When Does Babies Start Talking? Ways to Help Baby Learn Speaking

It is a well-known fact that maximum brain development happens in the first seven years of life. The early years are the times when the brain is developing and maturing. This is also the period for acquiring speech and language skills. It is during these years only that children start to talk, express themselves, and interact with the community. The environment, rich in sounds, sights and buzzing with the speech and language of others is what helps in the acquisition of these skills.

What Are Voice, Speech, and Language Milestone?

For every child like us, voice, speech, and language milestones are vital for communication.

Voice - Voice is the sound produced as air from our lungs is pushed between vocal folds in the larynx, causing them to vibrate.

Speech - Speech involves the coordinated use of muscle of the tongue, lips, jaw, and vocal tract to produce recognizable sounds that makeup language.

Language - Language is a set of shared rules that allow people to express their ideas in a meaningful way. It may be expressed verbally or by writing, signing, or non-verbally by gestures, such as eye blinking or mouth movements.

When Does Babies Start Talking?

Babies start communicating the moment they are born. Whenever hungry, wet or in sort any discomfort, a newborn communicates by crying. But soon they undergo a huge leap in language development which increases their capacity to express with words and actions. Read below...

• From birth to 3 months of age: infants become alert at sounds and try to move their head in the direction of familiar voices and look at the speaker’s mouth. “Babbling” starts at 3 to 4 months which marks the beginning of real communication where babies start building social relationships by smiling, laughing, vocalizing pleasure and displeasure. First Babbles include “p” “b” and “m”, sounds like “puh” “buh” and  “muh”.
• By the time the baby is 9 to 12 months old - Babies will wave bye-bye, say one-two words, respond to “no”, will babble longer strings with nonsense syllables using the intonation and mimic the rhythm of adult talk. The first word may happen around the first birthday which may be “ Dada”, “Mama”, “papa”. By 18 months of age, a baby will be able to follow a one-step command and will have a vocabulary of 20 to 100 words. By 2 years of age, vocabulary will increase to more than 200 words and the baby will start speaking 2-word phrases, use question intonation, repeat overheard words, start using pronouns and understand small questions like where?, What’s that?
• As your little one is blossoming, by the time your child is 3 years, she will have a larger vocabulary of about 800 to 900 words, and will use 2 to 3 words conversation, may answer using  “yes” and “no”; may refer to self as  “me”. It is an immense joyful feeling to converse with your little one and try to know what is on their mind. At 4 years they start expressing themselves, they can have a conversation and make small sentences of 4 to 5 words stringed together, say out phrases, tell stories, and will start expressing their feelings, and will enjoy poems and some sense of humor as well.
• Towards the end of their preschool age, they start asking questions using who? why? where ? and how? and also start answering these questions. They start telling their name and complete address and can speak longer sentences and hold conversations.

How to Help Your Baby with Speech & Language

While children pick-up language from the environment, as a parent, here are some ways to encourage them. Read below...

•  Engage in a conversation and talk to your baby
•  Use different tones and syllables
•  Pause after speaking and give your baby time to respond
•  Sing to your baby
•  The baby may not understand your words but will recognize your voice and learn to respond to that
•  Play games like “pat a cake”, “peek a boo” using repeated gestures.
•  Show your child mirror at about 6 to 9 months of age and ask “who is that?”
•  You can also point to body parts and say the name out aloud such as the nose, cheek
• Engage your child in pretend play

Red flag Signs May Be Concerning Parents

Here are a few situations which may be concerning and may require expert intervention. Read below...

• A child who has not spoken any first meaningful words by the age of 16-18 months
• ​A child who is not able to make a 2-word phrase by the age of 2 years
• A child who may have said his/ her first words by 18 months but subsequently the development did not keep pace
• A child who may have said his/her first syllables between 9 – 18 months but this has regressed

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References Taken from:

1. Feeding Guide for the First Year ~ URMC
2. Child development 9–12 months ~ healthyw
3. Baby’s Hearing, Vision, and Other Senses: 9 Months ~ KidsHealth
4. Child development (4) – nine to 12 months ~ Better Health
5. The development of motor behavior ~ NCBI
6. Data Table of Infant Weight-for-age Charts ~ CDC