sharedjourney home

Speech Development in baby

Almost as soon as a baby is born, she begins to communicate. Between the ages of 1 to 4 months, your newborn will be crying, laughing, cooing, gurgling, and frowning.

These early forms of communication will begin to change, as your baby begins to produce single syllable sounds at the age of 5 months. He will learn to string these syllables together up until the age of 8 months.

By 9 months, your infant will be making meaningful gestures and may begin to babble. By 11 months, your baby may speak her first words – such as "mama," "dada," "up" or "more." At 12 months, toddlers begin associating meaning with words, and will begin assigning words to objects.

By 14 or 15 months, as your child's understanding of vocabulary improves, he will be able to understand at least one command. By 17 or 18 months, most toddlers can say at least two words. However, it is not until your child reaches two years that real language explosion takes place. By that time, your toddler will be able to form simple, two-word sentences; by 30 months, your toddler will likely know more than 300 words.

Walking: Your Baby's First Steps

Your baby’s first steps will be preceded by many developmental milestones that will lead up to this stage. While a baby will usually take her first steps 11 or 14 months, this developmental stage begins much sooner.

In fact, during the first month following birth, your newborn will be able to raise his head when lying on his stomach. By the third month, your baby will be able to raise her head at a 45 degree angle, and keep it steady. By four months, your baby will able to stand with some help from her parents, and by ten months she will be able to stand on her own.

When a baby is able to stand while holding on to steady objects (around 8 months), they can begin taking their very first steps. The best method parents can use to help their toddler as he begins to walk, is to hold their hands out kneeling or standing in front of the child as he walks towards you. It is best to avoid holding your toddler's hand, as this can make them too dependent; it is important that toddlers learn to walk confidently on their own.