Baby Development - Some First Words Tips

When parents or caregivers ask about baby development, and baby's first words in particular, it would be terrific to give a really simple standard answer, but that isn't possible when all babies and all parents are different.

So when people ask when a baby will say his first words, I'm tempted to say - well it depends how many words he's heard spoken to him. It's not enough to just have heard words spoken. 

The words need to have been related to the baby's needs and experiences.  It also depends what exactly we mean by words. If a baby looks at a cup and says " up", is that a word? We know he means cup, and that his mouth just isn't mature enough to say the "c" , Or early baby babbling from around 6 months is full of many "words" but we have no idea what they mean.

This Youtube video shows some baby babbling. Sounds a lot like dadadada!

So when we say "first words" it seems we mean a combination of sounds that we recognize and understand that are related to something we know. 

So here are a few tips to help baby get to the point of  babies saying " meaningful words"

1. Turn off your mobile phone
   'hearing' you talking to your friends on your mobile phone are only a tiny bit useful to a baby learning to talk.  He needs you to be focused on him and the words you are using need to be focused on an activity he or  you are doing. You need to be talking in clear short simple words and repeating the words and the actions. Talking on your mobile phone doesn't help here.
2. Turn off the TV
   often TV's are just left on in a room when no-one is watching it and the sound becomes a background for what other things are happening. As adults we have developed the great skill of being able to focus on what we want to hear and blocking out other sources of sound, so it fades into the background. Young children haven't developed the same skill and the sound from a TV can interfere with hearing all the separate sounds in the words you are speaking. So all that is heard is an even more meaningless jumble.
3. Play simple games
   Playing games is the heart of learning to talk and I use 'heart" deliberately. Joy, humour and laughter speed up learning. When a baby smiles and laughs we know his attention is focused. So the kind of games to play in the first few months that make babies smile and laugh is repeating the same action over and over along with repeated sounds and words. At least 10 minutes of every day should be spent doing action play.
4. Be aware
   When your baby is awake, try to put yourself in his place; imagine what its like to be him,  and ask yourself every two minutes, what would I be experiencing and learning?  Try doing that for a period of 30 minutes. 

If you found this post helpful, share it or leave a comment below.

Music for Babies Calms

Music for Babies Calms and Develops Babies' Brains

Music can definitely help calm your baby down and put him in a restful state at bedtime or nap time. What are some good choices for a baby?

Almost anything you love or use for relaxation is good for a baby too. There are good collections of Mozart, Vivaldi or Bach for bedtime. The music of Enya can be very soothing as well. Soft harp music is also relaxing and peaceful.

You've probably seen videos and CDs for babies. There are some theories that classical music can make your baby smarter, and exposing your baby to music is part of what we do to introduce them to all the sights and sounds of their world.

When your baby's awake, there are lots of nursery rhymes or music from kids' movies that can stimulate his senses. We've known kids who respond to minimalist Phillip Glass's music; it's simple and rhythmic and when they get older, they'll dance with it. Spirituals and soft gospel music are also good choices to help the baby get to sleep.

White noise, in the form of a fan (not directed right at the baby), or from sound machines that simulate the sound of an ocean or rain can be restful as well, and can block out noise from the home. You don't need to create an artificially silent environment for the baby, however, since that can make it harder for them to get to sleep when the home's rhythms and noises get back to normal.

 The same music that's helping your baby get to sleep can help soothe your own nerves and provide a wonderful time of bonding and restfulness for you and your baby together. So this is a great time for you to explore classical music as well, if it's not already part of your life.

Speech Development Oral Motor Skills | Caring for Baby

Speech Development Oral Motor Skills | Caring for Baby: "Why chewing is important for speech development
Cherie Lyden
March 24, 2011

The introduction of solids in your baby’s diet is not only important for nutritional reasons, but for the developmental of oral motor skills. These are the actions of the mouth, lips, tongue, cheeks and jaw as they suck, bite, chew and lick. These motor skills work the same muscles in the mouth as those which are needed for speech development.

When foods are introduced into your baby’s diet, it’s important that as your baby’s feeding skills develop, that textures change from liquid to solid. Different textures require different oral motor skills, which are important for speech development. For example, pureed and lumpy food encourage chewing. Chewing helps develop the use of the tongue by giving it a good workout, which is important for many different speech sounds, i.e. t, d, k and g, as well as speech development. Solid foods help develop and strengthen the jaw, as well as the lips and tongue muscles, which are required for speech. The lips also help to keep food in the mouth, and is important for sounds m, p and b.

A delay in introducing solids with different textures as your baby develops, can lead to a fussy infant unwilling to accept new tastes and textures, as well as a delay in chewing and muscle development, which can affect speech sounds later on.

Here is a brief overview of what to expect and when, as well as the types of food to introduce in the first 12 months:

Newborns
Babies are only able to suck and swallow at this stage, and they have an immature digestive system, therefore require breastmilk or formula as their primary source of food. The jaw action used in breastfeeding helps a baby to chew.

3 months
Babies have better head control, are able to put fingers in their mouth, and have a better range of mouth and lip movements. Their digestive system is still immature to receive anything but breastmilk or formula as their primary source of food.

4-6 months
Babies now have better jaw and lip control, with the ability to move their tongue up and down which makes it easier to suck, chew and move food to the back of the mouth to be swallowed. Usually around 4-6 months, babies show signs that they are ready to be introduced to foods, which complements their primary source of food, either breastmilk or formula. A baby’s digestive system is still maturing but from about 6 months, a baby needs more nutrients than breastmilk or formula alone can offer, therefore solid foods are introduced. These solid foods need to be varied, nutrient and energy dense and have a silky smooth texture (pureed or mashed), which will make it easier to swallow and digest. Breast milk or formula must be continued for the first 12 months of a baby’s life and always offered before solids.

