How to Teach Your Baby to Talk

How to Teach Your Baby to Talk. My son started talking at a very early age. By the time he was one year old, he knew about 50 words and could put three or four together to create simple sentences. Everyone was always so surprised to hear such a young baby talk so plainly. Several people asked me how I had been able to teach him so many words. All babies are different, and each one will learn at his or her own pace. There are a few things I did with my son that I feel really helped him along the way.

Read Read Read
I started reading and talking to my baby while I was pregnant with him. The day I found out I was pregnant, I got some children's books to read to my unborn child. I didn't stop there, if I was reading the newspaper or a magazine I read that out loud, too. When I was searching through the parenting websites I was reading out loud any bits of valuable information I found. My husband thought I was crazy sometimes, but I really think it helped. Now that he is one year old, he will not go to bed without a bedtime story.

Encourage Your Baby
Even if he isn't forming any real words yet, let your baby know he is doing a great job when he starts making a new sound. It's great when people appreciate the things you do. Babies thrive on attention so they will keep trying to please you and eventually start saying real words. When they finally do get those precious words out, clap or cheer for them. Do what makes your baby happy. He deserves all that good attention when he reaches such a big accomplishment.

Don't Push Too Hard
It's tempting to sit in front of baby and repeatedly ask him to "Say Mama, say Mama," but this usually doesn't work. Baby gets bored of listening to you repeat the same two words over and over without really meaning anything. He will eventually start tuning you out. If he does actually repeat the words, he probably doesn't really know what he is saying, he is just imitating his favorite person. (By Carla Blair, associatedcontent.com)