Get the Facts About Baby’s First Words

As a parent, one of the most rewarding moments is when your children being to speak. Finally you’ll be able to communicate on a higher level. Instead of guessing your child’s needs and wants, you’ll be able to ask directly. Use these facts and tips to understand your child’s speech development and help them learn faster.

Talk to Your Child Often

You might feel foolish talking to someone who can’t respond, but it’s extremely helpful to your baby. After all, how will they learn without listening to someone? Narrate your everyday life. “Where’s Mommy going? She’s going to the bedroom. She’s picking up her book.” The more you talk, the larger your child’s vocabulary will be. It’s especially important to label things or actions that interest your child. If she’s looking at a book, your narration will truly reach her.

Kids Learn Fast

Between 18 and 24 months your child’s vocabulary will grow from fifty to 250 words. It’s a process called “fast mapping” where the brain exerts itself to store as much information as possible. By one year old, your child will understand your words even if he can’t say them. He might be confused every word you use, but he’ll gather enough from your sentences to gleam what you want.

Baby Non-Talk is Talk

Early baby speech, or babbling, is still speech. Your baby is talking to you, he’s just not very good at it. When this happens, establish eye contact and use clear facial expressions so he feels you want to be a part of his dialogue. Don’t ignore him! Reply to him even if the reply is meaningless so he’s encouraged to continue communicating.

Relax

Just like everything else, children learn at different rates. Don’t worry about your child’s speech development unless he appears to lack a desire to communicate at all. If he’s not reaching out or making eye contact, consult your doctor, but otherwise he is probably fine, even if he isn’t using sentences like all the other kids in his class.

Teach Some Sign Language

Kids are capable of learning sign language very early. It’s not a substitute for speech, but it can help ease some frustration them (or you) may feel about their inability to communicate. Teach simple gestures to mean certain phrases. You can use traditional sign language or make up your own motions. Be sure to say the actual word every time you make the sign so the connection is made and your child does start saying it.

First Words Are About Needs

Children will first learn about the things that they need or interest them. He will learn “mama” and “dada” early because calling those names often gets him what he wants. If he loves playing with his ball, he will probably utter “ball” soon. You can use this pattern by repeating these phrases often. Don’t craw “Ball! Ball! Ball!” into his face for an hour, but use the word naturally as often as you can. This will help teach him to associate sounds with objects.

Written by Holly MacLean from Wee Urban

As a new mom, Holly was driven to start Wee Urban™ to offer the modern family a unique and fresh collection of eco-friendly baby gear and accessories that goes beyond the conventional and explores the exceptional! Tired of traditional pinks and blues and cute motifs, we offer sophisticated designs, “conscious” organic alternatives, practical functionality and superior quality. Using our custom certified organic cotton blends, low-impact dyes, and other trendsetting fabrics, we hope to inspire families to be make better choices and of course- do it all in urban style!

Beyond our organic cotton and azo-free dyes, Wee Urban uses 100% post-consumer packaging and tags for our Wee Dreams™ Sleep Bags. Our distinctive screen-printing is done with 100% eco-inks and are all phthalate free.

We also recycle our remnants and donate as much as possible to local elementary schools to help with arts and crafts programs.

For more information, visit wwww.weeurban.com

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