Baby's First Words: When It Happens, How to Encourage This Milestone and More! - What to Expect

A few babies speak their first meaningful word as early as eight months, others as late as 18 months, most somewhere in between.
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Transcript:
Talk about progress. Your baby's ability to communicate has grown almost as fast as he has. From tiny newborn, who played the only communication card he had, crying. To sweet three-month-old who spoke volumes through those first social smiles and breathy coos. To six-month-old who found his voice in squeals of delight and gleeful giggles. To eight-month-old who became a masterful mimic, collecting a repertoire of sounds from bubbles to babble. To ten-month-old who has not only started making sense of your words, but has spoken or will soon speak his own first words.
Your little sponge has been soaking up language since the day she was born, though it took some time before she could sort any meaning out of the jumble of words soup around her. Slowly but surely, words, especially ones she heard most, began to stick.
By now, baby has amassed a receptive language vocabulary, that is the words she understands, of upwards of 50 words. In the race to communicate expressive language skills, a baby's ability to speak words with meaning lag well behind receptive language skills. That's true with all babies. What will vary from baby to baby a lot is how fast those spoken words will flow.
The window of what's considered normal when it comes to expressive language is wide open, with a few babies speaking their first meaningful word as early as eight months, others as late as 18 months, most somewhere in between.
Of course, what's meaningful to a baby may not be to those trying to understand him. "Ba" could mean bye, bottle, or ball, or even his beloved blanket. No big deal, as long as your baby is trying to communicate meaningfully, it's only a matter of time and encouragement before he succeeds.
And as always, there's no better way to get your baby talking and understanding than doing lots of talking yourself. You've been doing that since day one, but now it's time to step up your speaking game. Take your narrations of daily life up a notch, being even more specific and more descriptive.
Try doublespeak too. Use adult phrases, then translate them into baby shorthand. Say, "You finished your snack." Then, "Carter made all gone." Talking twice as much will help baby understand twice as much. And while it will be years before your baby's a pronoun pro, start planting the pronoun seeds now. Again, with doublespeak: Mommy's washing your hair, I'm washing your hair.
Speak slowly and clearly to give baby a chance to grasp both the meaning and the nuances of the spoken word. Focus on single words, and then use them in a short sentence. Ball, boy, the boy is throwing the ball. And though your baby won't know colors for months to come, start being color conscious. The ball is yellow.
Picture books bank plenty of words, especially if illustrations are easy to identify. Pull out your pointing skills, and soon your baby will pull out hers. Ask "Where's the doggy?" Then wait a beat for baby to respond with a pointed chubby finger. Not there yet? Answer yourself. "Here's the doggy!"
And, speaking of questions, ask plenty. Hold up and identify the banana and the apple, and ask baby which one he'd like to eat. He gets points for pointing, or even gesturing to his pick. Plus, the enormous satisfaction of being asked a question and being able to provide an answer, and it'll have him hungering for more. Here's to talking the baby talk.

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