X
theAsianparent Logo
theAsianparent Logo
Product GuideSign in
  • Awards
    • Parents' Choice Awards 2023
  • Pregnancy
    • Due date calculator
    • I'm pregnant
    • Trying To Conceive
    • Labour
    • After birth
    • Baby loss
  • Parenting
    • Parent's Guide
    • Relationship & Sex
  • Child
    • Newborn
    • Baby
    • Toddler
    • Pre-Schooler
    • Kid
    • Pre-Teen & Teen
  • Feeding & Nutrition
    • Diseases-Injuries
    • Breastfeeding & Formula
    • Meal Planner
    • Health
    • Allergies & Conditions
    • Vaccinations
  • Education
    • Pre-School
    • Primary School
    • Secondary School
    • Primary School Directory
  • Lifestyle
    • Money
    • Travel & Leisure
    • Fashion
    • Home
    • Fitness
    • Contests & promotions
  • News
    • International
    • Health
    • Celebrity
    • Singapore
  • TAP Recommends
  • Shopping
  • Press Releases
  • Project Sidekicks
  • Community
  • Advertise With Us
  • Contact Us
  • Become A Contributor
  • VIP

How and What You Read to Baby Can Impact Brain Development

7 min read

Do you want to know the secret to fast-tracking your baby’s language development? Four words: Read to the baby.

You may have heard it before and might think it’s just an old wives’ tale. But, studies can now prove that reading to your babies can do wonders. They found a link between reading to babies and brain development, and the results are pretty amazing.

So, if you want to know why reading to your baby improves their language development, how you should read, and how many times you should read, keep going.

Table of Contents

  • Reading to Babies and Brain Development
  • Benefits of Reading to Baby
  • Reading to Baby: How Often is Often Enough
  • What Books You Should Pick
  • Reminder to Parents

Reading to Babies and Brain Development

There have already been studies before that proved that reading to a baby from infancy can result in specialised brain responses. This means that if you read to your six-month-old, he will be able to better differentiate between faces and species, for example. 

This same study — in a way — proves that it is not just what’s on the pages, but the book reading experience itself that helps with these brain responses. 

But with such data, it’s still unclear how we should go about reading to our baby to achieve the desired effect. Not until Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine released a study published just this month, February 0f 2023.

Their study concluded that by reading at least one book per day starting from the child’s second week, you could expect your child to demonstrate improved language capabilities by 9 months. 

That tells us, parents, just how valuable reading to a baby is. But, while that’s clear, there are still so many unanswered questions. Can you read any books? Do you need to change books as your child grows older? What should be the considerations when trying to select a book to read to your child? Plus, does it matter if you read the story out loud? Why or why not?

All of these you will find out as you read through this article.

Benefits of Reading to Baby

Here is the idea: the more you read to your baby out loud, the more sounds and words they hear and get familiarised with, and the more they learn how to talk. So, how does that happen? 

How and What You Read to Baby Can Impact Brain Development

  • Faster language and cognitive development 

A study conducted in 2006 uncovered that reading to babies aloud or book sharing can help in language and cognitive development. It also increases a child’s vocabulary as well as their pre-reading skills. In addition, this activity is beneficial in conceptual development. 

That happens because when you read to your child out loud, you help them familiarise themselves with the sounds that you make. Add to that the association of such sounds with pictures. When they see such pictures again, they recall the sound that you made when you referred to them.

First is familiarity, and the second is copying the sounds that you made while reading to them out loud.

  • Enhances reading and writing abilities 

The more books you read to your child, the more words they are exposed to. So, what you’re essentially doing by reading to your child is to familiarise them with as many words as possible.

Another research by the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine can confirm this as they found that the quality and quantity of shared book reading greatly benefits a child’s vocabulary. 

  • Enhancement of parent-child relationship 

In today’s work culture, being present in your child’s life has become more and more difficult, with both parents always out to bring home the bacon. So, whenever you feel like you have to ensure your child’s emotional needs or longing for you is met, read them a book out loud. 

A WHO study stated that reading to babies aloud helps enhance parent-child relationships. It encourages interpersonal communication and gives parents a daily dose of cuddles with their children. 

Apart from the free snuggles, reading a book with your child is such a positive experience for your child that they can associate books with the concepts of joy and closeness. So, to them, reading a book is considered to be a form of happiness.

Reading to Baby: How Often is Often Enough

So, we’ve clarified whether reading out loud makes a difference in your child’s language development. Now, on to the frequency. If they said to read to your baby as often as you can, they mean as often as you can.
 
But, since we don’t have all the time in the world, the bigger question is how often is often enough?
 
Experts say that the magic number is at least once a day. Doing it every time at bedtime makes recall much easier for your baby. 
how to boost toddlers IQ

The books you should read to your six-month-old will differ from those you read to your two-year-old. | Image: iStock

What Books You Should Pick

You now know the when, the why, the how, and the how often. Now, let’s discover the what. During their investigations, the BCDL researchers found that the type of books you read to your baby is as important as how much you read to them. 

  • If you show books with faces, and objects to your infants, they will show specialised brain responses in the future. But if you show them books with no labels or generic books with just images and a word to describe them, it might not be that impactful. 
  • Babies who are read to from books with individual labels (where each image is described by words), were able to distinguish between individual characters. For instance, the dog in the book is described as: “This is Harry. He can wiggle his tail and run fast.”
  • The BCLD study also found that young infants were able to learn a lot more about their environment through those labelled books. It also helped in their overall development during their first year. 

