Your baby thrives on the interactions he/she has with you, so shower him/her with smiles and cuddles, and reply when she babbles to encourage her communication skills. Read together and name the objects in the book. You baby is never too young to talk to him.

Keep talking to your baby. This is critical for his language development.

According to Dr. Nadja Reilly, associate director of the Freedman Center for Child & Family Development, this growth is so intense that babies often regress in other areas, such as sleeping (sorry).

Milestones:

Babbling: Most babies start to babble around four months and raise and lower their pitch almost as if they are having a conversation with you. Dr. Nancy O’Hara at the center for Integrative Health, says that some babies will begin adding consistent sounds to their babbling, such as “ba-ba” or “da-da”, around 7 months.

Responsive Sounds: Babies really enjoy a good conversation with their Mom or Dad even if neither do not understand what the other one is saying.  Through this interaction with you, your baby will learn the sounds and syllables of speech, helping her develop to the point that she can use words at about the 1 –year mark.

Noises to Express Wants: Babies begin to use vocalizations for purposeful reasons. Your baby is learning that her sounds can cause a reaction and she will start using those sounds to get attention from you when you’re busy doing something else. She may even start talking to her favorite teddy bear or dolly.

Name Recognition: Soon your little one will start to recognize frequently used words. Dr. Reilly says that most babies can recognize their name by  6 months old. At around 7 months your baby will understand the word “no” and won’t like it at all.

Introduce you baby into simple words that contain a sound that your baby makes while babbling. If you child says “bah” , you can say words that contain that sound such as “bottle”, “box” “bonnet” “hot”  and “Baa baa Black Sheep”.

If your child does not babble or imitate sounds by 7 months you should have her hearing checked. If your child has had frequent ear infections there could be fluid in the ear that prevents her from hearing properly.