A step in the right direction to nourish little one

Ma..Da...Oo...Pa..Eeee!!!

When your child makes such sounds, don't you wonder as to when will your munchkin start speaking complete, sensible words?

Initially, a child of about 6 months makes low coos and sounds of ‘aaa’, ‘eee’, ‘ooo' while crying in different tones is its way of speaking. A more prominent form of talking begins from then. You can spot the following early signs of your baby learning to talk as per the age:

6-8 month

The baby in this age group is social and would pass smiles, engage in making eye contact when talked to and respond making nonsense noises. It will also begin to imitate gestures done to them. It starts to understand its name being called out, understands commands and makes wanting gestures.

11-15 month

Here the baby start pointing towards things and even learn to understand the meaning of pointers. It will reciprocate more to a conversation, understand what the mother is trying to explain, and demand attention. The easy vowel and consonant sounds begin to come up. Words like Ma-ma, da-da, na-na can be heard.

18-20 month

This child engages in a lot of conversation by ‘showing’ what it is doing-an attribute of high social engagement. It will point to pictures in a book, associate easy words to things, and make sounds of a car moving or a bird singing, enabling vocalisation. It will imitate and repeat words said out loud by the mother in twisted form. It is also able to learn and repeat easy information and point at the body part asked.

24 months

The child speaks longer sentences, uses two-word combinations than just easy vowel sounds, and uses that language not just when it wants something but also in other conversation. It is able to understand the talking around it. It learns new words spoken by parents and uses them in its sentences. So be wary of what you say around the kid.

While the above are some signs of learning talking in kids, each child is different and talks at its pace. If you find unexpected delays, intervention is the key. If you suspect hearing, cognition, language or other issues in the child, talk to your doctor about it. 

Happy listening to those cute babble’s mommies!