Books to Read at Bedtime

I found a great little board book called "Time for Bed" (author is Mem Fox) that has lots of mother animals saying goodnight to their babies...it rhymes...I started reading it to my 18 month old when he was three months old and he still likes it.

J. Z

Have you read "Llama llama red pajama"? It is a fun book with lots of rhyming words and llama goes to sleep at the end of the book. my baby loves it and i enjoy reading it

I would recommend anything by Sandra Boynton. I began reading this to my daughter when she was an infant and she still loves them at 3 1/2. Tumble Bumble, Goodnight Gorilla, Let's go visiting, Goodnight Kisses, and Pat the Bunny are all great ones too, off the top of my head.

Hi, I like to read Little prayers and graces by Anne Kennedy,Night, night God bless by readers digest young familys, Good night gorilla by Peggy Rathmann.

Looks like a lot of Sandra Boynton books get read around bed time! I love all her books. Both of my kids loved Snuggle Puppy the best. If you get her CD you can learn the song and sing it. I also use the song to calm both my kids when they are upset. My kids love to listen to her CDs in the car. The songs are fun enough that I don't mind listening to them over and over too!

I think i've read Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton at least a million times between both kids. And of course Good Night Moom

You have gotten great responses- I expecially love Sandra Boynton! I also love the books by Karma Wilson. One of my favorites is "Hilda Must Be Dancing". Have fun reading to your baby! I read to my kids since they were in the womb and they love books! I love stories before bed!

The Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown is nice because they all go to sleep at the end. Also, Guess How Much I Love You.

My kids have both really enjoyed the Happy Baby books by Roger Priddy. They are board books with a "squishy" cover. I got the set as a gift and our three year old enjoys reading them to us. :) They have different "themes"... Our set included Happy Baby: 123, Happy Baby: Colors, Happy Baby: Animals -- also available are Happy Baby: Words (spanish version available, too, as well as Happy Baby: ABC. I've found them at many book stores and Target, too.

:) Enjoy!

There are a lot of cute bedtime and pajama books out there. I like "Snoozers" - it has 5-6 mini bedtime stories. Cute little catchy poems. Also "Pajama Time" is cute. Good luck.

you can check out my website - www.usbornforthefuture.com - there are a TON of books for kids! one of the biggest sellers for young babies/toddlers are the touchy feely books - each page has something to touch on it! your daughter might still be a little young for it anyway, but the books are still colorful, fun, simple, and the pages are acid free :D

as an usborn books consultant i would like to help you choose the right books for your daughter! if you need any help at all, just contact me - my email address is ____@____.com!
good luck!

Hi A.,
Congrats on the new baby!
Some of our favorite books we read are: all the
Margaret Wise Brown books, My World, Goodnight Moon, Runaway Bunny...
Also, at the age of one month, babies just love to hear their mom and dad's voices, you may want to consider a chapter book, like Charlotte's Web. It's my kid's favorite.
Also, we like God Gave Us You by Lisa Tawn Bergren and Hush Little One by Anita Reith Stons.
As they get older board books are a must!!
Best Wishes to you and the new little one!
P.

I've heard that rhythm and rhyme is a very important part of reading to a child. plus, it's just fun to rhyme! "Baby can't sleep" is a great book, we read it all the time to our daughter who was really hard to get to sleep. It also made us smile cause the story is so true. here is the link to it on amazon. http://tinyurl.com/595onh

Sorry if this is a repeat. My girls like The Going to Bed Book & Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton.

You can leave out the classic - Pat the Bunny - my kids loved it. I also agree that the Boyton books are great as well

A. you got the right idea. Reading to the baby is great to get the child to settle in for bed. A great thing to get them use to. But don't really worry what you read right now! You can even read the news paper or a book your reading. Right now she's just getting used to your voice. You'll will learn your daughter will have her own favorites. But my daughters favorites are Run Away Bunny,Very Hungery Catapiller, and the Napping House. All great board books. Even if you don't want to buy. Check out your local libary they have a section just for little ones. All board books! Good Luck! And keep up the good work!!

You have a bunch of wonderful suggestions already but I wanted to add some to it. LOL. The author to Love you Forever is Robert Munsch by the way. GREAT book. But it will make you cry so be prepaired. LOL. Now my favorite FAVORITE book to read to my kids since I was pregnant with them even is If You Were My Bunny. Its by Kate Mcmullen. If you don't know very many lullabyes this one is awesome. I knew the tunes to them but not the words. This one has a song for each animal and in the back tells what tune the song goes to. Very nice book that my 4 almost 5 year old still loves. I read it to him from the day he was born.
Some others I have read to my kids are: Time For Bed by Mem Fox and Jane Dyer, Runaway Bunny By Margaret Wise Brown, I love you This Much by Sam McBratney, ANy book by Bill Martin (He wrote Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you see), You are special, Little One by Nancy Tafuri, There's a Monster at the end of this book by Jon Stone (Sesame Street book), anything by Eric Carl, and anything by Dr. Seuse or PD Eastman. Those are all great books that can be read over and over and over. I even know the If you were my bunny book by heart already. LOL. I have been reading it for 4 years. LOL. I now have 3 children and they ALL love books. enjoy your time with your little one. They do grow fast. laterz. J.

Just a few that come to mind are Are You Ready for Bed? by Jane Johnson, You and Me, Little Bear by Martin Waddell,Bunny My Honey by Anita Jeram, Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney and when she gets older, Llama Llama red pajama by Anna Dewdney. And way to go on getting started early with reading to your newborn! Children look forward to it every night when you have the "bedtime story" routine. I know my kids do. Good luck finding more! I bet if you went to your public library they could help too.

