We should probably start reading with our children only once they can speak, handle books responsibly and start preparing to go to school, right? Wrong! Worldwide, there is an acknowledgement of the importance of the First 1,000 Days (from conception to 2nd birthday) for a child’s all-round development, and reading can play a crucial role in this time. Approximately 80% of all brain development takes place in the first two years of a person’s life, and while adequate nutrition is a major priority to ensure optimal development, the WHO’s Nurturing Care Framework gives equal weight to the other aspects babies need to thrive. At Book Dash we believe in the transformative power of books and stories, and two aspects of the Framework really resonate with our work: Responsive Caregiving and Learning and Stimulation.

In this newsletter we round up some of the reasons why reading with babies is a serious affair, and not just child’s play. We look at the benefits of reading with babies, share some international best practice on the subject, and expand on Book Dash’s strategies to enable far more reading with babies in South Africa.

The benefits of reading with babies

Responsive caregiving is where a caregiver pays close attention to what an infant is signaling and then provides a response that meets the child’s needs. This is the best way to understand and meet their physical and mental needs. Reading books together is a valuable tool in this process of emotional bonding, because of the shared interaction it demands, the discussions around emotions and reactions it enables, the joy that is sparked, the physical closeness it requires and the impulses for rich verbal input. These are all things parents may not usually think to do with a baby, but that are essential for their healthy development. Books provide a fun tool to make this happen more naturally.

Learning and stimulation: It is said that good children’s books are mirrors (children see their reality reflected back to them, and feel validated) and windows (books open up worlds beyond their everyday life and expand their knowledge). Both these perspectives are vital for early learning. In 2016, Professor Lynne Murray led a team of local and international child development experts in conducting a randomised controlled trial in Khayelitsha, working with mothers and their 14-16 month old infants. Some of the findings were that reading with babies significantly improved attention span, language development, and social understanding, thereby improving their school-readiness and future chances of academic success… years before they enter formal schooling! As a child grows, their development compounds so the earlier the foundations are laid, and the stronger they are, the better for all future development.

Reading with babies, internationally

Early Years Bookgifting: Across the world, there are organisations whose sole aim it is to promote reading in the early years, and who make this possible by combining reading advocacy practices with early bookgifting to families, often using the birth of new babies as the point of contact to talk about the value of reading and to give families their first gift of books. It’s not too early to start right from birth! Book Dash is a member of the Global Network for Early Years Bookgifting where strategies, research, impact and feedback about matters relating to early years bookgifting are shared between the 20+ organisations in the network. These organisations are located in countries like the UK, The Netherlands, Canada, Finland, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australia… Book Dash is currently the only African organisation in the network.

One of the members of the network is a paediatric reading organisation in the USA called Reach out and Read. They believe that ‘it’s vital that children benefit from reading and other language-rich experiences starting at birth.’ The organisation was started in 1984 at Boston Medical Centre and they have been integrating reading promotion into paediatric care for more than 30 years. The non-profit now works in all 50 states, and gives out 7.4 million books per year through paediatric healthcare channels so that all families own books, and can make reading together part of their family practices. Like Reach out and Read, Book Dash is finding ways to distribute our books through healthcare channels and getting them to families with babies or infants.

Photo: Reach out and Read

Book Dash brings books to babies

Content creation: As we became more aware of the importance of reading in the first two years of a child’s life, it was clear to us that there were not enough South African books created exclusively for babies. The logical thing to do was to run a Book Dash that was focused on creating new books for babies, and we did this in April 2019. In preparation, the team immersed itself in the world of reading with babies, doing research and taking guidance from partner organisations that are experts in the field. We briefed our creative volunteers on different ways to “think baby”, and the outcome was eleven brand-new books created especially for 0-2 year olds. The full books are free to read here. The stories appeal to babies because they are mostly set in the intimate universe of the home, characters are family members, activities represented are well-known, there is humour and repetition, simple shapes and bright colours.

Distribution to babies: Book Dash relies on the extensive network of ECD and literacy organisations working across South Africa to distribute our books to the children they serve. In response to the need to reach babies and very young children, we explored distributing our books through organisations that work at the nexus of healthcare and education. Some of the ECDs like Masicorp have classes for 0-2 year olds, and several NGOs work with expecting moms, incorporating discussions around the importance of talk, reading and play in their antenatal classes (e.g.Thula Baba, Flourish). We also started donating books directly to hospitals where there are champions who believe that reading and books can enhance their work (e.g. the Occupational Therapy department at Bethesda Hospital in KZN, and the neonatal project at the Tygerberg Hospital). 

Feedback from the field: We have printed and distributed more than 115,000 copies of the baby books so far and the feedback from the various organisations in the field has been very positive. The books enhance the work that they do. One of the distribution partners for the baby books, the Lebone Centre based in Makhanda, said: ‘We are busy with a clinic programme called Every Baby Matters. We share information with the caregivers about the importance of early stimulation, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and the importance of reading books to babies and toddlers. Now, each parent with a baby or toddler gets a baby Book Dash book.’

A young Book Dash fan at the Lebone Centre

Through new content-creation, resource-provision, research, learning and active participation in best practice networks, Book Dash is hoping to not only promote reading with babies throughout South Africa, but make it a realistic possibility for as many caregivers as possible to sow the seeds for holistic development from the earliest moment possible. If you’d like to know more about or support this aspect of our work, feel free to get in touch or visit bookdash.org to read all our books for free, always.