talker
32
every child is a
Did you know that your baby
will have known your voice
from inside the womb?
During those amazing nine
months it will have grown
to identify your voice and
that of your partner’s so it’s
unsurprising that, after arriving
in the world, they will have a
huge desire to talk to you.
It’s good to talk
Adults are pretty skilful at
knowing how to talk to babies
too – that weird, sing-song
voice they use has been given
an official name by researchers
– ‘parentese’. We normally
don’t even know we’re doing
it but this tone of voice is
naturally designed to grab the
attention of little ones.
However, some people feel
very uncomfortable talking
to a baby, thinking that they
surely cannot understand
a word they say. While this
is understandable, the way
babies learn is by copying
so establishing early
communication is vital to their
intellectual and emotional
development. True, they won’t
understand much of what you
say at first but they pick things
up amazingly quickly and will
be able to tell much about how
you’re feeling by your tone of
voice.
Make it routine
If you feel a little stuck about
what to talk about, just use
your daily routine as a prompt.
Talk to your little one when
you get them up in the
morning, at mealtimes and
during play. Describe what you
are doing – for example, shall
we change your nappy now and
put a nice dry one on?’ You can
emphasise words by pointing to
the objects you’re referring to,
and repeating their name holds
their attention.
Say what?
Not all communication is by
words. Every day we all use
non-verbal communication
to replace words – e.g. a nod
of the head for “yes”– or for
emphasis when we do talk –
simple hand gestures are an
example. Facial expressions
sometimes can say more than
words – think of those raised
eyebrows when someone
doesn’t believe you, or a happy
smile that melts your heart.
Crying, cooing and babbling
Babies are sociable little
beings who try to communicate
with us from day one, mainly
through crying in the first
months, which then turns into
cooing and babbling as they
use sound to i