Speach

Most children don't need much help with talking, they just start! My son was babbling at five months, said his first word at 10 months, and was talking in sentences at two years. He's three now and we can't get him to stop talking! :)

All children are different, but I've heard that if kids are not talking by age two that they should probably be seen by a doctor or speech therapist.

First do not say gaga googoo to your baby. Talk to them like they are humans. Say things like Do you want some milk? Here is the bottle. Then give them the bottle. Keep a dialogue going. We had a farm animal border up in the nursery so I would point out the animals from the day I brought them home from the hospital. I would say Look, here is the horse, or sometimes I said pony, a horse says neigh neigh. Look at the duck. What does a duck say, quack quack. I also would tell them the colors, see the red barn, the yellow duck etc.
This does not necessarily mean they will start talking early. We did this for all our kiddos and two started talking at 13-14 months, one at 8 monts and one at almost 30 months. Different kids.
Read to them right now. I love Sandra Boynton's books, and Dr. Suess.

I agree with the PPs. Talk to your baby! You may feel like an idiot at first, but you will get used to it quickly. The good thing when they're really little, you can pretty much say anything! "Oh look, your dummy mummy spilled you milky all over everything!" "Now for some added excitement for the day, I am going to attempt a difficult stunt: O. Load of Towel Laundry!" They just love to hear you talk! You can't mess it up.

Hello S.,

For children to learn to talk, they need to be talked to. I read a recent study that showed babies who watch a lot of television know less words than babies who watch little television, because children cannot learn language from television. So, talk to your baby often, mimic what they are saying back to them. Read them stories. Point things out on walks and in the car.

Additionally, when babies say things wrong, in their mind it's correct, so even though "baby talk" is cute, it doesn't help language developement. Talk normally to your child, so you don't confuse them.

Good Luck

R. Magby

Actually you start in the womb by talking to the baby just talk to the baby and repete certain words like mama and daddy (da-da) to get ythe baby familar with words, and load up on toys that talk and teach numbers and letters as well as other things to help the baby learn also read and sing and play with the baby

I started talking to my daughter the moment she was born. I asked her questions and explained things to her. I often felt like Rachel Ray because as I prepared meals, my daughter sitting a safe distance from the action in her high chair, I would tell my daughter what "we" were making, what ingredients we would use, how long things had to be cooked, and so on. If I was reading a book or magazine, I'd read aloud to her. If we were watching a television show I'd discuss it with her. I'd tell her who the characters were, if a particular character was behaving badly, I'd point out why that behavior was unacceptable. If a character was behaving well or being kind I'd point that out and explaing why the behavior was good. I feel I should point out that for the first year of her life, the only adult television shows she was exposed to were Rachel Ray, General Hospital, Trading Spaces, What Not to Wear, Designed to Sell and the nightly news. When she was up and awake, I tried to keep television viewing to a minimum and mostly on children's educational programming. Even now, although my husband I have reverted back to watching whatever we want (my daughter's almost 3 now), we change the channel if we sense a violent or sexually suggestive scene is coming up. She talks like an old pro now and picks up phrases like you wouldn't believe! In fact, she's a regular chatter box! I look back on the first few months of her life when my husband and I couldn't wait for her to walk and to speak, wondering what her voice would sound like, what kind of things she would say and so on, and I laugh. We couldn't wait for her to walk and talk and now we long for her to sit down and be quiet!

As I read over some of these replies, I think you've got some great advice here. We never spoke "baby talk" to our daughter and whenever she has trouble correctly annunciating a word, we correct her. We also avoid the "do as I say, not as I do" parenting style. We want her to be polite and say "please" and "thank you" so we try to always remember to say please and thank you also.

Just keep talking to your baby and soon you'll be longing for him/her to sit down and be quiet also!

You don't have to do anything other than talk to your baby, early and often. Speak clearly, slowly, and with lots of repetition. Explain in simple sentences what you are doing, using similar phrases each time. Little songs are very appealing, too.

Babies are hard-wired to figure out how all those sounds fit together to convey meaning. They can almost always understand far more than they can say. Speaking starts at different ages for different kids, anywhere between 7-8 months to 2 years. Don't be impatient, just celebrate every little success your child experiences along the way.

hi-
Here are some other ideas to assist with speech ....
10 tips From http://www.speechtherapyweb.com/

Social Language
1) Eye contact. When communicating with your child, look at his or her face and eyes as often as possible. This helps your child learn that it is appropriate to look at people during communication. Children learn a lot about you through facial expressions and acquire articulation skills by watching the movement of your mouth.
2) Taking turns. Talk to your child and then pause to give them a moment to verbalize. This teaches them the art of turn taking. This skill can also be accomplished during play, using objects and toys.

Expressive Language
3) Give your child space. When your child is trying to communicate with you and you know what they want, give them a few seconds before you instantly meet their needs. This will give them the opportunity to vocalize (coo and babble), point, or attempt a word.
4) Give your child choices and then let them express their choice by pointing, vocalizing, or attempting words. The feelings of confidence a child gains by expressing their own choice are building blocks for further exploration of expressive language.

