Before a nap, after lunch, after bath, and before bedtime are all good reading times. The basic idea is to capitalize on periods when baby is receptive. Do not force your child to sit still when he wants to practice walking or when he is too tired or hungry. This will only frustrate him and make the reading experience unpleasant.
Erika recommends reading to baby regularly, twice a day, every day. Start with a short span of five to six minutes for each reading session and as your baby’s attention span increases, lengthen the reading time.
HOW TO READ
Read slowly and deliberately. Remember you are reading to your baby, not to yourself!
Make appropriate pauses, giving time for baby to look at the pictures.
Repeat key words; point out and elaborate on details, e.g., “This is a cat – a cat says. “meow” or “look at the spider – it is black and has eight legs.” Vary your volume and pace of reading according to the storyline, eg, a louder volume and faster pace for exciting lines in the story.
Talk about what is happening in the story, what happened earlier and what might happen next. These are important concepts for sequencing events and will help your child understand the concept of the beginning, middle and end of a story – prediction is a valuable comprehension skill. Try to make connections between the story you are reading and the world around your baby.