Tips for Decoding Baby Babble
When your baby’s natural smiles and sighs start to sound something like consonants and vowels, you want desperately to get what he’s saying. Baby babble is simultaneously adorable and confounding. He’s so close to talking, but so far away from being understood.
You can decode your baby’s babble by looking at the context of his sounds. Plus, he’ll likely show some emotion with those vocalizations that’ll clue you into his meaning. Baby babble is a natural step in his learning and communication development, so encourage it and surround him with language.
Does Babble Really Mean Anything?
“Infants coo and babble to hear their own vocalizations,” says Kimberly Bierbrauer, a speech language pathologist located in Golden, Colorado. The utterances usually begin when your baby reaches 6 to 8 months in age, and are essential in speech development.
“Their vocalizations throughout the first year follow an order of predictable steps from crying and cooing to forming syllables and first words,” notes Bierbrauer. A lot of the babble is simple mimicry, repeating the sounds they hear in the environment.
The babble may not always have a lot of purposeful meaning behind it, but is essential in developing the tongue, soft palate and mouth structures for future language.
What Sounds Count as Babble?
“Canonical babbling, an important first phase of development of speech ability, is typically characterized by phonation accompanied by an alternation of closed and open phases of the mouth with timing patterns appropriate for adult utterances,” says Bierbrauer. This is some of the first babble you’ll recognize as repeated sounds of “bababa” or “dadada.”
Before your baby babbles, she’ll coo and sign to express herself. Bierbrauer notes that some studies point to a “universal basis for babbling” with the most frequently repeated consonants being “b,” “d,” and “g.”
How to Interpret Baby Babble?
Babies babble for fun and to express pleasure or displeasure. They’re also often trying to communicate with you. Observe your baby, and if she’s trying to get a message across — respond. You may not totally understand exactly what your baby is saying – but you can help her develop by filling in words for her. If she points at her stuffed dog, ask her if she “wants her dog?” If she says “papa” when her grandpa is around, point to him and repeat her word. She’ll learn the association with time.
Talking to your baby often is also important. Tell him what you’re doing when you’re playing a game, coloring or driving in the car. The more your baby hears the sounds of language, the better he’ll become at imitating and eventually expressing himself. Play that involves language, such as nursery rhymes or singing, is also valuable.
Whether you should repeat the babbling back at your baby is a controversial issue among speech clinicians. Bierbrauer notes some researchers believe that babbling back reduces stress on your baby and helps him learn to imitate and understand the meaning of communication. Others suggest that if you don’t use proper speech, it could delay and confuse your child’s language development. Regardless of how you do it, do take the time to pay attention to your child’s babbles. Communicate back and before you know it, you’ll have a vocal toddler!
Andrea Cespedes is a professionally trained chef and a Certified Nutrition Therapist. With more than 20 years of experience in the fitness industry, she coaches cycling and running and teaches Pilates and yoga. She is an American Council on Exercise-certified personal trainer, RYT-200 and has degrees from Princeton and Columbia University. She’s the proud mom of two kids, who love dance, rock climbing and animals.
