[redbonec]

I have been reading that babies should be allowed to play with and handle books. I asked our librarian how, since K just to chew on them when she holds them. The librarian said board books will last a while, but then you just have to replace them when they are too worn. She said they will need to soon replace a some books for her son, age 1.

I used to teach Kinder and first grade. I used to teach book care! The thought of letting K chew on the books is making me cringe.

I have put the cloth book and the vinyl book of hers in her toy basket, and she will pull them out and look at them and mouth them.

Do you let your babies have access to the books you read to them, or do they just have a few that they can play with? I am wondering if I should get some more cloth or vinyl books.

[mrsdatabits]

At first I didn't want to let DD have the books (I like my books to stay in good condition, so I cringed too at the thought of her chewing on them!), but I've mellowed (especially after she found where I stored her books... and yes, I purposely left them where she could reach). I had all her books together, then the next thing I knew she'd gotten several and they ended up in her toy chest. So, now she pretty much plays with them. At first I only let her keep the ones I didn't mind getting destroyed, but now she can even handle paperback books a little without harming them. DD did chew on the books at first (hence the reason I gave her ones I didn't mind getting destroyed - either they were inexpensive or I got them at a secondhand store), but now she rarely does. (she's 13 months) She's pretty good at turning the pages now!

Now, I've heard that we should let them chew on the books since thats a pleasureable activity and they then associate books with good feelings... but I think it needs to be tempered as well with book care. I'd say get several books you don't mind her chewing on and let her have those and keep the more special books out of reach till she doesn't really chew on them anymore.

[mommamarci]

We let Cameron have his books all the time. We have a basket that we sit next to him when we put him on the floor to play. He does chew on them some, but we always pull it out of his mouth and say, "We don't chew books, we read them." He is learning because it is taking longer and longer for them to go to his mouth. In my opinion, they are his books, so he should have access to them anytime he wants. (We do not let him have paper page books yet because he rips the pages...) In the grand scheme of things, books are not that terribly expensive and we get tired of the same ones over and over anyway, so if we need to replace a few every now and then, not a big deal!!

[Emster]

We did the whole "read the book, don't eat it" thing with Woob, too. He is getting very good at turning pages, pointing at things on the page, and picking out just the book he wants to read. My most recent blog post (link below) is all about Woob and his books. they are a very big part of his daily routine and he LOVES reading.

[HBV]

H's have always been where he can reach them, and as soon as he gets one, we just say things like " Do you want to read the book?" "Let's look at the book!" "Here's how we turn the book pages" etc.

He wasn't big on chewing on them, but he did try to tear a couple early on, and we had to remove all the book jackets because he liked to take those off and tear them. On the whole, showing him what to do with them (I'm a one note wonder today!) seemed to work reasonably well----he's great with them now.

[SchmennaLeigh]

Nick's are out and we've actually gotten to the point where paper books are also out. He was never a book eater/chewer (but JD was/is). I suppose it would work the same as other things you don't want them to put in their mouths; repetition.