Understanding What Your Baby’s First Sounds Mean
Now that you have heard your baby cry since the few months after her birth, you are really waiting to listen to some other kinds of sounds from your baby, especially words like Ma and Pa. Developing speech is a gradual process in your child’s development and there are different ways through which you will know that your baby is progressing in learning communication skills.
Have you ever noticed that in the first six months of your baby’s development, there are a couple of sounds baby makes? Let’s look at some of these sounds:
1. Coos
At around 2 months, your baby starts experimenting with her tongue and voice. These sounds are called cooing.
What it meaans: This is the first indication that your baby is warming up for her first word. Congratulations!
2. Grunts
When your baby’s nose get stuffy during the first few months after his birth, your baby is breathing through the nose and generates a sound like a grunt.
What it means: A stuffy nose is no fun! He is trying to communicate his discomfort. Check with a doctor and try and keeo your baby’s nose clean.
3. Gurgles
Sometimes saliva drools out of your baby’s mouth, and a pool of saliva collects at the back of her throat. This leads to a sound called gurgling.
What it means: Your baby won’t be able to swallow her own saliva by herself. This is what causes the gurgling. It will subside over time.
4. Breathing Sound
Most babies breathe irregularly during their first few months, often pausing and sighing before breathing. This leads to a strange breathing sound that can scare you because it seems so heavy!
What it means: This sound indicates the brain’s way of taking control over the breathing again. Your baby is growing up!
Sound Milestones in Your Baby
1. Birth to Three Months
Crying is your baby’s first form of communication. Your newborn makes different cooing sounds when she is happy or satisfied. Cooing sounds would be like aah, ooh, oouu, etc.
2. Two to Four Months
By this time, your baby learns to cry differently as per her needs. After some time, you will also be able to distinguish between hungry cries, the cries when your baby is sleeping, and the cries when your baby is wet.
3. Five to Six Months
You will see a rise and fall in the pitch of your baby’s cries. This will be an indicator of how uncomfortable or how hungry she is.
4. Seven to Twelve Months
Your baby is now mixing a variety of coos, gurgles and babbles, and there are variants for every need.
Do not worry if your baby is not following the above milestones. These are just general guidelines for your child. Each child is different and will demonstrate the above sooner or later.
Ways to Help Your Baby with Sounds
1. Read to Your Baby
Age is no bar here. You can start reading to your baby as early as his first week after birth. Reading helps establish auditory and neural connections, which enables your baby to start communicating at the right age. Go here to view an assortment of books to entertain and engage your little one. Babies particularly enjoy audio books with fun sounds like this cute puppy Laugh and Learn book.
2. Describe Things Around You
Point out objects, colours, things and everything that you see around you. Describing them to your baby helps her to learn different things and communicate better, again at the right age.
3. Narrate your day
Narrating your day to your baby helps build a strong bond between the parent and their child. Even when you are dressing up your baby, tell her what she is wearing and how it looks. This helps build communication skills between you and your child.
All of the above will surely help you to understand your baby’s first sounds and help build baby’s skills to communicate with you. Good luck!
