Many parents wonder when their baby will say their first words.The age that babies start to say recognisable words differs hugely from one baby to another and depends on many factors. In the normal pattern of baby speech development, first words can generally be expected any time between ten and fifteen months. The important thing for parents to note is that most of the sounds babies make before a real word is produced have a purpose or meaning.
A baby's first cooing sounds - ah, oh and then later, with consonants added mah, gah, boh are the most skilful sounds a baby can make with the level of muscle development the baby has. But the baby is trying to communicate with you. When you repeat these sounds back to baby and smile, you are signalling that talking is important and that you enjoy and appreciate the sounds baby makes. After a time, you can find that baby will 'reply' by repeating the sound or making a different sound and then you find yourself having a 'conversation' with baby. What a great realisation for a baby - that a conversation means taking turns
Around six months, when baby starts to babble in a way that sounds like a foreign language, this is an exploring and practicing phase that lasts several months. The baby is happily discovering how to make different sounds and practicing stringing sounds together and there is no special meaning in those sounds.
If you have ever done an exercise program to get fit, you understand that the actions you do have only one purpose - to increase the strength of the muscles. So baby babbling is your baby's personal fitness program for strengthening the muscles in the mouth that will be used for talking. At this stage baby is not attaching any meaning to the sounds, but generally she or he will be delighted and entertained by the sound of his or her own voice!
If your baby is making sounds or is at the babbling stage, then please tell us about it by posting a comment below.
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Ella
You can read more about when babies start to talk at http://www.teachbabytotalk.com
Great tips! My baby is just four weeks old. now I know the sounds he makes mean something and it isn't just gas!
ReplyDeleteBaby Tara is 7 mnths old and starting to do all that babbling thing. it sounds like she's a dictator giving a speech, waves her arms and shakes her head. I thought she was talking in some foriegn language.
ReplyDeleteMy baby is 7 months and she keeps repeating mum mum mum mum, im sure its just babling but its everytime i walk away from her she says it!! Must know that it makes me jump around like a fool as i get a little excited haha! x
ReplyDeleteMy son is 9 months, he first started saying mum at 7 months but it was just a word, now he says it and it has meaning, when he wants something or i walk away or when i walk in a room or pick him up. he says mum with a big grin.
ReplyDeleteWe now have cute wee convos with his little babbles and the cute wee mum word. When he says mum i usually say yeah? or good boy
My lil girl is 8 monthes she has been saying da da and bah bah for like,2 monthes. All i want is a mama lol she.does wverythng else from crawling to pulling herself up and has even created an attitude lol
ReplyDeleteMy baby is 8 Weeks old And just said the word hi to me my husband an our friend Ive been saying hi to him several times a day for Weeks because hes acted like he Wants to talk now since hes been 2 Weeks old . He also mimics our sounds already.
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