My thirteen-month old loves books but she constantly wants to chew on them. When I take them away, she will cry and scream. I have a few cloth books but they are expensive. The plastic bath books are for the bath only now because she will chew on them too and rip plastic. Any advice? Thanks!
My daughter is almost 8 months and before we read stories to her at night we let her hold her special teething book (just a soft cloth book she can chew on). That is her book to hold and put in her mouth while I read to her from another book. It works really well- she loves to hold her book and listen to stories!
Chaeck out Baby Einstein and Leap Frog...I know they both make books with teethers on the corners. They can even clip onto a stroller. Since the're plastic books, you can wash them and since the edges are rubber she won't rip them when she chews on them. My kids loved these! Some even have crinkle sounds and differetn textures for them to explore. Hope this helps
The cloth books from Discovery Toys are $10. You can earn them for free when you host a Discovery Toys party. They also carry board books.
www.toysofdiscovery.com
She's probably teething! Everything goes in the mouth when they're getting teeth...and that's also how they explore their surroundings, thru tasting everything they can get their little hands on. If you don't want her chewing on them, I suggest you just put them away until she's a bit older then....it's very unrealistic to expect a 13 month old not to chew on things!!
Lynsey
We have the same problem with our son. I couldn't figure out where these trails of waded wet paper balls were coming from, until I found some in my son's mouth while holding his corners chewed board book. We read him his stories mostly now holding the books... he can't hold the book (paperbacks or hard covers). When he has a board book we watch him and as soon as he brings up the corner to his mouth, we say "no" with a mad face. He gets upset and tries again when he thinks we're not looking, but that's when we say it again, but take the book away. He's learning, but teething is a pain and anything is comforting for him to chew on. With that being said, we now limit his toys(no books) to what we ALLOW him to chew on. You probably should take the bath book out, because that is very dangerous. She could accidentally swallow some plastic.
Have some good teethers handy to substitute when you see her chewing. You could get the kind that goes in the fridge and gets cold. When you see her teething on the books, tell her no and then hand her a teether she can chew on. For now I would keep the board books out of her reach and make them special to read with just a grown up. You really need to train her not to chew on them. She is at a age that she can learn that if you are consistant and will take the time to train her. I had this issue with my son too and I had to train him not to chew on books and then offer something that was acceptable to chew on. They do learn this and as she gets out of the teething stage it will help too.
She is probably teething and needs to chew to help ease the pain. Take the book next time and say "no" firmly but then offer her something else that she can chew on, a cold teething ring or a water-soaked washcloth that has been in the freezer. The read or flip through the book with her so she doesn't associate you taking it away as the book being bad just the behavior.
At 13 months, she understands a lot more than you think. Tell her no and remove the book. She will scream..oh well. Tell her not to chew the book and then give it back. She WILL chew, you take away, she will scream, you explain and return the book. Keep repeating this and she will understand and stop. Meanwhile when you take the book away give her something appropriate to chew instead.
