Is it too Early to Wonder About Speech Development?
It may seem way too early to wonder about your child’s speech from birth to six months old, but in fact, babies make huge strides in speech development in the first few months of life.
Normal Milestones
From the time your baby is born, she starts to recognize the vocalizations and sounds around her. Instead of being frightened, she will respond to sounds and try to figure out where they are coming from. Even at only a month or so, baby will start to gurgle and coo; it’s her own way of interacting with the world around her.
By the time she reaches three months, her vocalizations will become more advanced as the coos and gurgles become more frequent and intentional. You’ll hear the best sound of all – baby’s first laugh – before she turns six months old. She’ll also begin blowing raspberries and experimenting with other types of sounds.
In addition, your baby will probably begin making a few consonant sounds by the time she is six months old, “p”, “d”, “b” and “n” are the most common first sounds. Baby will start to have different cries, easily distinguishable by her parents, for different needs. The cries may seem primitive, but it’s actually the beginning stages of being able to verbalize her needs.
Interacting with Baby
Even though baby is still so young, this is the perfect time to spend lots of it talking to your baby about the world. She’ll be watching your mouth and paying very close attention to what you are saying and how you say it. She’ll begin to make connections between the words you say and the world around her. Describe what you are doing, give names to objets that you are using and explain what is going on around her. Even though she can’t yet verbalize her observations, trust me, she’s soaking it all up.
When to Speak With Your Doctor
By the end of six months of age, your child should be able to do all of the following: