- Baby speech development by age
- At 3 months
- Between 4 and 6 months
- Between 7 and 12 months
- Between 13 and 18 months
- Between 19 and 24 months
- At 3 years
- How to help your child speak
- When to worry
At around 12 months the baby already articulates at least four words and at 2 years old he can form a sentence with two or three words, having a vocabulary of about 50 words, which increases to 200 words at 3 years of age.
The baby starts by making sounds like "ahh" or "ohh" at around 3 months of age, then starts babbling words like "give-away" or "bad-bad", for example. By the age of 9 months, the baby has perfected his speech and is able to say words like "mommy".
Speech delay can be caused only when the parents do not stimulate the baby's speech or as a result of an illness such as deafness or autism, for example. In these cases, it is important to observe if the baby just does not have speech developed for his age or if he has other symptoms such as not reacting to sounds or emotional coldness that is related to autism and to consult the pediatrician.
Baby speech development by age
The development of the baby's speech is a slow process that improves as the baby grows and develops, according to age.
At 3 months
At 3 months of age, crying is the baby's main form of communication, and he cries differently for different causes. At this age, he already emits sounds like "ahh" or "hghh".
Between 4 and 6 months
The baby starts babbling and making sounds, using the vowels A, E, U and the consonants D and B for him to hear himself or for toys. You can try to say a few words, like "give-give", "man-man" or "man-man".
Between 7 and 12 months
The baby begins to make sense of the sounds it makes and tries to imitate the words that adults use. He is already able to vocalize words, such as "daddy", "nanny" or "mommy", imitate a cough or do "psycho". At 12 months, he already articulates at least four words, understands and responds to an order and has already learned to use two or three combinations of sounds to obtain food or toys.
Between 13 and 18 months
By the age of 15 months, the baby can say between four and six words, indicating names and identifying the name of an object. At 18 months, the baby can speak five to ten words and organizes sentences with two words and begins to name what he sees as "baby", "duck" (shoe) or "tomove" (car).
Between 19 and 24 months
The baby has a vocabulary of about fifty words and even uses words she has invented for people or toys. You can now say your first and second name and usually already know the name of everything at home. You can now gather two or three words to form a sentence like "baby wants" or "here ball".
At 3 years
The child is able to hold a conversation and understand what is being said. He already has a vocabulary of one hundred to two hundred words and is able to have a basic conversation.
Each baby has its own pace of development, so it is important for parents to respect it. Therefore, it is important to take the baby regularly to the pediatrician to assess whether the baby's development and language are occurring naturally.
Watch the video to find out what the baby does at this stage and how you can help him develop faster:
How to help your child speak
Parents can help their child to speak by adopting some behaviors such as:
- Communicating with the baby from an early age, talking and singing to him: providing a communicative environment makes it much easier for the baby to learn to speak. For this, parents must ask questions, explain what they are doing, singing or pointing to objects by saying their name, for example; Reading to the baby: it 's a great way to increase the baby's vocabulary and help him understand the meaning of the words; Respond to what the baby says, imitating sounds or noises he makes: parents should show interest and respond to the baby, as this makes him more stimulated to continue talking; Use correct language: parents should use correct language at an early age, avoiding diminutives or wrong words, such as "duck" instead of shoes or "bibi" instead of car, for example.
These behaviors stimulate the baby's speech, making the language development proceed normally and, in some cases, earlier.
When to worry
Parents should take the baby to the pediatrician if he:
- Don't be trying to make sounds, don't respond to your name, or don't make eye contact at around 6 months; Don't babble at around 9 months; Don't increase your vocabulary, you're losing language skills, or won't show you things among 13 and 18 months; Cannot follow simple orders, use meaningless loose words, do not imitate parents or do not point to body parts between 19 and 24 months; Can not articulate two or three words in a sentence or you can't express yourself between 25 and 36 months.
These signs may mean that the baby's speech is not developing normally and, in these cases, the pediatrician should advise the parents to consult a speech therapist or speech therapist to stimulate the baby's speech.
