A New Parent's Guide to Baby Language Skills

While becoming parents is a blessing, it is also an overwhelming experience as new parents need to learn a lot as they progress through their kid's childhood. They look for ways to raise their child in the best way possible. They make memories daily, whether through their baby's first crawl, first step, or word. Everything related to one's child is special.

One milestone that new parents eagerly await is hearing their child's first words. Thus, they make efforts to develop the baby's language skills. This includes teaching their children to speak their language right from birth. After all, communicating and expressing needs through language is important for every child. Although every child achieves language development milestones at a different pace, it is important to keep track of them to avoid any delays in speech.

The native language in which a baby speaks may differ, but every child's basic language development stages remain the same. Thus, this article will guide every new parent who wants to know more about their baby's language skills.

At what age should a baby start speaking words?

Babies start expressing themselves right from birth. However, it is nonverbal and in the form of cries, grimaces, and other emotions that parents can understand. With time, they coo, growl, smile, laugh, and make different sounds. Hearing the child's first precious word is a joyful moment.

Before they actually start speaking words, babies begin to string sounds like ma-ma, da-da, ba-ba, etc., together around the age of 9 months. They start expressing themselves using words anywhere between 9 and 14 months. However, this verbal communication greatly differs among babies. If the child does not reach the speech milestone and lacks speech development, one must consult a doctor and speech therapist.

Language development milestones to look out for

Every child grows at their own pace, and the same applies to speech. However, certain language development milestones for 0–3 year-olds keep track of their growth and development.

The child's language development stages are divided as per the milestones they should achieve at particular months of their age. If there is a delay, contact the doctor immediately.

1. Pre-linguistic Stage: Birth to 3 months

Babies start listening to words and sounds from the moment they are born to the age of 3 months. Then, they start reciprocating with sounds and gestures. They smile, make cooing sounds, cry differently for various needs, recognise your voice, and move toward other sounds, voices, etc.

2. Babbling Stage: 4–6 months

They begin to babble, make different gurgling sounds, pay attention to music, express happiness and being upset with sounds, respond to their names, move their eyes in the direction of sounds, and perhaps start saying certain words.

3. Holophrastic Stage: 9–18 months

During this stage, babies try to imitate speech, understand simple instructions, recognise common words, and generally say words like dada, mama, or baba by their first birthdays. The child will even try to say your words; this is when real speech begins. By the age of 18 months, most babies can say as many as 10 single words, such as no, daw for the dog, stop, ba for bye-bye, etc.

4. Two Word Stage: 18–24 months

In the toddler stage, the child starts speaking basic two-word sentences with some meaning. They follow commands and speak up to 50 or more words. The speech can be understood most of the time. They keep learning and saying words like more milk, mommy, bye-bye, more food, etc.

5. Telegraphic Stage: 24–30 months

The child can speak sentences involving more than 2 words, and their speech rapidly develops. They can start repeating your words and understand basic instructions properly.

6. Multi-word Stage: From 30 months

At 30 months, the child enters the multi-word stage, where they can communicate in complex sentences. They can speak complete sentences and be understood by almost all family members.

You may also like : Amazing Ways to Help Your Toddler Talk

How does a baby develop language skills?

Learning to speak a language is a continuous process from birth to age 5. However, as most language development occurs between 0–2 years of age, it is a crucial stage where parents' efforts will yield fruitful results. Here are tips to promote language development in children:

• Spend quality time together

• Speak slowly and clearly; focus on saying single words

• Sing songs and rhymes

• Imitate their sounds

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• Talk back to them

• Show gestures and encourage them to speak more

• Say and repeat words

• Speak in your native language

• Help them build more words

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• Read to them daily

• Narrate everything in simple words

FAQs

1. What are the first 10 words a baby learns?

Most babies grasp a 10 word-vocabulary by 18 months. The most common first 10 words a baby will say are dada/dad, mama/mom, hi, baba/buba, doggy/dog, nana, bye, ball, kitty/cat, and no.

2. How many words can a 12-month-old say?

Most children speak their first word between 9 and 14 months of age. A 12-month child can probably say one to three common words like dada, uh-oh, mama, etc.

Closing Thoughts

The pace at which baby language skills develops differ in every child. If your child cannot achieve their milestones, they may be late speakers. However, be sure to consult the doctor.

References

1. Garcia D, Rodriquez GM, Hill RM, Lorenzo NE, Bagner DM.(2019).Infant Language Production and Parenting Skills: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Behav Ther.

2. Bornstein MH, Putnick DL, Bohr Y, Abdelmaseh M, Lee CY, Esposito G.(2020). Maternal Sensitivity and Language in Infancy Each Promotes Child Core Language Skill in Preschool.