Oh, if I could get a penny for each time I felt a jolt of
sheer joy when my newborn gurgled, yawned and made indecipherable sounds! It
took my daughter all of two months to start her little cooing noises. Until
then the only way she knew how to ‘talk’ to us was by crying. She did a lot of
‘talking’ back then. Her coos sounded like little amusing secrets that only she
knew about.
This was also around the time when I began to introduce baby
activities to help with her development. These included activities that
were visually stimulating, engaged her senses and developed her fine motor
skills. As I wanted to know what was going on in her mind and cooing didn’t
give much of it away, I also made sure I included speech-related activities.
At first, it felt like I was the one doing all the work as
she stared at me with big wide eyes and slapped at the air. Occasionally, there
were murmurs of astonishment and delighted smiles.
That was lesson one – to get babies to learn to communicate,
we have to communicate. All the time. Talk slowly and gently while maintaining
eye contact. Use exaggerated gestures and facial expressions to keep the baby
interested in what you have to say. Babies love rhymes, anything musical. So
sing away, sing songs and rhymes, add a few claps (‘If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands...’) and jump
around. So what if the world doesn’t, your baby will sure appreciate you,
off-key though you might be!
While talking, don’t forget to modulate your voice. Vary the
pitch, volume and tone. You can also start reading to your baby. They may not
understand it but go ahead! I used to read poetry and fairy tales to my little
girl. I would repeat them and I knew she was listening because some of them
excited her almost as soon as I began.
Start pointing to things when you talk about it. I would do
so by dangling her favorite toy and saying ‘Lookeeee, here’s Mr. Mojo Jojo.’ It
may feel silly but all normal communicating protocol becomes void around
babies. Kiddos love animal sounds – ‘Old
MacDonald had a farm…’ was a favorite with my daughter. So be prepared to moo and meow a lot.
As they get older, babies start trying to mimic these
sounds. Don’t try to correct these sounds. Make vowel sounds and get them to
mirror it. Get them to try and blow feathers; it will help them to practice
rounding their lips. Talk to them about the mundane details of life. Talk to
them about their bath, the flower they are gazing at, the massage you are
giving them. They will listen with rapt attention.
It may take about a year before they first start uttering
real words but a lot of
preparation goes into that. It is the payoff after all the months of being
exposed to language, and a milestone that deserves a place in the baby book
(and the mommy book)!
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