If you are wondering when you should begin reading with your child, the simple answer is now. In fact, even before birth, babies are absorbing language, so it’s never too early to begin sharing books.

Reading with your child enhances language development and promotes cognitive growth. Sharing a book builds strong family bonds and exposes your child to rich and varied vocabulary. Research shows that shared reading has positive, lasting effects for parents and babies. 

As a parent, you have probably never been busier. Nurturing children takes so much time and energy. In a 2025 Reach Out and Read podcast, pediatrician Dr. Clare Crosh shared that parents know that reading to babies is beneficial, but barriers such as time, resources, and mental health get in the way of best intentions. You can read more about Dr. Crosh’s research in our post on How to Make Time for Shared Reading.    

In this post we will share with you three important reasons why you should read with your baby:

1. Shared Reading with Babies Builds Strong Family Bonds
2. Shared Reading Supports Brain Development in Babies
3. Shared Reading Exposes Babies to Thousands of Words

Shared Reading with Babies Builds Strong Family Bonds

Reading with your baby is a powerful way to form nurturing connections. Hearing the soft, rhythmical sound of your familiar voice is comforting and soothing for your baby. Bonding over books creates a sense of warmth, security, and love. These moments have long lasting effects on language development and your child’s sense of safety and emotional stability.  

Shared reading provides an opportunity for joint attention. Joint attention means that you and your child are focusing alongside each other on the story and illustrations. This process is especially important for exposing your child to new vocabulary, building background knowledge, and understanding the meaning of words and stories. It also helps strengthen your relationship.   

Reading aloud gives you the opportunity to make eye contact with your child. It creates shared physical interactions, such as turning pages and pointing at pictures and text. When you read with your child, you can also observe their facial expressions as they interact with you and the story. These experiences help you build a strong parent-child foundation that supports language acquisition and emotional well-being. 

Shared Reading Supports Brain Development in Babies

Research shows that the first three years of a child’s life are critical to their overall brain development. During this time, a child’s brain is rapidly maturing and developing complex connected pathways. A 2012 study found that these early experiences have significant influence on a child’s “long-term language, cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal development.” (Dickinson et al.)  

Reading to your baby stimulates important areas of the brain that are responsible for language and learning. Exposure to words and ideas helps babies develop listening skills and supports language comprehension. Of course, your baby won’t understand all the words you are reading, but they will be absorbing the sounds, rhythms, and patterns of language, which lay a foundation for building strong literacy skills. 

Your child’s brain will be 90% developed by their 5th birthday. These early years are extremely important for setting them up for success in school and in life. The exposure to words, thoughts, and ideas that you share while reading with them supports learning and brain development. 

Shared Reading Exposes Babies to Thousands of Words

Reading books to babies exposes them to thousands of words they would not normally hear. Books serve as lexical reservoirs, meaning they contain rare words that are not commonly used in everyday speech. Books provide a concentrated serving of a vast amount of words that are not typically used in child-adult conversations.   

Research shows that if you read just one picture book a day, your child will be exposed to 78,000 words a year. (Logan, et al. 2019) Over the first 5 years of a child’s life, they estimated that through shared reading a child will hear 1.4 million more words than if they did not experience storytime. That’s an incredible amount of words. But, it’s not just the words that matter. The meaning that is attached to words is the most important factor for brain development. The shared experience of enjoying and discussing books with your child helps them attach meaning to words.   

Summary

You probably already know that reading with your child is important. However, parents are some of the busiest people on the planet. Juggling your own life while parenting and providing for children can be overwhelming. The important thing to remember is that the first few years of your child’s life are the most important for laying a strong foundation for future success. Knowing this provides motivation for doing what we know is critically important for brain health and family bonding.  

The first step is knowing how important reading is. You probably already know this, so jump to the next step which is setting aside a few minutes each day for shared reading. If you have already made reading together a daily habit, hooray, and if you’re not quite there yet, we are cheering you on. Including book reading as part of our bedtime routine has worked for us. Snuggling together while sharing a beautiful picture book and story is a great way to unwind at the end of a busy day. But, any time of day is a good time to share a book. The best advice is to create a routine that becomes a daily habit. 

Happy Reading! And please do get in touch with us. We will be happy to answer your early literacy questions. 

Order Alphabites Game Pack today to teach your child the sounds of reading. Your child will love the 26 active learning games and 32 hilarious tongue twisters!

Sources

Crosh, C. C., Sherman, S. N., Valley, J. E., Parsons, A., Gentry, A., Glusman, M., ... & Copeland, K. A. (2024). Beliefs and Motivations Regarding Early Shared Reading of Parents From Low-Income Households: A Qualitative Study. Academic pediatrics, 24(3), 486-493. Google Scholar  

Dickinson, D. K., Griffith, J. A., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2012). How reading books fosters language development around the world. Child development research, 2012(1), 602807. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1155/2012/602807

Logan, J. A., Justice, L. M., Yumuş, M., & Chaparro-Moreno, L. J. (2019). When children are not read to at home: The million word gap. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 40(5), 383-386.

https://crane.osu.edu/files/2020/01/When_Children_Are_Not_Read_to_at_Home__The_Million.9.pdf

Reach Out and Read Podcast. The Science Sessions: Learning from Families About What Inspires and Enables Them to Share Books. Dr. Clare Crosh and Dr. Diogo Anyigbo with Host Dr. Dipesh Navsaria. Feb 6 2025 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-science-sessions-learning-from-families-about/id1522976383?i=1000689571744