I’m headed to a baby shower this weekend with the girls. We love ourselves a good party – especially celebrating a new momma, plus gift giving to moms is one of my favorite things. I love looking through baby registries and selecting a practical yet meaningful gift as they enter this new chapter in their lives. As I was shopping for this weekend’s party, I reflected back on my baby shower where guests were asked to bring a children’s book in lieu of a card. I absolutely loved it. We were able to get a really good start on our little home library, something that we use daily.

The importance of reading to and with our children begins at a young age. Reading to infants contributes to the development of their little growing brains and assists in speech development. Though the actual words and stories may not make sense to infants, the rhythm and cadence of reading aloud allows babies to take in the sounds of language and how it all fits together. I’ve put together a list of my 10 favorite books for babies — the ones I most often gift at baby showers and ones I’ve read probably a bazillion times. (Affiliate links.)

Favorite Books for Babies

1. On the Night You Were Born
2. Moo Baa La La La
3. Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You
4. Llama Llama’s Little Library
5. The Going to Bed Book
6. I Love You Through and Through
7. My First 100 Words Book
8. Where is Baby’s Belly Button?
   
9. If I Were A Cow {I typically only find other animal versions of this vintage!}
10. The Best Nest

We have such an extensive book collection that it was a little difficult to narrow down to just ten. And while I can’t really say I have an infant anymore as Sylvie is going on ONE so soon, we still read these books very regularly. Maven (2) still enjoys them too, especially now that she has most of them memorized and reads them to us. One of the most fun parts of reading these gifted books is reading the notes that baby shower guests personalized in them. Maven loves to know who they are all from!

Have you gone to a shower that requested books instead of cards? What book did you gift?