The staggering benefits of reading at bedtime

As a pediatric sleep consultant, there are very few things that I will advocate for as a MUST in parenthood. Reading to your child is one of them.

When my son was born right at the start of the pandemic, I will never forget everyone panicking about schools closing and countless experts assuring parents that the best thing they could do for their children during that period, was read to them.

I love to include reading stories during the bedtime routine for several reasons, even when you have a tiny baby who you feel isn’t really listening. The research is numerous that they absolutely are listening and filing away the assorted vocabulary and intonation coming out of your mouth when you read. 

Along with that, reading helps babies recognize patterns in sounds (which will be important to help them grasp sentence structures later on), and develops the part of their brain that supports thinking, understanding, and language. 

When I go over to families homes and watch the bedtime routine in action I can see how the baby pays attention to the pages on the book. The books create a visual stimulation which helps with their ability to focus on objects. It also encourages them to listen which will in turn have a positive impact on the ability to pay attention and focus. 

Ignoring all the educational benefits of reading, one of my favorite reasons to read to my children is the bonding aspect. Snuggling up and reading a book with mom and dad creates a strong emotional connections and a sense of security. It helps babies and children relax (hey it helps ME relax!), and eases in the transition to sleepy time.

As they get older and begin to understand the storylines, reading to your young children fosters empathy and problem solving. They pick up on emotions and challenges expressed in the book, and now I catch my 4 and 6 year old relating to stories and sharing their experiences with me that they would not have shared had we not read together. I wouldn’t trade that for anything!

It seems that every time we come home from the library there is a world of adventure and conversation starters in the books they have chosen. For example, recently the library had a holiday display and in that batch of books they chose my kiddos learned about Diwali and Ramadan.

Selfishly I want my kids to love reading as much as I do so that we can all cozy up under a blanket on vacation and read our books together in the future 🙂 (a girl can dream right?)

So keep reading and know you are giving them so many gifts at once!

Sweet Dreams,

Steph