Reading to My 2Month Old

Hi H.,
My son's favorite books where the baby einstein books. They have some that are 'waterproof' that I used to read to him while he was in the tub. He will be three in August and he still loves "Mimi's Toes"!

I think that at 2 months old, it is your soothing voice she is she is listening to and you could read anything and she would be happy. However, when my son was very young, he really enjoyed a wonderful book that had a collection of Beatrix Potter stories in it (Peter Rabbit). He loved those! My favorite children's book of all times is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. My son and I both loved that one and it has a great moral to the story.

Some of our favorites are:
Fuzzy Bee and Friends, Squishy Turtle and Friends they are soft books and they have different textures to feel and they crinkle etc also, anything by Sandra Boynton they are adorable.

My baby brother was born with spina bifida many years ago. Read any books. I read Dr. Suess to my son when he was a baby. At this point you could read the phone book to her. It's not so much the words, but the fact that your
voice is talking.

Where is your daughter's bifida? If you have any questions, feel fre to email me.

HI H., pretty much anything at this age, as long as you use a certain tone to your voice. Slow and very animated, if that makes any sense. 2 mth old's might not be able to recognize pictures in a book, but they're beginning to recognize your, so be very animated when you read. As far as books go, Baby Eistein books, Sesame Street, Books about the alphatbet, numbers, colors, shapes, 1st words, animals, family, food, etc... There are sooo many Baby Books, like mini board books out there. Go to your local library and speak with the Librarian in the Childrens section, they might be able to help you. Also, Google, "Books for babies", see what comes up. Here some websites I found: www.beginningwithbooks.org,http://content.scholastic.com/... (look on Scolastic for buying books they always have great deals). Good luck.

H.,
There are some great suggestions here. May I add a few as an infant/ toddler teacher?
Books with REAL pictures- pictures of baby faces, babies and moms, photos of things your baby sees daily. Real pictures are important for recognition and babies are really fascinated by them. I'm Made Of Mama's Milk is a great one for nursing babes.
Board books she can hold, chew on, manipulate
Board books with textured pages- Usborne That's Not My...series, Touchy Feely books
Soft books- they squeak, rattle, and crinkle, and can be washed
Eric Carle books, Dr. Seuss, and Lois Ehlert are great for their illustrations and rhymes. How Are you Peeling is a great book of veggies carved into emotional faces!
Look for books that have soft hues, beautiful illustrations, real art. Think few words, a gentle rolling rhyme, fun and silly. There are already so many stimulating things in the environment that you don't have to go all out on the red white and black books. you want to expose her to real beauty and lovely things. Shapes and colors books are great and simple. Usborne has great lovely books and a website.

It doesn't matter what you read to her! You could read her the newspaper or Cosmo! The part that matters to a 2 month old is your voice and the overall sound of language. So I suggest you read what you like to read and then you both can enjoy the time together!

Hi H.,
My oldest son is 3 and is hard of hearing. I too wanted to stimulate him, but was very uncertain about what and how much he was hearing. I would read childrens books with big colorful pictures to him. Sometimes it would make me cry because I did not know what he was getting from the reading. Now that he is 3, talking and using hearing aids to listen I am soooo glad I spent this time with him every day. He got more out of it than I could have imagined at the time. So please read to your child every day and enjoy it.
Best of luck and happy reading,
H.

Books by Sandra Boynton are great! They have rhyming text and simple, beautiful pictures. I think my favorite is Barynard Dance.

Hi H., congrats on on your new baby girl. how exciting. i have a 3 yr old(on the 27th of this month) & a lil boy due aug 29th. my almost 3 yr old is handicaped. the diffrent books i have found to stimulate are books made by DK(always written in red letters) these are some of the titles we have: 5 in the bed, 5 little ducks, twinkle twinkle little star, old mac donald, & humpty dumpty. they also make flash cards with one picture on them. they make many diffrent kinds of books, puzzles, ect.... i highly recomned these books to any child special needs or not. the books & such can be found at tj maxx & barnes & noble. i also read alot of dr.sues books. now my son is non verbal, non mobile & doesnt really communicate. but these books seem to make him very happy & then he falls asleep like an angel. something else you might be interested in getting for your lil princess. is a light up bear. they can be found at target & walmart. its a white bear. he dont look all that cute. he will light up for 15 mins straight. if you get the one with the wand....the wand is great b/c you can activate the bear with out disturbing your lil one. its another one of those things no one will tell you about but its an awesome thing to have. any child can find happiness with these bears. fisher price also makes a mobile.... i think its called milestones. it has primary colors & some brighter colors as well. it can shine on the ceiling. it moves very slow so it gives the child time to focus on it. i think i payed 35 for it but im not positive. we got it at walmart. gosh there are so many things out there. i dont know where you live but try hand me down shops. you can always find older toys that do more stimulation then most newer version of toys. thats what im finding anyways. i wasnt keen on biying used toys for my son but one day i said what the heck, hes not putting them into his mouth so no biggy right. anyways if you'd like more ideas or have any questions please email me ____@____.com also go to www.cameron42704.zoomshare.com to see pics of my munchkin....take care. love always C.

HI H., Congrats your a new mommy!! Also in seeing all the joy even though you have troubles! I have read to my daughter since I was 24 weeks pregnant, and I read her everything!! One book I bought at Target, is called tails, and it has so many intresting things to feel, and see, it even has one to smell(don't it's a skunk lol) My daughter loves it more now, but she even liked it at 2 months, it doesn't really matter what you read though, it is good bonding time, she loves your voice, and it will be a great start no matter what!! Good luck!!

Hi H. ...I have been reading to my son now 5 since he was born. At about two months I would read him any books that I could find in bold colors with rhyming. He seemded to really respond well to the colors and the rhyming also appeared to have a soothing effect.

Hi H., Congrats, motherhood is an awesome gift! I had my first just a short year ago and have been reading to her from before she was born. I believe that just the act of reading to your child is a great stimulator but a lot of the Eric Carl books are great to read, Baby Einstein is also a great series. At that age even some of the longer books work great because they are not too active yet. As they get older they will loose interest after a few minutes, so the shorter and interactive ones are better. Enjoy this great time with your child- it is the first step in teaching reading.

Hi H.. God Bless You. I grew up with SP, and my mom camped out in the hospital with me. lol. i think you can read your daughter anything you want as long as you are talking to her. look into her eyes, try to get her to follow your movements with her eyes, then her hands. tickle her, sing to her and just be blessed that she is here with you.
where do you live? what hosp do u go to with her? i went to Mass General Hosp in Boston Ma. it was the best hosp .
I'm at work now so i gotta go......what is her name??.
have a great day. K.

Hi I would suggest simple book with a lot of red white and black so she will notice it more and maybe actualy begin to look or even reach out to the pictures. I read to my twins at a very early age and when they started saying mama and dada not to far after they were making animal noises and saying simple things like bear, cho cho ect. I think me doing that got them a lil more interested