Baby sign language has grown in popularity over the last decade. Both pediatricians and parents now recognize and promote the benefits of giving children a way to communicate as early as possible. Research continues to show that teaching basic sign language does not prevent babies from speaking. Sign can only minimize your baby’s frustration, help her better communicate wants and needs, and decrease tantrum behaviors. It’s Never Too Early You can start signing to your baby as early as you’d like. There’s no harm in it. Your baby is watching your every movement anyway, so why not? Most pediatricians and speech therapists agree that babies may begin signing back to you as early as 8 months or late as 14-months-old. Choose Wisely The goal of baby sign language for most parents is to help alleviate frustration and tantrums. So it’s a good idea to focus on signs that address basic “wants and needs”. Here is a list of first baby signs highly recommended by parents and doctors. Mommy: Tap your thumb to your chin (open palm, fingers facing up). Daddy: Tap your thumb to your forehead (open palm, fingers facing up). More: Palm facing up and then a curling in of the fingers. Hungry: A rubbed belly. Eat/Food: Tapping the tips of fingers to mouth (like you’re eating) with palm face down and thumb touching fingers. Milk: Squeeze fingers in and out (like you’re squeezing a cow’s udder). Drink: A cupped hand placed to the mouth. Sleep or Tired: Hands together and supporting a tilted head. All done: Fingers facing up, twist your hands back and forth. Open it: hands together, and then fold them open palms up (like a book opening). Up: Arms up. Down: Palm facing down, with index finger pointed to the ground, and then lowering hand. Help me: Left hand flat with palm facing up, make a thumbs up with right hand and place it on top of your left. Be Consistent Your baby will learn faster if you are consistent. So make sure you use the same signs for the same words, and anyone communicating with your baby is using the correct gestures. Repetition and frequency are the keys. The more you sign, the quicker your baby will make the connection. A trick to help you start and stay consistent is to introduce one sign in the same situation everyday. This could be at snacktime. Have your baby work on signing “more” between bites of Peanut Butter Puffs. Or, you can try practicing “more” and “all done” while playing with a favorite toy, or singing a favorite song. Watch and Encourage As most parents know, babies are full of surprises! Sometimes, they create their own signs through a happy accident. For example, at about 12-months-old my son started gesturing for “where”. We noticed he would put both his hands out in front of him and tilt his head to the side a bit when trying to find someone or something. Did it look silly? You bet! Was it effective? Yes! So, we stuck with it, and encouraged him to use that gesture whenever he wanted to find something or someone. Then, we had him add a second gesture or sound to help us know what he was looking for. Pretty soon, when he wanted to find mama or dada, he would sign “where” and say “ma” or “da”. If he was looking for the dog, he would sign “where”, and then say “woof”. Even if the sign isn’t perfect or even correct, if it works for your baby, keep it going and encourage his effort to communicate with you! Be Quick to Reward Once your baby does a sign correctly and in the right context, you need to be quick with the reward. So, if your baby is looking at a bag of Peanut Butter Puffs and signs “more”, quickly give him what he wants. This way, he learns “more” means I get more of something I like. Similarly, if he signs for “all done”, put away the puffs. Snacktime is the perfect time to work on signs like “more” and “all done” in addition to “eat” and “drink”. Snacks are always a great motivator for little ones, and mealtime leaves very little room for confusion. So it’s a great time to practice signs together. I ask for “more” puffs, I get “more”. I ask for a “drink”, I get my cup. I sign “all done”, I get to leave my highchair. Then, you can take your signs to playtime. Pick a simple cause and effect toy like a jack-in-the-box or favorite game like peek-a-boo to work on “open it”, “more”, and “help me”. If you liked this Nosh blog, check out these related articles:- When To Introduce Peanut Puffs + How To Detect Peanut Allergies - Practical Tips for Introducing Your Baby to Solid Foods
