Your baby will say her first words around her first birthday, but she’ll be communicating with you from the moment she’s born. Here are some of the signs to look out for...
 
 

Two to three months

Three to five months

Six months

Nine months

One year

Two years plus

Is there a problem?

Newborn

“One of the first signs you’ll see of your baby’s desire to interact with you is when she imitates your facial expression – if you stick your tongue out, she’ll do it too. Incredibly, she’s already beginning to learn the two-way rhythm of conversation,” says Emma Cahill, national advisor on early language for the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.
  

Your baby’s favourite sound is that of your own voice: watch how she stops whatever she’s doing when she hears you talking, and wriggles when she hears your voice. Her hearing is perfectly attuned to the sort of high-pitched singsong tone that adults (especially parents) instinctively use when talking to babies.

TRY THIS

Cradle your baby in your arms and say her name over and over so that you catch her attention. When she looks at you, congratulate her, saying something like “good girl!” several times.

Two to three months

By two months, your baby will be smiling, first of all in response to your smile and then spontaneously. “The most important thing you can do to boost your baby’s ability to communicate is talk to her,” says Emma. “Talk about anything and everything, when you’re on the bus, in the supermarket, the bath or wherever. If it feels unnatural at first, try it when you’re on your own at home until you get used to it.”

TRY THIS

Repeat all the sounds your baby makes back to her, including the raspberries – she’ll love it! And if you can, get a pusher-facing buggy, which allows your baby to face you so that you can talk and interact while you’re out and about.

Three to five months

“This is the age when you should think about limiting the use of a dummy if your baby has one, as it will prevent her exploring other things that she can do with her mouth,” says Emma.  

Those things include the ability to babble, chuckle, laugh and squeal with delight. Your baby will also increasingly be experimenting with sounds in preparation for speech and to indicate her moods.

“I loved those first conversations with my baby,” says Susan, mum of Matilda, four months. "When I spoke to her, she made little noises back, a bit like a seal pup barking, and these gradually developed into all sorts of throaty grunts. It’s totally magical.”

TRY THIS

Sing nursery rhymes to your baby – it’s never too early to start. Don’t worry if your repertoire is small and you sing the same songs again and again – the repetition helps her enormously.

Six months

Around this time, some of your baby’s babbling will start to become recognisable sounds, and she’ll do it more and more. “I love the way my baby babbles away to me or to himself,” says Karen, mum of Ben, seven months. “He just seems to love the sound of his own voice!”

Over the next few months, your baby will start to recognise some familiar words. “One of the earliest words that babies learn is usually ‘bye-bye’,” explains Emma. “This is because we nearly always say it along with the accompanying gesture – a wave, which provides a very visual reinforcement of the word.”

The first words she learns will be the ones you say to her over and over again: the name of an older sibling or pet, for example. By hearing the people around her use the same words over and over again, she slowly builds up a vocabulary. And the more often something is repeated, the quicker she’ll learn.

TRY THIS

It’s never too soon to introduce your baby to books – keep a cloth book in the pram and cot, read simple stories and start looking at animal pictures and making the noises. Your baby will love reading the same books over and over. Again, this repetition helps her remember words and boosts her vocabulary.

Nine months

Your baby can now understand simple requests and when you’re getting her out of her cot, she might hold up her arms when you say, “Up you come.” She will know her own name and the names of familiar objects and people. She’ll be making longer strings of repeated babble, and will start to make more sounds that resemble words.

As your baby gets used to solids, introduce her to a variety of foods of different consistencies, as chewing makes her aware of her mouth and helps speech development.

TRY THIS

By ten to 11 months, your baby can nod or shake her head to indicate, “yes” and “no”, so try to ask questions when you’re doing everyday tasks and encourage her to answer you with gestures. 

One year

The advent of a baby’s first birthday marks a year of incredible achievement. In language terms, your baby will probably be able to say a few words, such as, “Mummy”, “Daddy” and “car”. She can try to sing along with music, follow simple instructions and understand questions, such as, “Where’s your coat?” Most babies won’t dribble any more, a sign that they’re gaining control over their tongues, mouths and lips ready for speech. This is a good time to stop bottles and dummies for good if you can.  

TRY THIS

Substitute your baby’s name in a song she knows well, such as, “Louise had a little lamb…” She’ll be thrilled.

Two years plus

By the age of two, your child can understand most everyday words and actions, will probably have a vocabulary of at least 50 words, and will be starting to put words together, such as, “Daddy gone” or “more juice”. She’ll understand a lot more than she can say, and tantrums are common because she wants to communicate, but hasn’t got the expressive language to do so. She might also start questioning, asking, “where?” and “what’s that?” although “why?” comes a bit later.

TRY THIS

Try turning off your mobile or iPod and interacting with your baby instead – she’s worth it!

Is there a problem?

There’s a huge spectrum of what’s normal within language development, but it’s never too early to ask for help if you have any concerns at all. Babies with special needs such as hearing problems or deafness will take longer to reach developmental milestones (for more information, contact The National Deaf Children’s Society). But as a rule, it’s worth seeing your health visitor or GP if your baby:

• Isn’t babbling or making sounds by eight to nine months
• Doesn’t make eye contact with you by three months
• Isn’t interested in looking at people’s faces or toys held in front of her by three months.

Find out more

• National Deaf Children's Society
  www.ndcs.org.uk
  
  
• Talk To Your Baby
  www.talktoyourbaby.org.uk
  
  
• BabyTalk by Sally Ward (£10.99, Arrow Books)
  
  
• The Social Baby: understanding babies’ communication from birth by Lynne Murray and Liz Andrews (£12.99, The Children's Project). DVD also available at £16.89. Both available from NSPCC Publications)
  
  
• Now read our features on baby signing and development through play