My Daughter LOVES Books, But.....

When my daughter was going through that stage I let her play with bath books. She loved chewing on them and they are virtually indestructable.

Maybe have her hold onto a small toy or blanket while you are reading. That can be something different for her to chew on while you read the book.

We just figured that was par for the course. Both of our kids have eaten books, and we just toss them when they fall apart. I know that's a rather casual comment in our consumerist world, but a kid under about 18 months can't really appreciate a book the same way a preschooler can. Honestly--I looked at it this way, too--babies are tactile, and the best way they learn is by tasting. My boys both are very, very oral, so we just let it go and chalked it up to learning. Oh...and we tried to steer them to "eating" the most basic, cheapest board books, since what they really liked were the pictures and the size, not the quality of the book (we saved "Good Night Moon" and "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom"; they ate the Sesame Street set with one word per page that had 5 pages of pictures--it was never good for actual "reading" and my boys learned to turn pages and look at colorful pictures.)

Hang in there! This too shall pass. Buy garage sale board books and clean them up. My daughter ate all of her board books until about 2 months ago (15 months old) Now she sits and listens to book after book. She doesn't chew them at all. She still likes to rip off the flaps on some books but she loves to "read." She even chewed the books at the library baby storytime. Good luck!

I always "fix" our chewed on books with clear packing/mailing tape. after a corner or binding gets worn, or even when a page falls off or gets ripped, I let the dry out then I tape it up with the heavy duty tape (skip the scotch tape, doesn't hold up to kids) and they are good to go for some more chewing, throwing, standing on, crawling over, etc. fun. Library book sales are good places to find cheap books. our old library when we lived in indiana used to sell board books for 10 cents a piece! can't beat that!

Go with board books. They seemed to hold up the best. I would avoid paper until the chewing phase passes, if not for the paper in her mouth, but for paper cuts.

My 20-month-old daughter LOVES books and certainly damaged a few books along the way, but the result so far has been great.

Hi J.,
I had the same problem and I found that it helped when I gave her her own books to chew on while I was reading the other. I gave her miniature books or one of the board books that I didn't care for. Once Upon A Child has inexpensive board books and I've heard of the county libraries having sales, so maybe you could find more board books at these places. Now my daughter likes to turn the pages rather than eat them. Good luck!

Try Usborne Books! They are made really well, so they will last. But, they also have a half-price replacement guarantee! So - no matter the reason - they will replace your book for half the original price! Can't beat that - toddler drops it in the tub? Dog eats it? They will replace it for half price. Check them out at http://www.ubah.com/g2687

Hi J.,
I don't think there's anything wrong with you telling your daughter "no chew" when she starts to chew on the books. My son was a huge chewer (of everything) and he also LOVES books - he has loved them since he was able to hold objects. When I would catch him chewing his books, I simply said, "no chew" and he would often stop chewing them right away. If he didn't, I would take the book away. He understood this concept by about 8 months (even when he was still chewing everything in sight), and his love of books has not been affected at all. At your daughter's age, she will understand your words and tone after the first few times, and you will also have begun teaching her to listen to her mommy!

Get some old board books at garage sales and let her have her way with them. Let her destroy the books with pens, markers, and stickers. Allowing her to explore this way with books will not make her a four-year old who writes in books; it will make her a Reader. What you've got there is a little girl who is showing obvious signs of emergent literacy (i.e., she is learning to read). Mouth-manipulation is very normal for children this age when it comes to books. If your local library is staffed with enlightened child librarians, they will expect books to be returned to them at least slightly worn from a little one doing stuff such as chewing on the corners or drawing on the pages. (It is of course always nice to offer to replace the very hideous ones when bringing back your books, of course.) Perhaps the worst thing I've encountered at our local library was a librarian who insisted each children's book be returned in a pristine condition. Unrealistic! She suggested I have my daughter hold a toy to play with while I read a book to her. Sadly, she wasn't current on the research.

Another behavior common at this age in young readers is that they seem to not want to listen to you read the book. It is perfectly normal for them to want to stand up and go do something else, like play with a toy. But keep reading, because they are listening to you read the book even though they're not seeming like they're paying attention. If you do get your little one to stay by you and the book as you're reading, be sure to follow along underneath each word with your finger as you are reading, so they can begin to identify what words are. It also helps them learn the sound that letters make.

My son is 8 months old and I don't let him "play" with books--either ours or his own. He sits on my lap when I read to him, and I hold the book way out in front of us, where he can't grab it. Or, sometimes he sits in his Bumbo Chair and I face him and hold the book in front of him. If he is no longer listening to the story and his main goal is to reach for the book, that's my signal that story time is over and I give him a toy.

Oh, I smiled when I read your post.Yup, I remember going through this very thing with my very first child eons ago. THey're older now, but, back then, I totally didn't know about "phases". I remember once fretting abouot my firstborn 9 mo old chomping away at all his beautiful board books, and an older mom, said, "yup, those phases can be counted on." I thought, "what...I totally never even thought that this was short lived and temporary and just a developmentall phase." Those were words of wisdom, and other phases came up. So funny...it'll pass. And I kept the chewed up books as such a memory, and now my 14 yr old boy laughs when I show him his itty bitty teeth marks on "good night moon." Sweet momentos...enjoy it.

I highly recommend the books that are for the leap frog baby. I found them to be nearly indestructible(except for a little creasing). They are kind of spendy for a little book and they don't have tons of books yet, but do have some popular titles like "Mr. Brown can Moo can You?" They survived my 3 year old and he got his first one for his first Christmas when he was 7 months old.

my son used to do that too. he is now six and out grew that habit shorty after the age of 2. he ruined so many books. i go tto the point i just let him ruin certain ones!!

My 18 (almost 19) month old still does that! I used to keep a basket of books out all the time but have put them away and only pull them out when we all read books together so I can monitor him. He and my oldest have destroyed so many books!

Have you tried some of the books made for baths? They have waterproof pages. We just found some at Walgreen's, but I'm sure that other stores carry them as well. Good luck!

Both my boys received V-tech books as baby gifts, and the one we've had for 5 years still looks/works like new. They are made of plastic, with about 6 pages or so. Each has nursery rhymes and interactive little buttons that your little girl will be able to use. The pages turn like paper ones. The only downside is they are a little noisy, but you can leave the batteries out and just use them like regular books. I don't know that I would have bought these on my own, but I have been surprised at how well they've kept my boys' interest.