Reddit reviews Black & White Board Book

Never too early to start! It's good for them to hear your voice and be exposed to lots of spoken language even if they can't focus on pages yet or show obvious interest.

During the potato stage, I read aloud whatever I was reading, read random children's books, and would also hold up high contrast picture books (like this). High contrast patterns are especially attractive to young babies because their vision isn't very good at first, and those were definitely the first ones she showed signs of interest in.

As she got able to grab stuff, we liked having some fabric/crinkly books, and the "indestructible" books like this are also great because they don't tear and can be washed.

For the most part, though, we just have regular board books. Stuff by Sandra Boynton are favorites in our house, as are the "touch and feel" kind. My baby is in the "must grab any available paper and try to eat it" stage, so non-board books with pages that can be torn are temporarily off the table for us, but I'm so excited for when she's old enough to handle those!

You don't need all the different kinds of books I mention, and most libraries also have board books in the children's section. Reading to your baby every day is one of the best things you can do for him, however you go about it.

Edit: Wow, that got long. Um, can you tell I like books?

IKEA has inexpensive wood activity bar things that you can place over any blanket. Most of the other features of this expensive one you found could be met with a tag-ball toy and a couple black and white board books that you stand up. We especially liked Art for Baby which is really big, stands up open well, and has captivating images to look at during tummy time, and Black & White which unfolds into a long double sided panel to stand around baby so they can look around a bit while doing tummy time.

Books, books, books! My babies love(d) Look, Look! (three year old loves "reading" it to his brother), Black & White, Art Cards, the Babyfaces series (esp Hugs and Kisses and Smile!. The World Snacks series is also great; they're bright, (mostly) well-written, and not irritating. Plus, My toddler still loves them, and we started reading them to him when he was three months. I like Yum Yum Dim Sum and Let's Nosh! best. Indestructables are great for babies who eat books. And the Leslie Patricelli books have been a huge hit around here since toddlerdude was a wee baby.

Don't forget non-board books good for reading, such as a Mother Goose (there are also "chunky" ones that are kid-safe), Beatrix Potter, The Wind in the Willows, or even Shel Silverstein.

Toys for this age that I like are sensory balls, music makers, rattles (we had to buy two of those because wee babydude likes it so much), stackers, links, these bead things (a large, four-sided activity cube is gold for this age through toddler hood--like this), stacking cups, and baby's first blocks. We have veriations on all of these (or the exact one listed), and they are popular with both our three year old and the eight month old.

it's like you described my LO at that age! He loved just being plopped down on a towel on our carpet and would look around the room, coo, flail, etc. We got this book: https://www.amazon.com/Black-White-Tana-Hoban/dp/0061172111 and would prop it up around him (it stands on it's own as an accordian fold). He LOVVVEED looking at it. That might help with better focus/attention (again at that age, they get distracted by anything!) We got the skip hoptreetop nature playmat as well, though it was overwhelming to him at first. We put a plain blanket down over the 'playmat' part (to cut down on the patterns/colors, and only hung 2 toys overhead. That worked really well! He'd look and swat at things, but didn't actually grab anything until weeks later.

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For feeding, I did lots of songs or talking to LO to keep him focused on ME, which helped him not get distracted. Using a boring chair/corner/white walls helps too. dimming lights for nighttime works great too.

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for what its worth, my LO can recite the alphabet and numbers to 10 (gets a little messy on the way to 20-lol) at 15 months old. It's CRAZY how verbal he is. He's nosy about EVERYTHING, points at everything, repeats all the names we say of things, etc. He CAN however, focus very intently/well on something for 15-20 minutes at a time (and a youtube kids-songs video for about an hour at a time). Just keep an eye on LO's attention span, especially if you put super interesting things in front of him. If he really is antsy/can't focus on an activity (the book, for example) for more than 2 solid minutes, etc -- then bring it up with the ped.

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EDIT to add: do you use an app like glow baby to track feeds/naps? that was really helpful to us to spot LO's natural "patterns" and reinforce them to help get onto a consistent schedule.

My girl also favored her right side and didn't care for tummy time too much. We made sure to put all of her mobiles and toys and interesting things to look at like this book on her left side in her crib and pack 'n play to get her used to looking left. Now she doesn't automatically go right and is rounding out nicely.
As far as advice needed, my girl (3 months) has had a blocked tear duct since birth and her eye gets crazy goopy all the time. We're doing the warm compresses and massages but it doesn't seem to be working. Any tips?