Before your baby learns to talk you will hear him babble and play with sound. For your baby, that is also talking even if the conversation is not understood. Many parents wonder when they will hear their baby’s first words, and it’s a wonderful time for everyone!

That the little one begins to speak means a huge step in language and communication, essential for development! Critical language milestones occur in the first three years of life, when a child’s brain is developing very rapidly. During this time, the baby’s speech development depends on his “conversation” skills as well as the stimuli that the environment offers him and his capacity for development.

Ideas to stimulate language in the 1-year-old baby

Babies understand what you say long before they begin to speak clearly. Many babies who are initially learning to say a or two words, they understand more than 25 words spoken to them!

If you want to stimulate your 1-year-old’s language, you can! Here we are going to give you some ideas to keep in mind. In this way, your baby will be stimulated and will want to speak sooner than you expect.

Pay attention to his language verbal

Your baby may raise his arms to tell you that he wants you to hold him, he may point to the water or a toy. He may also rub his eyes when he is sleepy… When he shows you what he wants through his body language because he can’t put it into words yet, smile, make eye contact, and respond with words to his nonverbal attempts to communicate with you.

Imitate his sounds

Pay attention to your baby’s babbling and babble those same sounds directly to your baby. Babies try to imitate the sounds their parents make and vary the pitch to match with the language that is heard around them. So be patient and give your baby time to talk to you.

React!

Smile and clap your hands even the smallest or most confusing attempts to talk about your baby. Babies learn the power of speech from the reactions of the adults around them. In this sense, your reaction is fundamental to their learning, and they must be positive reactions!

Say the right words

Babies love to hear their parents’ voices. When parents talk to them, language development is happening! The more you talk to your baby using short, simple but correct words, the more likely your baby is to develop her language properly. For example, when you say “dog” and your baby says “ero”, she will keep trying to say the correct word because she hears you say it.

Talk and talk

Talk about what you are doing while you dress him, feed him, clean the house, change his diaper… “let’s get into the bathtub”, “let’s put on your red socks”… That way your baby will be able to connect speech with objects and experiences from around her. He will be learning a lot of vocabulary from what you say to him every day.

Is this what you say?

Even when you don’t understand what your baby is saying, keep trying. Slowly repeat what you think he is saying and ask him if it is correct. Keep offering your loving attention so your baby feels rewarded for trying to talk.

Baby rules!

During playtime, follow your child’s attention and interests to show that communication is a two-way game of talking and listening, leading and following.So you can understand how important speech is! Let your baby “rule” the conversation so he feels protagonist.

Lots of reading

Lifelong readers come from young children who had many fun and relaxing experiences of parents reading aloud to them every day. This helps children connect emotionally with their parents and develop a lot of vocabulary that will help them start talking.