Note: Some signs that a baby might show that he/she is ready for solid foods include the baby is able to sit upright, has good control of head and neck, wants to put things in his/her mouth, ability to suck pureed food from a spoon, interest in food, and not satisfied with the breast or bottle alone.

7-9 months
Solids should now be well established with a lumpy, mashed and finely chopped texture, as well as well-cooked or soft finger foods from about 8 months (avoiding hard foods that a baby can choke on i.e. whole grapes, nuts and raw carrots). With better eye-hand coordination, a baby will show interest in self-feeding, which includes finger foods and the use of a spoon. Finger foods are more effective than purees to encourage chewing and development of muscles in the mouth. Babies should be encouraged to drink a little water from a cup.

10-12 months
Solids can now be coarsely chopped and consist of more soft finger foods. Babies are more independent with eating and are able to chew food well, separating what needs more chewing and what can be swallowed. Lip muscles are now stronger and are able to hold more food and liquid in the mouth. Babies should be able to hold a cup to drink water from.

1 year onwards
Children should now be eating frequently i.e. 3 meals and 2-3 snacks a day, and a wide variety of family foods. Children now start to develop a rotary chewing movement, as well as a more stable jaw, which accommodates the action of the tongue. As children continue to grow, their motor skills become more refined and they learn more oral motor control. This is an ongoing process, which continues to develop speech.

If you are at all concerned about your child’s speech development I encourage you to seek a referral for a qualified speech therapist.

Cherie Lyden is a Nutritionist and Mother – www.lydenvitality.com

Help Baby Talk with Rhythm and Pattern

This week we're thinking about how rhythm and pattern helps babies learn to talk.

Speech and language have a pattern. Each language has it's own rhythm and pattern. Human beings also love rhythm as experienced in music, dancing and poetry.  If you were ever taught a foreign language at school, you probably learned a simple song or poem in that language and you can probably still sing it or recite it word for word today, even if you can't remember other words in that language now!

So using rhythm and pattern when you to talk to your baby is a great way to delight your baby and embed the sounds and rhythms in baby's memory. Rhythmic actions and physical movement patterns also help baby's brain to develop at this time when the brain is at it's most ready to grow.

There are a number of ways you can do this.

One way is to create a movement series, like taking baby's hands and clapping them lightly together and saying:

Clap clap clap your hands, clap clap clap ( say the last "clap" louder)

Repeat the sequence several times ( at least three and up to six) until baby gets used to the idea, then hold baby's feet and tap them lightly together and say:

"Tap tap tap your feet, tap tap tap ( say the last "tap" louder )

Now you have the basis of a rhyming routine, you can say:
the clapping line first then the tapping line.

Do this routine several times a day for about a week.

Each week, think of a new line to add, like:

Tap tap tap your nose, tap tap tap.  ( touch baby's nose lightly with your finger)  ADD this new line to the previous lines in the series, so the whole routine gets longer each week. Instead of 'tap' or "clap" you could say "kiss" - "Kiss your knee"

As the weeks go by, baby will recognise the routine and anticipate what's coming next. Baby is learning about patterns and rhythms.

I'd love to hear how you and your baby enjoy this. So please leave a comment below.

Click this link to learn more about how to help baby talk

Baby Speech Development and TV

Reuters AlertNet - Educational DVDs don't help toddlers' language-study: "NEW YORK, March 4 (Reuters Life!) - Putting children in front of educational DVDs does not help boost their language skills, according to a U.S. study that focused on one product, the Baby Wordsworth from the Walt Disney Company's Baby Einstein series.

While The Baby Einstein Co does not make educational claims, it notes on its web page that the Baby Wordsworth DVD is a 'playful introduction to words and sign language.'

A study by researchers at the University of California, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, put the DVD to the test with one and two-year-olds.

For six weeks, 88 children were randomly assigned to either watching the DVD a few times a week or not at all. Researchers then tested the language skills in each group based on how many words the children knew according to their parents and how well they did in a lab test.

At the end of the period, toddlers who had watched the DVD fared no better than those who hadn't.

Children in both groups understood about 20 of the 30 words highlighted in the DVD, on average, and spoke 10. Their general language development showed no difference, either.

The researchers also asked parents about their childrens' television viewing before entering the study. The earlier a child started watching Baby Einstein DVDs, it turned out, the smaller his or her vocabulary was.

The Baby Einstein Company emphasized in an e-mail to Reuters Health that it 'does not claim educational outcomes.'

On its web page, it notes that its products 'are not designed to make babies smarter,' but rather 'to engage babies and provide parents with tools to help expose their little ones to the world around them.'

The study's finding is in line with earlier research, said Rebekah Richert, a psychologist at the University of California, Riverside, who led the study, but it is unclear if the DVDs themselves are responsible.

Parents who place their kids in front of the screen could be trying to remedy slow language development, or they could be using the DVDs as baby sitters, cutting back on social stimulation.

'A lot of children, particularly when they're young, seem to have these kinds of (DVDs),' Richert told Reuters Health. 'My take-home message would be to encourage live interaction between parent and child.'

Although it is not well understood how watching television affects language, Richert and colleagues wrote in their report that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children younger than two stay away from the screen.

Some experts have even suggested that baby videos might be harmful by impeding social and cognitive learning.

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If you have an idea why baby-targetted TV doesn't increase a baby's vocabulary, let us know.