Do you have a baby who turned one year old and now you are wondering when they will start saying their first words?
Babies start communicating as soon as they are born. It starts with crying as a way to let us know that they are hungry or feeling uncomfortable. At around two months of age, they start cooing with some sounds trying to look at your face and trying to have a conversation. At six months, they will have started babbling with words like ah-ah-ah, ba-ba-ba or even blowing raspberries. These are all the non-verbal ways babies communicate with us.
Most babies say the first words around their first birthday. They can say one to two words like ma-ma or da-da. My youngest who is now 20 months old only said da-da when she turned one. Having said that, don’t freak out if your little one isn’t talking yet as long as they are communicating non-verbally and understanding your instructions.Your pediatrician is the best person to reach out to if you have any concerns regarding your child’s development.As a mom of two, I can say that babies can start talking anywhere between 10- 24 months of age. Language skills advance as close to 18 months.
When babies learn to talk, they can express themselves in a better way and that makes things much smoother for you and your baby! So, let’s see how can you teach your baby to talk?
1.Talk to them
Even though it’s quite obvious, quite often many parents don’t talk to their babies as much as they are supposed to. The common reasoning that, the babies don’t understand or cannot respond to them.But in reality, you should talk to the baby just like you would talk to an older child right from the beginning. This really helps them learn the words and learn communicating. Talk to them about your daily chores, what you do around the house and things like you are going to change their diaper or that you are going to give them a bath.
2.Start naming everything around the house
As you walk around the house with your baby, start naming things in your house. Like, “this is your blanket”, that’s a toy”, “this is a bed”,etc. They are more likely to pick up words that they hear on a daily basis.
3.Make them repeat the words
This is one of the best ways to encourage your child to talk. Ask them to repeat the words that you use in your day to day conversation.
Few examples:
“Let’s read a book. Can you say book?
“Do you want some rice?” Say rice!
Should we go play outside? Say yes!
When your baby repeats appreciate them for their efforts by saying , “that’s right!” Use an excited voice when you say that. Please don’t correct them at this stage even if they are not saying the words right.
4.Don’t pressurize them to talk
Like I mentioned in the previous point, never force or pressurize them to talk. It can do more harm than good to your child’s development. Every child is different and their developmental milestones can also vary from each other. So, if your baby isn’t interested in repeating the words or trying to talk, give them some time. Just keep trying to use the other points mentioned here.
5.Guided play
Guided play is a great way to bond with your child and also help them with building their language skills. If you didn’t know, guided play is creating a fun, healthy play environment for your child and letting them learn and explore. As they play and explore, take this opportunity to talk or teach few things. For example, put a shape sorter toy in front of your child and let him/her play with it. As the child tries to pick up the shapes and tries to insert in the slot, you can teach them the name of the shapes or the colors. The more you talk the more your child hears a lot of words and they are likely to copy and repeat words when they hear them more.
6.Read books to your child
Reading to your child in infancy and early childhood has a great impact on their literacy skills as they grow up. Even as they are learning to talk, reading is extremely beneficial. When you read a book to your child, they have exposure to a lot of sounds and words that helps improve their vocabulary. If your child has a hard time sitting through a book, try interactive books or flash cards like this one here. You can check out my post great interactive book options for babies and toddlers for suggestions on interactive books.
7.Nursery Rhymes
What better way to teach your child to speak than music. Perform a few nursery rhymes with your little one and you will not be disappointed with the time spent. It’s a great way to connect with your child and teach them sounds and words.An old classic “Old Mac Donald Had a Farm” will do it for starters. Let them experience the sounds like “Moo Moo”, “Baa Baa” and so on. Some children pick up words better when it is presented in the song form.So, singing nursery rhymes with your child could be a great activity! This is a great option for a classic nursery rhymes book.
8.Take a walk outside with your child
Nature is the best medicine! Well, ditch your stroller next time you go on a walk or a hike and let them explore on their feet. Take this opportunity to have a conversation with them as you point at the things outside and name them. Start with simple words like “sky”, “bird”, “tree” and then move to longer sentences like, “Look at the blue sky”!, “Let’s walk faster”.
9.Speak clearly to your child
I understand that, baby talk is really cute and one can not resist from imitating but it’s in best interest of your child to avoid using the baby talk yourself. Talk to your child in clear, proper pronunciation. That will help the kids know the right word and they will be able to understand when other people talk to them too.
10.Motivation
Motivate you little child by recognizing their efforts in trying to talk. Use excited voice and appreciate them. Please don’t try to correct your child every one and then. It’s absolutely okay for them to repeat the wrong sounds and say the words wrong. They are still learning to talk, remember? When you correct them every single time ,they lose confidence in themselves which might further demotivate them. So, praise their effort and be polite.
Bonus Tips
Avoid too much screen time. Even though kids can easily learn a language from watching the shows, it is a passive activity. In a passive activity, the kids don’t really think actively. This hampers their creativity and brain development.
Patience is the a great tool when you work with little children. So, be patient and remember that every child has their own pace with which they develop.If you notice that your child is absolutely showing no interest in communicating then reach out to your pediatrician for help.
Happy Talking!
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