Some people start reading to their baby even before it has been born, and while it is known that external sounds can stimulate a baby in the womb, reading to a newborn baby are believed by some to have long lasting benefits. Nurturing a love of reading will serve a child well – increased literacy skills will see them in good stead for future relationships, education and employment, and by reading to them when young you can give them the best possible boost towards these skills.
Consider the following list of potential benefits for a child as they grow:
- Bonding with a newborn is vital to the child’s feelings of safety and security, and will promote optimum growth and health. Reading regularly to a baby creates great bonding opportunities.
- There is some scientific evidence to suggest that children who were regularly read to as babies have larger vocabularies. Reading aloud to a baby can help to kick start their verbal and language skills and may even help them to perform better in tests and exams at school.
- At a young age, children need to learn to moderate and control their emotions. They learn this largely through watching and learning from us as parents, but reading to them as babies exposes them early to different emotions and feelings. They will pick up on their parent’s emotions during the reading and even respond with their body language, sounds, and movements.
- Reading introduces them to the rhythm and meter of language. This early start can help them to read and communicate as they grow older.
- Babies begin to see the world around them more clearly some weeks after birth. Reading to them exposes them to new colours and shapes, which will stimulate their visual cortex and help in the formation of new synapses in the brain.
- Finally, reading to a baby will embed the concept early on life that reading is a fun activity and is something to be enjoyed.
Even if a parent already understands that reading early can have some great benefits, it’s still worth revisiting the specifics of those benefits. By investing time reading to a baby, and bonding with them through reading sessions, your child can learn a lot, which will serve them in good stead for years to come.
At Peachymama, we like to think we do our best to help keep mums comfortable during their children’s early years – whether they are reading to their little ones, or sitting down to breastfeed. We invite you to visit our latest range at https://www.peachymama.com.au/collections.
Further Reading:
https://www.parents.com/baby/development/intellectual/benefits-of-reading-to-your-newborn/#page=1
https://www.waterford.org/education/how-to-teach-reading-skills-from-cradle-to-kindergarten/