Time Value of Mommy

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Baby’s First Library: Birth to 12 Months Old

Reading is one of the greatest life skills you can teach to your child. Reading is a learned skill, and it is the foundation of all future learning. Just like any other muscle in your body, you need to practice and train for the muscle to build! This post will help you build your baby’s first library in their first year. I know it will set you up for success in this journey of teaching and reading with your child to build a strong foundation for all future learning and language development.

Best Baby Books First Year

You want to start with age appropriate options for your baby. If you’re reading long form novels to a newborn, they’re NOT going to be interested. In the baby’s first year they are still developing their senses. Their vision is not fully developed until 5 months of age!

More often than not, you will notice your infant mouthing and touching the books rather than “reading” them. Encourage exploration and make reading fun for your baby by incorporating all of their senses.

Tips for First Time Moms and Expecting Moms:

I’d highly recommend you add these books to your baby registry. My favourite was the Amazon Baby Registry for the Baby Registry Completion Discount and fast shipping!

Utilize Gifting to Add to Baby’s Library:

If you don’t have some of these books and your child is a bit older, try to set up a “donate to my library” birthday wish list instead of getting cards or receiving toys as gifts!

If you are looking to gift first time parents some books for their baby shower, these are great options.

Other Preparing for Your Baby’s First Year Blog Posts:

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Setting Up The Reading Area

Having books around the house is important, but HOW you set up the room is equally important. You want your child to gravitate towards the books. I’ve implemented the Montessori way of displaying the books with their covers showing, so my daughter can choose which books she wants to read herself.

I do NOT recommend setting up book shelves too high where the baby cannot reach the books themselves, or have piles of books where only the binds show. This set up does not invite your baby to read or build any autonomy as the parent will have to choose and grab the books each time.

You will want books on rotation so there aren’t too many choices at one time. Novelty of seeing a “new” cover on the shelf is going to re-ignite their interest to re-read a book. I only display 9 books are on the bookshelf at any one time. She has full autonomy to see the cover of the books and choose the ones she prefers.

In line with Montessori teachings, you will notice that MOST of the books I have chosen reflect real pictures or real life scenarios. Having real photos help babies connect the book to their world.

Reading with your child will also help them develop social skills, read faces, and therefore, build empathy.

Bookshelf that Displays the Book Cover

I have this bookshelf in my daughter’s room. You can also find it on Wayfair. This bookshelf is VERY compact at less than 3″ thick. You mount it to the wall, and it’s extremely sturdy so you don’t have to worry about your toddler trying to climb it.

The shelves can hold up to 85 books, although I only display about 9 books at a time. It is handmade of quality, sustainable wood.

Ever since my daughter was crawling, she can easily get to the bottom shelf and pick the book that she wants to read. Now at almost 2 years old, she has learned to grab the books from the shelf and put it back herself.

How to Read to Your Baby

Reading with your baby is not an overnight skill. It takes practice and LOTS of repetition! You want to make reading fun for your baby. They will build their attention span over time to read longer and longer books.

The ultimate goal of reading with your baby is for them to learn better communication, have robust language development and build their growing brain. Reading is the foundation for all of their future learning.

Being able to read well helps your child comprehend learning materials faster and retain information better.

Check out Dr. Dana Suskind’s book “Thirty Million Words: Building A Child’s Brain” for the research behind this.

See my post here for my quick summary of this book.

[Related Post: “12 Best Books for New Parents Actually Worth Reading“]

I’ve linked 2 videos that I’d HIGHLY recommend you watch to learn how to make it FUN and ENGAGING to read to your baby, and how they can build their vocabulary easily and naturally.

I really like the video content from “Learn With Adrienne“. She’s speech-language pathologist specializing in babies from birth to 3 years old, and all of her videos are super informative, easy to follow and pleasant to listen to!

“How to Get Toddlers to Sit and Read with You: Tips from a Speech Therapist”
“HOW TO TEACH A BABY TO TALK | Speech Activities for Babies & Toddlers”

Key Takeaways:

  • It’s NOT the book, it’s the ADULT reading the book.
  • Repetition is how we learn words.
  • Tailor the book to the level of your child’s reading level – you DON’T have to read EVERY word.
  • Use sign and gestures, sing-songy voice, pointing to make it fun and engaging for the baby.
  • Interact with the book, and show them real life examples that are reflected in the book.
  • Narrate your day-to-day activities and provide an environment rich with words.

Newborn: High Contrast

At 1 month old, newborn babies can only really focus on high contrast objects up to 3 feet away. They won’t be able to focus and track objects until about 3 months old. Only at 5 months old will they have depth perception developed more fully and they can recognize and smile at familiar people. Read more on your infant’s vision development on the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Remember in their “fourth trimester“, babies will get overstimulated easily so you want to keep the reading activity at a few minutes at a time.

You can use these books and flashcards as the object to focus on for tummy time! Two birds with one stone.

A recent discovery and favourite with my second daughter is the Tana Hoban “Black & White” accordion style foldout book. It’s a great all-in-one solution to set up anywhere on the go without having to lay out and change out a bunch of cards.

