The Guardian has news of a British survey by ICM and the Fatherhood Institute on behalf of Booktrust. The study was done with more than 500 parents of infants participating.
They found that 64% of parents were not reading to their babies at 7 months old and that 57% did not own a single book.
Booktrust provides families with a pack of free books via their Bookstart program. Happily, 75% of families started sharing books with their babies as soon as they received their free books.
The Booktrust program is celebrating its 20th anniversary this week. Booktrust gives books to 3 million children a year in the UK with 30 million titles having been given away since 1992.