- Before your baby develops their ability to understand language, they will communicate their needs to you by crying. They will cry when they need food, change, cuddle when they are hungry or in pain. Sometimes they will also just cry out for your attention.
- In the second month, they will look at you to maintain eye contact.
- They will start making some sounds and combine some vowels during the third and fourth months. Your baby trying to speak will sound like a rhyme going ‘ba-ba-ba or ma-ma-ma’. When you go and talk to them during this time, they will get excited and make sounds.
- By six months mark, your baby might be able to copy some sounds and raise or limit their volumes as needed.
- Even though they don’t know the meaning yet, by the ninth month, your baby will call out ‘ma-ma’ or ‘da-da’. Call out their name because around this time they will also start to respond to hearing their names. They will look and listen or maybe even smile when they hear their name.
- It’s easy to copy the sound ‘No”. By the eleventh month, your baby will be very vocal about the things that they like and they don’t. At times, they might even say “No” to things.
- By the time they are one year old, they will know how to point toward the things that they like or the direction they want to go. Your baby will also know to address you by calling you mama- or dada. Use gestures to teach them how to say hi or bye. They will also easily grasp how to point at things by this time.
- For the first twelve months, they will cry, smile, babble, and try to call out a few small words. Smile and talk to them every time you are around them, feeding or playing or changing or cleaning. Babies learn and grasp things very quickly. So, spend as much time as you can around them and engage them in whatever you are doing.
References:
- Learning to talk: https://www.pregnancybirthbaby.org.au/learning-to-talk
- Language development: 3-12 months: https://raisingchildren.net.au/babies/development/language-development/language-3-12-months
- Baby Talk: Communicating With Your Baby: https://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/baby-talk
- Baby communication and talking: what to expect: https://raisingchildren.net.au/babies/connecting-communicating/communicating/baby-communication-talking
