5 Ways To Encourage Early Communication Skills In Your Baby!

Chat With Your Baby –

It might feel silly at the time, but talking to your infant as you play or even perform chores around the house will make them excited to communicate with you. In doing this, you’re providing them exposure to all kinds of basic vocabulary and conversational skills. It might sound odd to exclaim to a baby of only 6-months-old, “Let’s go outside, it’s sunny!” or, “It’s time for me to wash our plates.” The foundation of your baby’s skills is built by the people they interact with and adore the most, and you can really use that to your advantage.

Read Books –

Read lots, and read often. Even if you feel like you have read the story about the little boy and his little blue train a thousand times, read it again. Your baby will begin to understand language by associating pictures with the words that they hear from you. Eventually, your little one will probably begin to point pictures in their favorite books and try to say the words that go with them. This is a great exercise in memory and vocabulary. So many activities these days revolve around electronics and screen time, but sitting down with a good storybook can still be a magical and relaxing bonding experience for parents and babies.

Teach Your Baby Sign Language –

Many parents choose to teach their baby signs as a form of communication. The benefit to this is simple. Babies develop the coordination and motor skills responsible for using signs to communicate at a younger age than they develop the skills responsible for vocalizing their needs. You can teach your baby to signal when they want more, or when they are thirsty or hungry. You can be as basic or advanced as you want with this, there are no hard and fast rules. It can offer a significant alternative way to communicate with a baby who is still a bit too young to speak.

Sign Songs & Nursery Rhymes –

Kids and babies love music in all forms. Setting time aside each day to sing songs while adding your own interactive movements can be a wonderful and healthy experience. Not only will baby get lots of exercise and have fun, but they will absorb words and rhyming associations from the songs that you sing. This is not just a great way to encourage communication, but it is also a way to instill the importance of daily physical activity at a young age. Babies thrive on routine, and you can’t go wrong by adding music to yours.

Mimic The Noises Your Baby Makes –

Babies communicate in their own ways instinctively. As they get older, they learn to make more sounds and eventually how to say basic words. Holding your baby close to you so that they can pay attention to the motions your mouth makes helps them learn to mimic you more easily. Copying the sounds that your baby makes to you will reinforce that they are making those sounds correctly, and encourage them to speak even more.

To put it simply, communication is most effectively encouraged by incorporating as much talking as possible. Infants are like sponges and will absorb everything that they observe. They learn by seeing and doing, and by following these tips you will be giving your tot all the tools that they need to learn to communicate with you. It’s important to remember that until you teach them otherwise, the only way they know how to “talk” is to cry. Help your baby leave frustration behind by showing them how to let you know exactly what’s going on in their quickly growing mind.