First conversations with the baby: when does the baby start to babble?

In the first months of life, the infant communicates with the environment mainly by crying and body language, but there comes a time when the repertoire of sounds made by the baby gradually increases. When does a baby start babbling and how is babbling different from babbling? How can you encourage your baby to babble to better stimulate speech development? 

In this post, we not only answer the question when the baby starts babbling, but we also suggest the best ideas for the first conversations with the baby.

When the baby starts to babble, it first goes through the lengthening stage

The first attempts at verbal communication with a baby are a real joy for parents, which is why they can't wait for the baby to start babbling. Between 2 and 3 months of age, babies begin to stutter, making sounds so-called velar type: g, g, g, uuu, agg eee.

These sounds made by babies are also known as cooing and are sometimes confused with babbling. Interestingly, all babies in the world are stunned in the same way, regardless of the language their parents speak.

How to encourage a baby to gossip? 

If the child is not sleeping, it is worth talking to him often and singing to him, leaning over him so that the child can see the facial expressions of our face, the movement of our lips. Let's also imitate the baby and the sounds he makes - these can be just that first conversations with a child. 

When talking/singing to a baby or playing music, in the first months of life (but not only) it is worth paying close attention to baby's reactions. If your baby turns his head away and becomes restless, it may be a sign that the sounds are too loud for him and the stimulation of the senses is too intense.

When the baby starts to babble: until when should the baby start babbling?

Babbling most often coincides with the moment when the child independently begins to take a sitting position, which makes the articulation organs in a position conducive to further development of speech. When an infant begins to babble, the first strings of open syllables (which end in a vowel) appear, for example: ma-ma-ma, ba-ba-ba, ta-ta-ta, gu-gu-ga, bu-ba.

Babbling is a great exercise for the speech apparatus and the respiratory system, it is the first stage of learning to speak.

When baby starts babbling: should I start to worry if babbling doesn't occur?

When does a baby begin to babble - by conscious naming of people or objects? Although the first mum has or ta-da-ta almost always evoke tears of emotion in parents, at the very beginning, the baby does not use syllable sequences fully consciouslyrather on the principle of fun, experimentation and imitation.

Why do some children only stutter when baby finally will start babbling?

Giving is an unconditioned reflex, that's why all the children are fooling, whether they hear or not. In deaf or hearing-impaired children, however, gurgling is not replaced by the period when the infant begins to babble. Deaf children do not babble at all. Can a baby really hear and when will it finally start babbling?

Every newborn in Poland is covered by a hearing screening test, often while still in the hospital after giving birth, but in some cases diagnostic errors may occur. It is not worth worrying in advance, but above all, observe whether the child reacts to sudden sounds by turning his head towards them / flinching, e.g. when the phone rings, when something falls on the floor.

If parents are concerned about whether their child can hear, they should always consult their pediatrician who will refer the child for possible additional tests.

How to encourage the baby to babble and stimulate the further development of the contract?

When a child begins to babble, the world around him is the greatest stimulation, and above all, the speech of another person, the observation of facial expressions, imitation of sounds and words heard. That's why it's worth it Talk to your baby as much as possible: about what we do during the day, what we see during walks or play. You can not only tell the child about something, but also show it, if possible, let the child touch the named object.

It is worth remembering that a great exercise for the speech apparatus is also… food. As the diet is expanded, it is not worth avoiding products that need to be broken down with gums/tongue/teeth, which require longer chewing. If your toddler has problems while expanding the diet, including difficulty swallowing, taking food from a spoon, very frequent choking, it is worth consulting a neurologist.

The specialist will assess, among others: the work of the speech apparatus, the tension of the cheek muscles, the palate, and the sublingual frenulum. Such consultation and recommended exercises can affect not only the process of expanding the diet, but also when the child begins to babble and how later speech development will proceed.