Language Development of Your Baby and How You Should Help

For me, like every other parent, the first words my daughters and son spoke were magical. Every parent put there awaits the first words of their baby and that is, indeed, a really exciting phase. In the first year of baby’s life, I suggest you do not expect too many words as babies only try to put syllables together by using their tongue and mouth in different ways; they do not know the meaning of ‘dada’ if they said it, yet. Parents’ excitement is just but new parents must know about when and how the child learns to speak and what they can do to help them.

Development during the First Year

When the baby is 3 months old, he or she has just started listening to the sounds of music or voices around him. They also look at you while you speak to notice your facial expressions and go over your voice in order to remember. Only when three months of life are completed, babies begin to try cooing sounds. The babbling increases as the fourth and the fifth month arrive. Since ‘mama’ and ‘baba’ are easy words to make up therefore some babies might say it just after they are six months old. However, when they are nine months old, they start understanding your little orders and smiling gestures and may even reply to them. The words they speak now would include more consonant sounds and voices that are longer and of proper tone. They will nod and they will come crawling when you call them. As soon as they reach the age of 1, they mean when they say ‘mama’ or ‘dada’ as they now understand who these people are and acknowledge almost everything you tell them to do or not to do. That is when the actual training begins.

How to Train Your Baby to Speak

Language development of a baby is not something difficult for one to help with, a parent naturally starts helping their child talk when they listen to their first, sweet words because who does not want to talk to those little angels they brought in this world?

Here’s a little list of little steps you should take to ensure their proper speech development.

  • Talk to them

Babies will forever keep babbling if they will not listen to you speaking to them or to anybody so resist babbling like them and talk to them. Tell them names of different things, sing lullabies to them or say things you want to say to them making sure they listen.

  • Read Stories

Telling stories to children actually helps as they listen and like the flow of the story, the new characters and they may even remember or start loving a certain character. Initially, the may only seem interested in the pictures with the stories but at the age of 4 or 5 they will be the ones to re-tell those stories to you.

  • Listen

When your child is looking forward to talk to you in whatever language they know, listen to them. Encouragement is a great tool in improving their skills. They will, then, want to speak more instead of just babbling.

  • Reply to Them

Even if you do not understand what they are trying to say, reply with all the energy to let them know you get it, because one day you will actually, properly get it.

  • Help Build Vocabulary

Name things that are around them or things that they like so that they know what is in their hands and what is it called.

Consulting a professional or paediatrician is must if you do not find your child talking normally or too late, although only one in every four children is a late bloomer.

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