A Christmas gift for a baby: a personalised children's book starring them

How babies discover the world

In the first year, babies discover almost everything through their senses. They follow a face with their eyes, smile back and grow quiet when someone hums. Around six months, they begin to babble, reach for things and put everything in their mouths, including the corners of a book. By their first birthday, they may be pointing and perhaps saying a first word. What they love most is your calm voice close by, and hearing the same things again and again. That's why a book for the very youngest has one or two sentences per page, sounds like ‘woof’ and ‘splash’, and just one thing happening in each picture. You read, your baby looks, and soon they'll recognise the next page.

Would you like to see a finished book before you decide? Browse our example books.

What to put in a baby book

Most of a baby's world is close at hand: the cot, the bath, the pram, the striped blanket. Tell us about those things. Include the people and things close to them, perhaps an older sibling, the cat or the teddy that always lies beside them, and upload a photo of each if you like. Love makes a lovely message, because a baby book is mostly about feeling safe and loved. The foreword is the page your child will understand last, perhaps in ten years' time. Write about the day they arrived or how they smell after a bath, or let us write a first draft for you to make your own.

Reading the book in the first year

With a baby, you rarely read from beginning to end. You turn to the page with the dog, say ‘woof’, and stop when your baby looks away. That's just right. The hardback has a sturdy cover but paper pages, so read it with your baby on your lap and keep it on the bookshelf between readings. Many people make the book as a christening or naming-day gift, or for a first birthday, and it becomes a keepsake of those early days. You can email the eBook to family who live far away, so they can enjoy it while your baby is still little.