Your baby saying its first word is one of the most magical things a parent can experience. If you’re new to parenting, it’s important to know when to expect your kid’s first words. It’s important to keep in mind, children develop at different rates. Here are some things you can expect as your kid gets ready to say its first words.
Baby Babbling
Much like your baby has to learn to crawl before it can walk, your baby will first have to learn to babble before it can talk. Babbling is important because it represents the beginning of real communication. It means your baby is beginning to experiment with sounds and listening for a reaction.
Baby babbling can be incredibly cute but it’s an important milestone for your child. It shows that your child is aware of what communication is and that it’s ready to begin progressing. You may have no clue what your baby is tying to say, but eventually, that babbling will turn into real words.
Your Child Is Learning the Rules of Language
When your baby is babbling it shows signs that your baby is learning the rules of language. They understand that there is such a thing as communication and that when they babble, they can sometimes expect a response. How you react to the babbling will go a long way in when your child develops their communication skills.
You may notice that when babbling back with your baby, they may wait for you to respond before babbling more. Your child is beginning to understand sounds, memorize sounds and process what sound they want to make. The babbling of your baby gives you a peek into their cognitive development.
The Milestones You Should Expect
As mentioned earlier, it’s important to understand that each baby progresses differently. Some children start crawling before others, some start babbling before others and some take their time. Be patient with your child, it’s trying.
Your baby will start cooing and gooing within their first two to three months. You can begin to expect to babble at around four months. Your child’s first babble will often include the ‘p’, ‘b’ and ‘m’ sounds which occur by simply putting their lips together.
Ways That You Can Help Your Child
Your baby is going to feed off of you no matter what it is that you do. It is always learning just by simply watching you operate throughout your daily life. There are several things that you can do as a parent to help your child along the way better understand words and get to the point where they’re talking. Here are some of the things that you can do:
- Continuously engage in conversation with your baby even if you’re saying nothing
- Give a slight pause after saying something to give your baby time to process the words you said
- Use a variety of different tones and syllables when you talk so they can learn and attempt to replicate new sounds
- Try to explain your baby’s babble to them
There is research that points to the number of words spoken to a child positively affect language development. The more you talk to your baby the more they will attempt to replicate what it is your saying.
When Will Your Baby Say Their First Word?
Once your baby has practiced will babble, they will be ready to say their first words. You can typically expect your child to say their first words at around 6 to 7 months. The babbles will start to become more speech-like.
You will also notice that your baby is beginning to use a variety of different sounds and vowels other than the easy ones. Towards the end of your baby’s first year, they’ll begin to babble in long strings. Usually, their first actual words will come around their first birthday and is typically words like ‘dada’, ‘mama’ or ‘hi’.
Things to Look Out For
It’s important to once again point out, children all develop at different rates. If your baby hasn’t started babbling by the four-month mark, it isn’t time to panic. The same can be said for the year mark for actual words.
However, if your child hasn’t started babbling, making eye contact or gestures by the time their 15-months then it might be time to schedule an appointment with your pediatrician. The earlier that a child gets help for a speech or language problem, the better.
Contact Us For Early Learning
Here at Brightside Academy, we offer Head Start programs for your children. Get in touch with us today so that we can get your child enrolled. If they are late with talking, we can give you the assistance you need. Our teachers love to spend time with your children and get them on their way to a better education.
We look forward to hearing from you! Let us partner with you and your child.
