After holding a baby in your arms, the next most awaited moment is to hear your baby speak to you! Imagine, you suddenly hear your baby say “bye” to a stranger during a park visit! After months of squeals and shrieks, has your wait ended? Finally, your baby has reached this next milestone, Whoopie! Like most parents, you expected your baby to say “ma ma” as the first word.
It may also happen that your baby spoke “bye” the other day and didn’t utter another word for a couple of weeks. Was that a squeal misinterpreted? Or did they actually speak their first word? Let us look into the most common first words of a baby.
In This Article
- When Will I Hear My Baby’s First Words?
- The First Word Of The Baby
- How Can I Encourage My Baby to Talk?
When Will I Hear My Baby’s First Words?
Mostly the grimaces and hand movements are used by babies to express themselves and we try to encode them. By six months your baby will start babbling. The “ma ma”, “da da” and “na na”s are all babbles.
Around 6-8 months, they will try to imitate sounds of what they hear.
Most babies usually start speaking at 11-14 months, probably around their first birthday. And by the time your baby turns two, they will already be putting words together to form sentences, a bit broken though!
However, this varies from individual to individual. One in every 4 babies can be a late bloomer, and it might just be right to seek professional help till your baby is 2.5 years old. Late bloomers tend to catch up by this age. Good news for baby girls! They will reward you with more vocabulary than the baby boy and speak earlier too.
The First Word Of The Baby
The first time parents even tend to remember the first word spoken by their first child. Below is a list of the most common first words spoken by babies passed on from parent’s memories:
Da da
Studies indicate that consonant ‘d’ is easier for babies to utter rather than m therefore dada comes first than mama. It is said that ‘m’ requires forcing air through the nasal passage, which makes it difficult to spell out. It must be noted that at this stage, your baby does not really know what ma ma or da da means. They are simply testing their speech!
Ma ma
There are some proponents that ‘m’ is easier than ‘d’ since it’s uttered in the same position as suckling the breast. However, if your baby chose to speak ‘da da’ first, then don’t be disheartened, they will follow ‘ma ma’ soon
Hello
This is what probably everyone addresses your baby with when they see them, therefore they will pick this quickly
Sound Of Pet
Your baby will try to imitate the sound of your pet’s name since they are likely to be often hushed or shouted at (lovingly).
Bye, Ta Ta
We frequently say this to the baby while going out. And the baby picks this word fast.
No
Much to your chagrin! If you frequently use “No” to stop your baby from doing something, they are going to pick that word up
Car
“Caaaar” – after all you ask them to see cars every time you hit the road. Babies are able to spot and say ‘caaar’ pretty soon
Shoe
Many children are in awe of those pretty, light-emitting things worn at their feet. And it appears to come easily out of the mouth too.
Ball
Balls are common toys, and most babies are likely to have a couple of them. Balls enhance the gripping skills of a baby, and because they seem to be so close to the baby, a baby might say something like a ‘Baahhl’, focusing the least on the ‘l’
Na Na
The repetitions are easily recognized by the brain. They can be easily processed in young stages. This is why most of the baby words are repetitions, all over the word. Research conducted at the University of British Columbia supports this theory of babies recognize the repetition of words more easily.
How Can I Encourage My Baby to Talk?
Your baby will not learn to speak automatically. You need to provide them with a conducive environment so that they can pick up the correct words and start speaking at the appropriate time. Below are a few tips on helping you develop your baby’s vocabulary:
1. Encourage Your Baby to Express Themselves
If they kick in the air or squeal, look them in the eye, smile, and respond to them. You can then say, “Jay wants rattle”, “Jay wants milk” or “Jay wants to play with mama” and watch their response.
2. Listen to Your Baby
The baby expressions and squeals are your baby’s means of talking to you till they are able to speak properly. So when they coo to you, coo them back in an attempt to acknowledge what they said.
3. Speak Slowly and Clearly
Many studies have found that speaking clear and short instructions are more beneficial for your baby’s language development than addressing them in baby talk. For instance, say “shampoo” while using it. Let them hold the powder and say “powder”.
4. Read Together
Get picture books and narrate what you see. You should point to things and spell their names.
5. Sing
Babies love music! They love the rhythm and rhyme. They will try to imitate the sounds of words being sung.
6. Report Your Actions
You need to narrate what you are doing. For instance, now, “Jay will drink milk now”, “hold my hand”, and “wear a nappy” and you can wave a nappy at them. It simply gives a chance to identify words and things.
7. Allow them to ask
Give your baby an opportunity to point, shriek, or babble words. Do not rush in to provide a toy that has fallen. Let them make noise for that!
8. Repeat
The more you repeat your actions and words, the quicker your baby will recite them. Here, you need to keep a check on words that you do not want your baby to learn. Avoid using expletives.
9. Use Names
At this stage, it’s the noun that will be more beneficial than the pronoun. You may want to say, “Here’s Jay’s candy” or “Mummy wants to drink tea.” This helps babies associate things with people.
Here the key is to talk more and talk sensible and your baby will follow suit! Make sure that you never shout in front of your baby. Hold them, love them, and speak short sentences (usually 2-3 words) to them.
