Your baby learns by interacting with you
A baby hears adults talking to each other, as well as speech directed at them, in everyday situations
A newborn baby can distinguish your voice and the voices of other caregivers from other speakers. From the first months of your baby’s life, their nervous system becomes sensitive to the sounds of the languages used in your family at home.
Talk to your baby at close range and while the baby is in your lap. This will help the baby to focus on your face and also gives them a physical sense of another person’s speech.
Feel free to “babble” to your child, i.e. speak in a high-pitched, accented and variable tone. Research shows that a babbling speech style supports the development of a baby’s language skills. It helps the baby notice tones of voice and nuances of expression and distinguish speech from other sounds.
Your baby’s communication will initially consist of vocalisations, snuffling, crying and movements. Little by little, the baby will learn to wait for pauses in the other speaker’s expression and respond in their own way. This develops the skill of taking turns to speak.
Sucking, learning to chew and “tasting” objects, i.e. getting to know the world with the help of the mouth, are part of the development leading to speech. Moving the mouth and the sensations of touch and taste obtained through the mouth also develop the skills needed for speech.
You can start reading together at an early age
Reading nursery rhymes and looking at picture books together are good ways to support your child’s speech development.
You can take your baby to the library – babies are very welcome and many libraries have a play area where children can move about safely and explore picture books independently.
Libraries also organise activities for families with babies and toddlers. The youngest can join baby sessions with music or nursery rhymes, while older children can enjoy a variety of storytime and playtime events.
Development milestones
- At the age of 0–2 months, a baby will first learn to coo by themselves, and later interactively with their parent. Cooing consists of varying tones and not yet of actual sounds, syllables or words.
- At the age of 3–4 months, the baby will begin to have a better understanding of how their mouth works and learning different sounds: babies blow raspberries, gurgle and growl, their cooing sounds become increasingly diverse, and some babies will even laugh aloud.
- A 5–6-month-old baby will usually test their vocal cords and practise squealing. By this time at the latest, the child will be expressing joy with high-pitched squeals and laughter. The child’s speech becomes more interactive and the sounds increasingly diverse.
- At the age of 7–9 months, babies usually babble a lot. They also begin to express dissatisfaction when a pleasant activity is interrupted or a favourite toy is taken away.
- At the age of 10–15 months, they begin to use gestures to support their expression. The first short words are usually uttered around the age of 12 months.
Ask your child health clinic for help if
- you have difficulty making contact with the child or if the child does not show any interest in their surroundings or interaction with others
- your child’s voice sounds different from that of other children around the same age
- the child makes very little sound and does not babble much
- it appears that the child cannot hear normally
- the child has difficulty eating, sucking or swallowing.
