How to Interact With Your Baby

Do you think that your baby is too young for you to enjoy interacting with him? Think again. There is a lot you can do, using baby sign language, that will be fun for both of you. Additionally, it will also have a beneficial effect on your baby’s development.

• Talk to your baby. Identify the different sounds and gestures particular to your baby. Try to interpret these gestures to understand what your baby is telling you. You may want to research baby sign language training for you and your baby if you’re interested in this mode of communication.
• Smile and coo at your baby. Your baby will soon learn to smile and coo back at you. This is not just a game—it is a form of baby sign language that will teach your baby about a two-way conversation.
• While changing, bathing, or feeding, tell the baby what you are doing. This way your baby will learn to associate your speech with the action you are performing.
• Give your baby different things to hold in his hand, like a rattle, a wad of cotton, a handkerchief, or a piece of paper. Infants enjoy finding out the properties of different objects. For instance, they learn to shake a rattle to produce sound, or crumple a piece of paper and straighten it out again.
• Encourage your baby to look at you and imitate what you are doing. This is also similar to using baby sign language. Your baby will soon learn to put on a cap, pull off socks, open a book, and turn the pages one by one.