Our goodnight book is called Time For Bed by Mem Fox. Its a board book, so when Elisabeth grabs for it or tries to chew on it, its no big deal. I would suggest a book that you like, because you'll end up memorizing it if you read it to her every night. Time for bed is a fun little book that goes through several animals with a cute rhyme about why its time for bed. Its really rhythmic and repetitive, so its good for relaxing them to sleep, but different enough to be interesting for adults. I also really like the pictures.

Its time for bed little mouse, little mouse. Darkness is falling all over the house. Its time for bed little goose, little goose. The stars are out and on the loose. Its time for bed little cat, little cat. So snuggle in tight, that's right, like that. And on and on....

My son loved to look at the colors in "Goodnight Sweet Butterflies" and "10 little Ladybugs." He is 3 and still likes to look at these well worn books. Also, any of the Miss Spider books are great for newborns because of the colors. You can get them in board books so they last a long time.

My kids' favorites (other than Goodnight Moon) were Sandra Boynton's "The Going to Bed Book" and "Pajama Time". Happy reading!

"Baby Faces" or any of those other books that have pictures of babies with just one or two words per page. Babies love looking at other babies!

My son and I love all the Sandra Boynton books - they are available at Target. Short and sweet, with great pictures, and cute stories. Enjoy!

How about Baby's Bedtime, Goodnight Baby, or Sleepy Baby. You can find them on my website at www.ubah.com/Y2694.

First of all, congrats on your new baby!

Target sells a book called "Who Loves Baby?" It is a plastic book that you can insert your own pictures. After regular books, I go through this with my boys each night and "say goodnight" to all of our family. I've done this with my first since he was an infant and I think it made a big difference in him remembering the family (especially those out of state).

The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton is a great rhyming book your child will love. Really any book by her is great!! Otherwise, any book you read will help establish that as your night-night routine, and your child will grow to love this solid tradition in your household.

at that age I don't think it would matter what you read to your baby. It's just great that you want to read to your child in the first place!! Reading to them will actually help them talk sooner as long as you are using words that are simple. There are a ton of books out there that are great. There are even places online where you can send each other books so you don't have to buy a ton! Good Job keep it up!

I loved reading "On the Day You Were Born" to my newborn, and she seemed to like hearing that one frequently. It became part of the bedtime ritual.

I don't think I saw this one yet. I think it's called "love you forever", but I don't know who the author is.

I have always like the Sandra Boyton books. Pajama Time is great as well as Dinosaur's Binket and Snoozers. My aunt also gave me a book called Song of Night and a friend gave the book The Snuggliest Snuggle In The World. Good Luck!

Shel
mom of 19mo "cutes little doodle in the world" little girl!

For the really young ones, bright colors and durable pages (like board books) are great because they will stand up to when Baby wants to grab at them herself. People have already mentioned my favorites. We also love the "That's Not My _____"(truck, dinosaur, doll, etc.) books from UsBorne. They sell them at Borders--a nice endcap in the kids' section if you want to check them out. They have sensory pages that little ones LOVE to touch. Also, anything with repetition seems to be a big hit (Hungry Caterpillar, Snuggle Puppy, Owl Babies). I'd walk through the board books section at the bookstore (not Target--they don't have much of a selection), and see what strikes you--since it's likely you'll have to read them over and over!

For a newborn the cadence is the most important. Any book with a good easy soothing rythm is good.

My son loved (& still does) "How do I love you?" by PK Hallinan and "I love you through and through" by Bernadette Rossetti-Shutak.

Just find a book you enjoy reading that has a nice cadence to the words & she will be soothed by the tone & rythm of your voice.

My little girl loves, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You Hear?" and "The Hungry Caterpillar." There are so many great books out there!

I like the small Dr. Suess board books, but especially My Many Colored Days. It is super colorful and all my babies liked it even when they were super little. Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? is another favorite of Dr. Suess. My First Body Board Book is good too because babies like to look at other babies. Congrats on your new addition!

I Took the Moon for a Walk is one of my favorites...I wrote about it on my parenting blog and added some excerpts if that helps:

http://uggamugga.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-took-moon-for-wal...

the going to bed book by sandra boyton
little bunny's bedtime by ???
i love you, goodnight by ???

these are some of our favorites

Anything by Sandra Boyton...she has lots of great books that are very short, have great bold pitcture, and great rhyming and flow. Our oldest boys are 5 and 3 and they still love them - Our 5 year old favorite is Hippos go Bezerk and our 3 year olds favorite is called "The Going to Bed Book" As a mommy....my favorite to read to them is called "Mommy Hugs" by Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben. It is a board book that tells how different Mommys hug their babies...."Mommy elephant hugs her baby with a squeeze" There also is a "Daddy Kisses" by the same authors..."Daddy rabbit gives his bunny a kiss on the ear" They boys now anticipate and follow along with the book (exp-we kiss them on the ear, hug them with a squeeze.) There are too many cute books! Enjoy :)

Most of the books by Sandra Boynton are very good, quick, and fun books. I have read them to my son and daughter since they were and 2 years later they still love them. Some of her titles are "Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs", But not the Hippoptomus, Doggies, A to Z, What's wrong little pookie. Just to name a few. Try them I think she will like them. But it doesn't really matter what you read she just wants to hear the sound of your voice. Your Mommy and thats wonderful. Congrats!!!!!

Don't know if anyone mentioned The Big Red Barn by the same author as Goodnight Moon. It has a great cadence and it is short enough that after the fiftieth or so time of reading it, you will be able to do the whole thing with your eyes closed :) and also you will be able to recite it from memory in the car to calm a fussy baby without the benefit of having the book with you.

The Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown is also great! I love it.

We also read Time for Bed by Mem Fox.

I'm not sure if you can find it as a board book, but "On the Day You Were Born" by Debra Frasier is a fantastic book.