What are the first sounds babies begin to use? You will hear their first cooing/gurgling sounds around 6-8 weeks. These sounds typically occur at the back of the mouth so think “ga-ga-ga” sounds. When they begin babbling between 6-9 months you will likely here “Mamama”, “Bababa”, or “Dadada”. It’s when you begin to respond to these babbles they begin to attach meaning that “Mamama” goes with “Mama” or “Dadada” goes with “Dada”. As you model “Mama” and get very excited, the babbles shorten in length. They figure out that, when I do this with my mouth and make these sounds only twice, that important lady who always takes care of me, responds to me and gets very happy😊 These sounds can be important indicators on what’s to come next. Your interactions and responses play an important part with more sounds and words that happen over the next year.
What’s an easy, fun way to help this continue to expand? Animal sounds, environmental sounds, and exclamatory sounds. What does that include? Glad you asked! Ask yourself what animals do you and your baby see regularly. In your house, around your neighborhood, looking at books, playing with their toys, etc. Model when you see them, “Moooo says cow”, “Woof-woof says dog”(or insert your own dog’s name), “Tweet-tweet says bird”. You get the picture.
What are environmental sounds? “Vroom-vroom goes the car”, “Beep-beep says the bus”, “Choo choo says the train”, and so on.
Exclamatory sounds you ask? “Ta-da!” Here they are(hope you caught that example right there!): “Boom”, “Uh-oh”, “Plop”, “Wheee!”, “Whoa!”, “Wow!”, “Zoom”, “Mmmmmm!”, “Ahhhhh”. You can model these sounds as soon as your baby begins to smile at you(6-8 weeks) as you begin bonding through daily interactions-feeding, diaper changes, and play. Follow their lead sometimes too! Imitate the sounds they make and see how long they will keep the exchange up. This is the beginning of the natural pauses in conversation and learning about turn-taking!
