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Your baby's speech and language development

0-3 months

Crying is your newborn’s main way of communicating, letting you know if she’s hungry, tired or windy for example. But from just two weeks old your baby will start to recognise you and will love to stare at your face. Her range of vision is only about 20-30cm at this stage, so a cuddle is perfect for this eye contact.

Try this…

Let your baby study your face and chat with her. She may try to mimic your facial expressions. When she’s a bit older, turn this into a game that’s fun for you both. Follow her cues and when you’re ‘chatting’ give her enough time to ‘reply’.

3-6 months

At around four months your baby will probably be making cooing noises and enjoy face-to-face games like peekaboo. At this age your baby will love to hear you talk to them. Don’t be afraid to chat to your baby in a sing-song tone when you’re alone together or out and about. It’s perfectly normal, and not only is this high-pitched voice used by parents the world over research shows that all that coochie-cooing could support her development because she reacts more strongly to high-pitched speech.

Try this…

Tell your baby what you’re doing while you do it. This everyday chit-chat teaches her language and helps her make sense of the world. For example, reach your hands out and say, ‘I’m going to pick you up.’ This helps your baby learn to expect what will come next and participate more actively in the process.

6-12 months

You may start to notice that your baby is making a wider range of noises now, and happily babbling away when something grabs her attention or she wants to chat to you. ‘Dada’ is often a favourite word at around six months, but probably just because it’s an easy consonant-vowel sound for babies to make! Attaching the right word to the right person doesn’t usually happen until babies are a year old.

Between six and 12 months is a good time to try some baby signing, which is based on British Sign Language or Makaton. Fans of this method of communication believe their babies are less frustrated because they can express what they want. You can try learning a few signs and using consistently with your baby. There are many books and websites on the subject, or you can join a local class.

Try this…

Look at an object before you point at it and name it. From nine months upwards babies often start to follow an adult’s gaze to a specific object – this is known as ‘gaze-following’ and is believed to help babies work out the link between social interaction and language.

1-2 years

By 12 months, your baby is likely to be making ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ noises to the right person. By 18 months she may be able to say six to 20 recognisable words, understand many more and be able to follow simple instructions. Babies’ language skills often rapidly accelerate between 18 months and two years, so keep an eye on what you’re saying because it might come straight back at you! By two years babies start putting words together. It might take a while for them to use the right tense, but your toddler’s verbal skills will grow daily.

Try this…

Read together. Reading with your child can encourage speech. Take it slowly, pointing out interesting things in the pictures and asking what certain things are. Always give plenty of praise if she gets it right.

By Julia Legge