All about first words
Worried your baby isn't talking yet? There are so many ways a child can communicate a word, and most of them surprise parents.
Shortly after their arrival, parents wait with bated breath to hear their baby’s little voice say their first word. With good reason too! Parents of newborns and infants are constantly sleuthing, trying and trying to figure out what each particular cry and gurgle means. It’s exhausting!
When a baby can communicate a word, it changes the whole parenting game. Finally, parents have an easier time understanding what their baby needs and wants.
Most babies begin communicating in single words around 12 months. For parents who have a child this age who isn’t talking, their worries and anxieties get shifted into overdrive.
However, what most parents don’t know is that there are SO MANY ways a child can communicate a word!
Gestures
Think nodding your head for “yes” or shaking it for “no.” Hand flips can often indicate “I don’t know” or a question. Pantomiming actions also count, like flapping arms to indicate a “bird.”
Sound effects
This is when a sound effect is used instead of a particular word, like “vroom” for “car.”
Animal sounds
When children call animals by the sound they make, it counts as a word! Imagine a child pointing and labeling “woof woof” whenever they see a dog. That counts as their word for “dog!”
Signed words
Baby signs are super popular, and it’s amazing that this has become a trend with new parents. Babies are able to imitate motor movements much more easily than they’re able to imitate speech sounds, so they can actually communicate with signs before they’re able to talk. Signs definitely count as words!
Word approximations
It takes a looooong time for a baby’s ability to say speech sounds to fully develop. As they’re developing and trying to say words, they’ll often say words inaccurately. That’s A-OK! For example, if a baby says “ba” for “bottle” that counts. If they say “ba” for “ball” that counts as a (separate) word too.
Exclamations
Exclamations are fun and often some of the first words babies say!
- Uh oh
- Wow
- Yay
- Whoa
- Oops
Clear words
Of course, clearly spoken words count as well.