High Contrast Baby Book Recommendations

Faces & Emotions

As your baby grows out of the newborn phase, they will begin to notice familiar people and faces. They will be fascinated by your facial expressions.

At this stage, try to have “conversations” with your baby. This means having a “back and forth” interaction where your baby might coo and you can mimic their voice back to them. Your baby will also learn to mimic your facial expressions and sounds, and this is the beginning of their social interactions!

Put your baby in front of a mirror, and go through the books below with them making the faces on each page.

Baby Books with Real Faces Recommendations

Sensory & Touch

By month 5 as your baby is developing focus and better hand-eye coordination, they will explore with their hands more.

Below you will find books that promote sensory and touch exploration. As you read together, help your baby run through the different textures with their hands.

Lift-the-flap books are great options from 9 months onwards for them to lift the flaps themselves. This will help them with their pincer grip and practice grasping between their thumb and forefinger. You may need to have some tape handy for those worn-out flaps. Before 9 months, you can make the pages “peek-a-boo” with your baby.

The “Poke-A-Dot” series is a HUGE hit with my daughter closer to 11-12 months old when she can press the bubbles down herself. Word of caution that these books are quite heavy.

Sense and Touch Baby Book Recommendations

Sounds & Songs

Your baby will LOVE it when you sing to them! Even if you aren’t the best singer in the world, your baby will tune in because they love your voice. Singing has a huge impact on your baby’s developing brain.

Children’s illustrator and author Annie Kubler has many classic nursery board books that include American sign language gestures that you can teach you baby as you sing to them. See below for more baby sign language recommendations.

Making sounds that they would hear on the street like in the Little Blue Truck going “beep beep” is also a fun way to teach your child the various different sounds they might hear.

My daughter loves to “Moo” and “Baa” along with the Sandra Boynton books, and it teaches them the sounds real animals make! The Christmas and Halloween variations are also a hit with my daughter.

Sounds and Lullabies Baby Book Recommendations

Bedtime Story

Having a night time routine is crucial for babies to relax into deep sleep. Below are some of my daughter’s favourite books before bed time.

When your baby is very young, don’t worry about reading every single word or even finish the book in its entirety. Help them learn objects on the page, get them to point, to repeat words and sounds, and PLAY with them as you read.

As your child is developing a longer attention span and focus past 6-8 months of age, read the books in the same tone, emphasizing the same words each time to build repetition. Soon, they will be able to read along with you because they know what to expect!

Good Night Baby Bedtime Book Recommendations

Words & Baby Sign Language

I highly, highly recommend that you start teaching your baby sign language as early as 5-6 months. By this time, your baby will likely have started sitting up unassisted, and starting their eating solids journey. You can teach simple signs like, “milk“, “more“, “all done“, and know exactly what your baby is asking of you.

[Related Post: “Baby Sign Language Basics“]

I will warn you that it takes a lot of repetition and patience for this skill to stick. They will not be signing back for a good few months, but they are absorbing everything you say and do! Keep it up and your future self will thank you for the time investment.

I taught myself the baby sign languages using the “My First Signs” book and the flashcards below. You will need to be consistent and use the hand signs every time as you say them to your baby. Your baby will sign back when their hand-eye coordination is improving over time, and they will be able to sign before they can speak.

Effective communication will reduce a LOT of friction and frustration for both you and your baby. Many of my friends who have toddlers going through the “Terrible Twos” are telling me that not being able to understand your child is the source of many tantrums.

My daughter is still using some of her baby signs when she is saying almost full sentences at 2 years old. Their pronunciation is not enunciated well at this age and signs help well past their first few words. I credit her ability to verbalize her feelings and needs to our efforts in building effective communication skills with sign language from when she was an infant.

Going through these word books and showing your baby real life objects that match will help build vocabulary quickly. I really enjoy using the First Words Flash Cards to play a game of find-and-seek with my daughter. Attach sounds and gestures as you teach them these words. You’d be surprised at how many words they know before they can say it!

Baby Sign Language and Vocabulary Book Recommendations

On The Go

The recommendations below are for when you are out and about. These books are compact and easy to take around for the car ride or any trips.

Instead of giving your child your phone or a tablet when you’re out, start with books. It’s good for your child to be “bored” and find her own entertainment.

Having different books than the ones at home when you’re out and about is going to provide a sense of newness but not stimulate your child too much like a screen would.

“Open the Barn Door” is extremely well loved by my daughter and I had to get a replacement. It is a lift-the-flap book and perfect for little hands.

On The Go Baby Books Recommendations

This post was all about best baby books for first year. Nurturing your child’s love to read takes time and effort. Remember, it’s NOT the book, it’s the ADULT reading the book!

Your early investment in your child’s reading will not be futile. It’s way harder to tell your child to read at a later age when they’ve not built up the habit or interest. Children are watching you always and doing speaks so much louder than telling.

Read the books to your baby so they are engaged and curious. They will develop a love of books if you help them!

If you already own any of the baby books above, or have other recommendations, I’d love to hear about it!

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