Everyone says read to her from birth. What does that look like at four months?

velvet_paper_649716 Jun 2026

I teach primary, so I'm the person who tells parents to read to their children every day. Now I have a 4 month old and I realise I've never thought about what that means at this age. She grabs the board book and tries to eat it. If I read a story out loud she watches my face for about a minute and then looks at the ceiling fan. Is that the reading? Do people do whole books, or just show pictures and talk? I'd like something more concrete than 'it's good for language'.

2 comments

basil_violin_957816 Jun 2026
The ceiling fan phase is real. With my little one, now one and a half, 'reading' at that age was mostly me pointing at a picture and saying the word in Malayalam and English while she chewed the corner. Ammachi sang the same two songs to her from the same book every night, and that's still the one she reaches for. With my elder girl I started proper stories much later and she still became the reader in the house, so I wouldn't worry about doing it right.
amber_wave_98916 Jun 2026
For what it's worth, our paediatrician said that at that age it's less about the book and more about hearing your voice and seeing your face up close. So a story while she watches the fan probably still counts. What stuck with my son, now in class 1, was a high-contrast cloth book with a mirror on the last page. He kicked every time we got to the mirror. Do you find she responds more to faces than to pictures?