Reminder to Parents

Once you realise all of the benefits of reading to your child, you will want to push yourself harder in order to ensure your child finishes a book a day. In your pursuit of achieving this, you need to remember a few things. Here are some takeaways that you might find useful”

  • Differences at Different Ages

The books you should read to your six-month-old should be different from those you read to your two-year-old as their level of understanding matures with age.

  • No to Generic Terms

While reading to your baby, you should opt for books that label characters and give them individual names as opposed to generic terms like “cat” or “dog.”

  • Consider your Child’s Preference

Make sure to purchase books that your child likes to see, touch, and hear from. Otherwise, they won’t have something to inspire them to read.

  • Get Creative

If you bought a book that has no individual labels, then create some of your own. Give the characters interesting names. 

Remember that while talking to babies is important for their development, shared book reading can open the doors for faster cognitive learning. Are you ready to learn to develop a child’s language skills? 

dad reading to baby

Image Source: iStock

Updates from Kim Brua

The Conversation, Scientific American, MIT Press Journal, SAGE journals, Kids Health, SRCD, Science Daily

Here at theAsianparent Singapore, it’s important for us to give information that is correct, significant, and timely. But this doesn’t serve as an alternative for medical advice or medical treatment. theAsianparent Singapore is not responsible for those that would choose to drink medicines based on information from our website. If you have any doubts, we recommend consulting your doctor for clearer information.   

Partner Stories
How to Raise a Super Smart Baby? Check Out These 12 Tips!
How to Raise a Super Smart Baby? Check Out These 12 Tips!
Inside Your Baby’s Mind: Understanding Cues, Cries, And Smiles
Inside Your Baby’s Mind: Understanding Cues, Cries, And Smiles
The Almost Magical, Mum-tested Way To Get Your Baby To Sleep Through The Night
The Almost Magical, Mum-tested Way To Get Your Baby To Sleep Through The Night
The Ultimate Guide For Parents About Newborn Baby Weight Loss And Gain
The Ultimate Guide For Parents About Newborn Baby Weight Loss And Gain

Got a parenting concern? Read articles or ask away and get instant answers on our app. Download theAsianparent Community on iOS or Android now!

img
Written by

Deepshikha Punj

  • Home
  • /
  • Baby
  • /
  • How and What You Read to Baby Can Impact Brain Development
Share:
  • How Your Child's Brain Develops From Birth Till The Age Of Six

    How Your Child's Brain Develops From Birth Till The Age Of Six

  • What Effects Can Watching Tv Have on Your Baby’s Developing Brain?

    What Effects Can Watching Tv Have on Your Baby’s Developing Brain?

  • I Try Tracy Lee's Hack for Egg Tarts and It's So Easy That Even Kids Can Make it

    I Try Tracy Lee's Hack for Egg Tarts and It's So Easy That Even Kids Can Make it

  • 'Family is Priceless': Malaysian Man in Singapore Rents 2 Buses So He and 60 Other Strangers Can Join Their Families for CNY

    'Family is Priceless': Malaysian Man in Singapore Rents 2 Buses So He and 60 Other Strangers Can Join Their Families for CNY

Author Image

Deepshikha Punj

Deepshikha worked as the Head of Web Content and was previously the Regional Dy. Head of Content and Partnerships Director at theAsianparent. She also worked as the Director of HerStyleAsia.com and handled content strategy and management for APAC markets.
  • How Your Child's Brain Develops From Birth Till The Age Of Six

    How Your Child's Brain Develops From Birth Till The Age Of Six

  • What Effects Can Watching Tv Have on Your Baby’s Developing Brain?

    What Effects Can Watching Tv Have on Your Baby’s Developing Brain?

  • I Try Tracy Lee's Hack for Egg Tarts and It's So Easy That Even Kids Can Make it

    I Try Tracy Lee's Hack for Egg Tarts and It's So Easy That Even Kids Can Make it

  • 'Family is Priceless': Malaysian Man in Singapore Rents 2 Buses So He and 60 Other Strangers Can Join Their Families for CNY

    'Family is Priceless': Malaysian Man in Singapore Rents 2 Buses So He and 60 Other Strangers Can Join Their Families for CNY

Get advice on your pregnancy and growing baby. Sign up for our newsletter
  • Pregnancy
    • Baby
    • Education
    • Events
    • Allergies & Conditions
  • Family Occasions
    • Breastfeeding & Formula
    • Child Safety
    • Health
    • Diseases-Injuries
  • Lifestyle
    • Home
    • Money
    • Feeding & Nutrition
    • Diet & Weightloss
  • Normal Delivery
    • Cesarean Delivery
    • Behaviour
    • Secondary School
    • Formula Feeding
  • Ages & Stages
    • Latching & Concerns
    • Festivals & Holidays
    • Education
    • Pre-teen & Teen
  • More
    • TAP Community
    • Advertise With Us
    • Contact Us
    • Become a Contributor


  • Singapore flag Singapore
  • Thailand flag Thailand
  • Indonesia flag Indonesia
  • Philippines flag Philippines
  • Malaysia flag Malaysia
  • Sri-Lanka flag Sri Lanka
  • India flag India
  • Vietnam flag Vietnam
  • Australia flag Australia
  • Japan flag Japan
  • Nigeria flag Nigeria
  • Kenya flag Kenya
© Copyright theAsianparent 2023. All rights reserved
About Us|Team|Privacy Policy|Terms of Use |Sitemap HTML
  • Tools
  • Articles
  • Feed
  • Poll

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience. Learn MoreOk, Got it

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience. Learn MoreOk, Got it

theAsianparent heart icon
We’d like to send you notifications for the latest news and updates on baby care and health.