Best Way to Understand Your Baby’s Verbal Communication

Your baby began to understand the power of language very early on, and started learning to talk from the day he was born. You will find it hard to resist his early attempts at conversation, and it can be great fun to repeal his grunts and squeaks back to him. These intimate exchanges play an important role. They teach your baby the rudiments of language and conversation, and are vital to the bonding process.

Learning language

From the moment he sets eyes on you, your baby will watch your facial expressions intently and listen to the sounds you make when you lalk to him. He will quickly learn to imitate them by moving his lips or muscles as if responding to your words. Listening and imitating are the two main ways in which he picks up language, and he is perfectly designed to do both.

By two or three months, his skills will have already developed to such an extent that he may even start to make his first sounds, cooing when you talk to him or to get your attention. When you coo back to him, imitating his sounds in a two-way “conversation”, you are showing him the power of verbal communication, as well as how good it is to express himself.

By five or six months, his imitation skills mean he can babble whole “sentences”. And by six months he may have learned to use consonants formed by putting his lips together. He may draw out these sounds to form “maa” and “daa” and will use tone as a means of communicating his mood – shouting out sounds or trilling when he’s happy.

Helping him to learn to talk

The more you engage your baby in conversation, the more you will help him to use words to express himself. There are many ways of doing this (and you may find you do most of them automatically). Here are a few suggestions you might like to try.

•  Make lots of eye contact with him when you talk to him, so that he knows your words are meant for him. Being face to face also lets him watch how you make sounds with your mouth.
•  Include him and encourage him to participate in your conversations. When you talk to him, leave time for him to “reply” to you. This may take a few seconds or even longer, so be patient.
• Talk to him as often as possible. Describe your actions as you go about your daily chores – say things like “I’m putting you in the pram now,” for example, to help him to match familiar objects with words.
• Keep background noise to a minimum. Switch off the television or radio so that you can give each other your lull attention.
•  Repeat things to him as often as possible. Babies love repetition, and need to hear a word many times before they can begin to understand what it means.
•  Sing nursery rhymes or simple poems over and over again. This familiarizes him with the rhythms of language by making it fun.
• Relax. Learning to talk is a natural outcome of everyday interaction between you, so don’t get too hung up about it!