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 baby during 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 he actually speak his first word?

• When Will I Hear My Baby’s First Words?
• The First Words 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, he will try to imitate sounds of what he hears.
Most babies usually start speaking at 11-14 months, probably around their first birthday. And by the time your baby turns two, he 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 once your baby is 2.5 years old. Late bloomers tend to catch up by this age.
A good news for baby girls! They will reward you with more vocabulary than the baby boy and speak earlier too.

The First Words Of The Baby

Yes, the first time parents even tend to remember the first word spoken by their first child. This excitements tone downs a bit with the second child though. Below is a list of 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 knows what ma ma or da da means. He is simply testing his speech!
• Ma ma: There are some proponents that ‘m’ is easier than ‘d’ since its uttered in the same position as suckling the breast. However if your baby chose to speak ‘da da’ first, then don’t be disheartened, he will follow ‘ma ma’ soon
• Hello, Hi: This is what probably everyone addresses your baby with when they see him, therefore he will pick this quickly
• Dog (name of dog, arf arf): Your baby will try to imitate the sound of your pet’s name since he is likely to be often hushed or shouted (lovingly) at
• Bye, Ta Ta
• No: Much to your chagrin! If you frequently use “No” to stop your baby from doing something, he is going to pick that word up
• Car: “Caaaar” – after all you ask him to see them every time you hit the road. Babies are able to spot and say ‘caaar’ pretty soon
• Shoe: Many children are in awe with 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, 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)

How Can I Encourage My Baby To Talk?

Your baby will not learn to speak automatically. You need to provide him with the conducive environment so that he 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:

• Encourage your baby to express himself: If he kicks in the air or squeals, look him 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 his response
• Listen to your baby: The baby expressions and squeals are your baby’s means of talking to you till he is able to speak properly. So when he coos to you, coo him back in an attempt to acknowledge what he said
• Speak slowly and clearly: Many studies have found that speaking clear and short instructions are beneficial for your baby’s language development than addressing him in baby talk. For instance, say “shampoo” while using it. Let him hold the powder and say “powder”
• Read together: Get picture books and narrate what you see. You should point to things and spell their names
• Sing: Babies love music! They love the rhythm and rhyme. They will try to imitate the sounds of words being sung
• Report your actions: You need to narrate what you are doing. For instance, now “Jay will drink milk now”, “hold my hand”, “wear a nappy” and you can wave a nappy at him. It simply gives a chance to identify words and things
• Allow him to ask: Give your baby an opportunity to point, shriek or babble words. Do not rush in to provide a toy which has fallen. Let him make a noise for that!
• Repeat: The more your repeat your actions and words, the quicker your baby will recite them. Here, you need to keep a check on words which you do not want your baby to learn. Avoid using “Shit”, “Damn” etc.
• Use names: At this stage, it’s the noun that will be more beneficial than pronoun. You may want to say, “Here’s Jay’s candy or “Mummy wants to drink tea.” 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 your never shout in front of your baby. Hold him, love him and speak short sentences (usually 2-3 words) to him.