This is very similar to how babies learn to speak.  First they hear language for a period of time and then they are able to speak.  The exposure to spoken language is what stimulates babies to understand language and then speak that language.  When it comes to teaching babies to read, they do not usually know the letters, their names or their sounds.  By seeing how these letters come together to form words, they are decoding patterns and learning basic rules of phonics on their own.  This allows them to easily learn phonics and decode words on their own in the future.

Begin teaching your baby to read using sight reading.  You can start with words that are interesting to your baby. For more information on how to create and use flash cards check out A Guide to Teaching Babies to Read.  Expose your baby to many words.  You can show your baby 10, 20 or even 30 words a day. Show the words 2 or 3 times per day for about 5 days.  Once you have done this, you can add new words.  You will notice that as your baby sees more words, they are naturally learning the sounds the letters make.  They will begin to recognize the sounds the starting letters make in words.  They will pick up patterns and word families such as 'at, am, ill, ack' and so on.  I can't stress enough how important it is to allow young children this period of seeing language for a period of time before going straight to phonics.  It really allows them to better understand phonics and make it easy for them to master.  Babies that follow this method are better stronger readers.

You can begin showing your baby flash cards that you make yourself or you can invest in a Baby Reading Program.  The MonkiSee reading program will give you over 200 flash cards to give your baby a strong start in reading.  It also includes dvds that will engage your baby as they learn to read and understand the meanings of body parts, colors, shapes, animals, poetry and more.  Included is a MemoFlix DVD that teaches the letters of the alphabet with their sounds and words that begin with those letters.  The MonkiSee books will have babies reading along in no time.  Watch your child's confidence soar as they are able to easily learn to read and understand hundreds of words.