When Do Babies Understand Directions and Commands?

5 min read

Written by Tarasha Chandra

Tarasha Chandra

PGDPM

Tarasha is the mother of two kids, a 12-year-old preteen boy, and an inquisitive and bubbly 8-year-old girl. She has her hands full. She loves giving a personal touch to her articles by incorporating all her experiences as a full-time mom. Tarasha brings with her more than 15 years of writing experience in various domains of parenting.

When Do Babies Understand Directions and Commands?

A baby’s receptive senses and skills start developing at the time of birth. But it takes time for them to reach the stage where they actually start understanding commands. This presents a question- when do babies understand directions and commands?

Even though babies are quite good at copying some stuff the parent does, in actuality they do not understand it clearly. So even if you give them instructions, they are still trying to understand what it means. Understanding commands, directions, and understanding word combinations takes some time.

In This Article

When Do Babies Understand Directions and Commands?
How Does Following Directions Develop in Babies?
Top 5 Tips for Teaching Your Baby to Follow Directions
What to do if Your Baby Has Difficulty Following Directions?
FAQ’s

When Do Babies Understand Directions and Commands?

Babies grow at different paces; they all reach their milestones and understand directions in their own time. Here is a rough timeline on when babies may start understanding directions

Age	Directions Babies Will Start to Understand
Newborn to 3 Months	A newborn pays attention to facial gestures and starts smiling when they are close to 2 months.
3 Months to 6 Months	As the baby grows, they pick up more clues about the surroundings and start following the objects. By 6 months the baby starts responding to its name and utters a few syllables in its own language as a response.
6 Months to 12 Months	During this time, the baby starts turning to the sounds and noise. They respond to their name and understand a few words of common usage. By 9 months, they understand “no” and by 1 year, they even start waving. By the 9th month, some babies may also understand single instruction commands.
12 Months to 18 Months	At this time, the toddler will start saying words like dog, milk, hi, and bye, but understands more than what he/she speaks.
18 Months to 24 Months	By this time, the toddler starts to absorb almost everything and starts mimicking but cannot speak all words yet understand them. At this time, they can relate to short sentences, like “put your shoes on and get in the car”.
24 Months to 36 Months	By this time, the toddler is a preschooler and much more adept at understanding directions and commands. They can even follow instructions that are split into three parts, like “Put the mat, keep the plate, and sit on a chair”.

[Read : When Do Babies Recognize Their Name?]

How Does Following Directions Develop in Babies?

how Following Directions Develop in Babies

Here is how babies may learn to follow directions they are given.

1. Understanding Vocabulary and Concepts

If the baby is clear with the words and the vocabulary, it becomes easier for him/her to follow them. If your is being told to put the dress in the cupboard, they need to understand what “dress”, “cupboard”, and “in” means.

2. Receptive Language

Instructions can also be given in the form of sign language, speech, writing, and gestures which should be clear to the baby.

3. Putting the Commands in Sequence

Babies must learn to understand what to do first and what to do next when a series of commands is given.

4. Functioning Memory

It is important for babies to have a working memory to be able to understand basic commands and follow the same.

[Read : Most Common First Word Of A Baby]

Top 5 Tips For Teaching Your Baby to Follow Directions

Tips For Teaching Your Baby to Follow Directions

Scholars suggest speaking to your baby in an affirmative yet soft manner when giving instructions. Deal with your baby patiently and do not force or be rude to them.

Five other tips that help in helping them follow directions are:

Offer meaningful directions to boost the morale and self-confidence of the baby. Telling them to pick up clothes, lay the mat etc.
Giving them positive feedback by giving alternatives than saying no. For example, “okay, if you do not want to wash the fruits, maybe you can clean the toys” etc.
Label items with different colors, shapes, textures.
Use keywords to make them follow a specific direction.
Do not complicate by giving too many steps to follow.

[Read : 10 Tips To Communicate With Newborn]

What to Do if Your Baby Has Difficulty Following Directions?

mom helping baby to follow direction

Do you find that your baby is unable to follow directions properly? This can be understandably worrying for you, but there is no need to hit the panic button just yet. Try the following steps first.

1. Give Simple and Easy to Understand Commands

Especially when starting off, you will need to give simple instructions that are easy to understand for your baby. You can slowly add multiple and more complicated instructions as your baby gets used to the basic ones.

2. Minimize Distractions

It is important to have minimal distractions and develop eye contact when giving instructions to the baby. Distractions such as a running TV or your baby working on something can result in your baby failing to concentrate on the instructions.

3. Speak Quietly

Speaking in an affirmative manner but a softer pitch enables the baby to focus on what you are trying to tell them and follow your instructions.

4. Check For Understanding

Repeat commands to the baby to give clarity and clear understanding. Saying clean up is confusing but specifying to clean the bed or cupboard is clearer. Make sure your baby understands what is expected out of them. You can accompany your verbal instructions with gestures to make your intention clearer.

5. Instruct, Don’t Ask

It is better to tell them what task has to be done rather than offering them choices. For example, tell them to clean the table and not ask- “Will you clean the table please?”.

6. Number Your Direction

Giving too multiple directions at once to the baby can confuse them so it is better to give numbers to all tasks for their brain to process.

For example, You can say – “I want you to do three things – First, you should pick your toys, next put them in the box, and then put the box back in the cupboard”.

It is essential to give time and patience to the baby to understand and follow commands and directions. This is a time-consuming process. Your baby will gradually and eventually reach that stage where they can understand directions and commands.

FAQ’s

1. When Do Babies Learn to Follow Their Parents’ Actions?

Babies start observing the parents’ actions when they are 3 months old. These actions mostly include imitating sounds.

2. When Do Babies Start Responding to Directional Commands?

The babies can start responding to directional commands with the parents’ or caretakers’ help when they are six or seven months old.

3. What Will My Baby Learn Once He’s Born?

At birth, babies recognize mothers mostly through smell and voice since they are constantly breastfeeding. They may also slowly learn to communicate in their own way when they are hungry, tired, sleepy, etc.

Tarasha Chandra,PGDPM

She loves to dance, listen to music, cook, and read in her free time. She is transparent, intuitive, quick-witted, and loves to spend time with her near and dear ones. She believes in taking each day as it comes.Read more.

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