When to Talk to Your Doctor
Generally speaking, there’s a wide range of what’s normal for babies. That said, you may want to reach out to your baby’s doctor if you notice the following:
- Your baby doesn’t startle at loud noises.
- Your baby doesn’t turn to the source of a sound after 6 months.
- Your baby doesn’t laugh or squeal by 6 months.
- Your baby doesn’t respond to sounds by 6 to 9 months.
- Your baby isn’t babbling by 7 to 9 months.
- Your baby isn’t responding to her name by 7 to 9 months.
- Your baby isn’t using gestures like waving or pointing by 12 months.
Though these may not imply anything to be concerned about, your pediatrician may want to do further testing or screening to determine whether there’s an underlying medical issue like hearing loss or stay on the lookout for potential issues that could be causing the delays.
As for what’s next? Once your little one can sort out individual words from the flow of sound around her for example, “cup” and “bye-bye” it’s only a matter of time before she’ll begin to follow simple directions “Give me the cup” or “Wave bye-bye.”
After she hits those baby milestones, she’s on her way to sounding out her first words and a lifetime of talking.
Conclusion
As a parent, you always enjoy communicating with your baby even if you aren’t sure if they understand what you are saying or not, just the little reaction they give when you say their name brings joy.
From the moment you give birth, you start to anticipate when they would say their first word. It is important that you are patient and allow your child to move at their own pace, knowing that it’ll definitely hit that milestone.
Reference:
[1] https://www.webmd.com/baby/pediatricians-role-twins
[2] https://doe.sd.gov/birthto3/documents/DevMilestons.pdf
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjN0WAIcWaY
[4] https://www.healthline.com/health-news/having-a-conversation-in-baby-talk-can-speed-up-infants-language-development
[5] https://www.education.vic.gov.au/parents/child-development/Pages/toddlers-speech-language.aspx
[6] https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/conditions-and-treatments/procedures-and-treatments/speech-and-language-development-12-24-months/