Receptive Language
5) Get your child to follow instructions. Start with simple requests that only involve one element, such as "smile" or "kiss." Then increase to two elements when one element becomes easy for your child (i.e. "Hand up," or "Touch your nose," and so on).
6) Read simple books to your child with one or two pictures on each page. Ask them questions that can be answered verbally or by pointing to the correct picture. Try not to put too much pressure on them. If your child does not respond after about 10 or 15 seconds, model the answer for them with a positive tone of voice.

Vocabulary Development
7) Reinforce and demonstrate. If your child produces a verbal attempt that resembles a word, praise them with a pleasant tone of voice and then model the word that you think they attempted. For example, if the child says "ba" for ball, say "You said ball. Yes, it is a ball!"
Explore. There are wonderful opportunities to model vocabulary out in the community. A simple trip to the market can be a great chance to name items for your child.

Articulation
9) Observe how often other people understand your child's speech. This will give you an idea of how clear his or her articulation really is (parents usually understand their children more than an outside listener). Don't worry if your toddler is not producing all the sounds in the English language. Many sounds may not develop until four years of age or later. However, you should consider consulting a speech pathologist if it is extremely hard to understand your child's speech at 3 years of age.
10) Articulate your words clearly when you communicate with your child. Speak slowly and remember to look directly at your child's face.

Here are some other things you can do to support your child’s language development (Read more: http://parenting.ivillage.com/baby/bdevelopment/0,,8nb0,0... )…
1. Respond to your baby’s cries. Babies also learn about communication through crying. In the first year, crying is a central part of their communication system. When we respond to their cries, our babies learn that they will be listened to and that the world is a safe place where their needs will be met.
2. Have "conversations" with your baby. Young babies begin the skills of conversing by "taking turns." They coo, look at you and wait. You coo and they coo back. In that simple interaction, they practice the structure of conversation and they learn that they will be responded to when they reach out to communicate.
3. Talk naturally with your baby throughout your time with her. Babies learn receptive language skills long before they learn expressive ones. Your daughter will understand what you are saying to her well before she is able to speak many words. When babies grow up in a language- rich environment, they naturally learn to speak. When you regularly talk to your daughter and listen to her, she will readily learn language. Modeling language is your best teaching tool. Babies and children don’t have to be "made" to speak correctly. When you model correct language, they will gradually learn proper grammar.
4. Extend her language and describe what you see her doing. This is something parents instinctively do with children. When your baby reaches for your nose, cooing, you can say, "That’s my nose. Are you going to grab it with your little hand?" When she turns toward the sound of the door opening, you can say, "You heard the door opening. Is that your sister coming in?" When the cat approaches and she starts gurgling and kicking her feet, you can say, "Ohhh, you see Tiger coming. You look excited to see your fuzzy cat," or "Hi Tiger cat. Lisa is excited to see you coming."
5. Talk to your baby about what you are doing with her. It can feel awkward to talk to a baby who doesn’t understand you, but she needs the repeated experience of hearing you talk in order to understand your language. Before you pick her up, you can reach your hands towards her and say, "I’m going to pick you." In this way she learns language in the rich context of experience. During diapering you can say, "Here is your dry diaper. I’m lifting up your bottom so I put it on you." This not only helps her learn language, it also helps her learn to expect what will come next and participate more actively in the process.
6. Talk about your own actions as well. Engaging in self-talk around your baby teaches her language and helps her make sense of the world. Describe what you’re doing as you do it: "I’m steaming these carrots for your lunch. Then, I’ll grind them up and you can eat them." "I’m going into the other room to get your blanket." "I’m getting dressed and then I’m going to change you." "I’m going to go to work. Dad will stay with you today."
7. Sing songs or tell her stories. Songs and stories are an important part of learning language. Because they are repeated, children have a chance to learn them over time. Songs, finger plays or movement activities teach children words that have physical clues attached. When a baby has learned a clapping song, she can ask for it by clapping her hands, even before she knows how to say, "I want to sing the clapping song!"
8. Read books. There are wonderful baby books available. Look for books with photos or aesthetically-pleasing pictures. Children don’t need cartoons as their only pictures. Also, look for books with rich, varied or poetic language. Some babies will lie on their backs with you on the floor looking up at a book for several minutes at a time. Others will wiggle and squirm. There is no magic age to begin reading to children. It should be as soon as they can enjoy it. Try it periodically to see if your baby is interested.
You can also make books for your child, using photos of familiar objects and people, mount them on little cardboard (poster board) pages and put them together with string or loose leaf rings. You can cover them with plastic (sticky cover or plastic sleeves) to protect them from drool and teeth.

Have fun!

You don't "try" to get them to begin their speech. You talk to them, they hear your conversations with others, and they will pick up what they need to know.

You didn't mention how old your baby is but no matter how young, you need to talk to your child as much as possible. That is how they learn. Talk, talk, talk, even if they can't talk back.