Talk with your baby

Talking to babies is one way to help their speech development. They may not understand much of what you say to them yet. However, the important thing is they will be listening to you.

These are tips to help you talk to your baby:

• Always address your baby by name.
• Introduce a few words and use them frequently.
• Speak slowly and pronounce the words clearly.
• Maintain eye contact with the baby while speaking.
• Widen your eyes, exaggerate your lip movements, and use facial expressions to attract the attention of your child.
• Vary the pitch and tone of your voice to convey what you are saying.
• Gesture with your hands while speaking.
• Teach your child to associate your talk with your action. Talk about what you are doing while acting it out.
• Read out to the baby from a children’s book. Point out the pictures while speaking about them. Then, gradually encourage your child point out the pictures while you speak about them.
• Sing songs for your baby.
• Ask your baby questions. This is helpful even if your child cannot answer yet.
• Be interactive. Try to draw responses from your child.
• Respond enthusiastically to your baby’s sounds or gestures.
• Introduce a simple form of sign language.