Babies love hearing you mirror their speech sounds right back to them—and by doing that, it encourages them to continue with their own babbling. This is how babies first experience verbal back-and-forth communication (“serve and return”) and learn the patterns that create language. So those seemingly nonsensical sounds are actually very important!  After all, sounds – which have no real meaning in isolation – are the building blocks of words and language. When your baby babbles, they are putting together sounds in pleasing ways and learning how our language works. Babbling also helps develop the muscles a child needs to speak. 

Do you hear a lot of babbles and sounds from your baby but not a lot of words yet? Try building on the sounds they’re already making to help boost new words! For example, if you’re hearing a lot of ba ba ba try to model them by saying “bye bye!” or “boo!!!” to your baby – building on what they already have can help increase the chances they’ll imitate the consonant sound attached to a different vowel or as a simple, one or two syllable word.

So how can you help your baby …

• Engage in mirror play – When they’re doing tummy time get down on the floor and face the mirror with them so they can see your face and mouth. Make babbling sounds and point to your lips to draw attention to them!
• Get face to face – Hold your baby facing you so they can see your face and mouth, by watching your mouth and how it moves, it makes it easier for your baby to mimic those movements and sounds.
• Sing – Take any chance you get to sing to your baby using a variety of voice inflections and tones – this helps get, and keep, their attention! You can even sing simple babbles in varied volumes and tones like ma-ma-ma-ma!
• Repeat – Copy the babbles they make BACK to them! When they start babbling, repeat those babbles to your baby for extra encouragement!
• Celebrate – when you hear a babble, respond to it, celebrate it, and reinforce it! This will cause your baby to be more likely to repeat it more often!