This phase is certainly a milestone in a baby’s life—when those first sounds start to appear, the whole family is even more enthralled. Speech development is very important and shows the child’s growth progress. Some babies may take longer to reach this stage, the speech development phase. Most babies start babbling between the 4th and 5th month. It’s still kind of accidental, and those are the agoo, agwan, little screams and noises that enchant everyone. Around the 8th to 10th month of life, syllables like papa, mama, ubu and some others emerge, giving the impression the baby is saying daddy and mommy. Most of the time this is the beginning of the development of words that will fully form only after the first year of life. That’s when the baby can express themselves more clearly and to a specific person.

Even before they start babbling, babies begin to recognize the language spoken around them. Even at birth, during delivery, the sign that everything is okay is the first cry, as if saying: hey, I’m really here! All the movement around stimulates these sounds. Before this stage, the main way babies communicate with the world is through crying. And what mother hasn’t been touched by their baby’s first cry? Moreover, crying is like words for a newborn; that’s how they say what they need with different tones of sounds.

How to Help Speech Development

Talking to your baby helps a lot to get them making sounds earlier, even as early as 3 or 4 months of age. Babies’ own dialect is very interesting, and yet another phase of speech development begins around 6 months. At this stage, they really start interacting with people closest to them, and in daily life may begin to say little words that are their own language, enchanting everyone around.

Up to 2 years of age, the child is in the speech development phase, and from then on they continue to improve on what they’ve learned. Certain precautions are needed from the baby’s first babble to avoid future problems. Precautions like using baby talk (or “tatibitate”) all the time.

“Baby ti nindo di mamãe”

This is one of the main mistakes made by those who spend time with the baby. Speech is based exclusively on what the baby learns from those closest to them. So, talking normally most of the time is essential for correct speech. It’s not that speaking lovingly to your child is completely forbidden—most parents or those around children do this—but knowing when and how to do it is important so that the child isn’t limited to hearing only that type of communication. Speech development depends on what they hear and stimulating correct speech is necessary. You know those kids who speak so well they almost sound like little adults? Well-articulated speech has its secrets, and one of them is to always use the correct words, never repeating what the child or baby said incorrectly.

  • Boiaça = Cookie
  • Aua = water

The key is to always avoid reinforcing the wrong word. Whenever the baby asks for “aua” (water), say that he/she wants water and emphasize the correct word without drawing too much attention: “it’s not aua, it’s water.” Say naturally, “you want water,” and repeat the correct word “water” a few times.

Another way to encourage speech development in your child is to read a lot to them—stories that capture their interest—and talk a lot whenever you have the opportunity: during feedings, while giving food, during diaper changes, and so on. Nursery school also greatly helps with speech development, not only for speech but also overall development, since being part of a group makes it easier to develop. This is certainly a good resource for children with delayed speech. Children who receive stimulation from a very young age tend to talk more and are more likely to be dynamic adults.

Medical help should be sought if the baby does not develop speech by their 2nd year of life.

Many children are a bit lazy when it comes to starting to talk—not that they’re delayed or have some problem, on the contrary. They just want things the easiest way and don’t want to make the effort to get what they want, and their method is using gestures—clever, right? When they want something, they simply pull a parent’s or grandparent’s hand and point to what they want without saying a single syllable. Unfortunately, the adult often gives them what they want without encouraging them to actually say what they want, when instead they should be asking them to speak.

By the way, do you know when you should be worried about your child’s or baby’s speech development? Everyone develops in their own time, and it’s no different for speech. The time to start talking differs for each child—I’ve had 3 different experiences with my own 3 kids regarding speech development. The most important thing to note is that if the child or baby does not speak at all, absolutely nothing, by their second year of life, you should definitely seek help. Always remember that speech is linked to hearing, and it is essential to run tests to know if the child hears perfectly. Disorders like autism, for example, can also be detected through absence of speech, but that’s not the only reason a child might not speak—the issue can go far beyond that.

Blogger’s Note: I had 3 different experiences with speech development in my children. Joana was always very chatty, she spoke and babbled a lot from a very young age. With Dudu, we had some difficulty getting him to start talking. At 2 years old, he insisted only on pointing and barely spoke, just making little noises. Slowly, with patience, we managed to get him to talk, and even today it’s a daily effort to stimulate correct speech. Melissa talks a lot too—she’s in the chatty phase. She’s in such a rush to say everything that she ends up getting mixed up with her words, that’s how eager she is to get her sentences out. Still, you can understand most of what she says. Anyway, every child has their own pace, and if you think there’s an issue with your child, just look for a speech therapist, and they’ll guide you. Did you hear your baby’s first word yet? What was it? Tell us here what it was like hearing your child’s first word!

See also: Baby’s Growth and Their Crisis Periods

Photo: Jason Pier in DC