhythm of your voice and can absorb individual sounds in the words. By reading to your child you are able to strengthen your bond while also exposing your child to more words, which will help their language development.

Reading to your child vastly increases the number of words your child hears at a young age. It has been shown that children’s books have three times the variety of words compared to everyday parent talk. By reading children’s books you will be exposing her to more words which will develop her language faster. In addition to broadening the number of words your child hears, your baby will learn how to understand emotions in voices which helps develop your child’s emotional intelligence.

While many parents wait until their child starts talking to begin reading stories, it has been shown in multiple studies that reading to your children right from birth helps with their early development. At first it may seem uncomfortable as your child won’t understand what you are reading. However, in a short few months your child will be turning the pages and laughing at the funny voices you make while reading their favorite story.

This piece was originally posted at VersaMe.com. VersaMe created the Starling the world’s first wearable engagement tracker that helps encourage and reinforce positive parenting behaviors.