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At around 12 months the baby already articulates at least four words and at 2 years old he can form a sentence with two or three words, having a vocabulary of about 50 words, which increases to 200 words at 3 years of age.
The baby starts by making sounds like "ahh" or "ohh" at around 3 months of age, and then starts babbling words like "give-away" or "bad-bad", for example. By the age of 9 months, the baby has perfected his speech and is able to say words like "mom".
In some cases it may be that the baby's speech takes longer to develop, which can happen when the parents do not stimulate the baby's speech or as a result of a disease such as deafness or autism, for example. In these cases, it is important to note if the baby just does not have speech developed for his age or if he has other symptoms such as not reacting to sounds or emotional coldness, being in these situations important to consult the pediatrician.
Baby speech development by age
The development of the baby's speech is a slow process that improves as the baby grows and develops, according to age.
At 3 months
At 3 months of age, crying is the baby's main form of communication, and he cries differently for different causes. Furthermore, at this age the baby already emits sounds like "ahh" or "ohh".
Understand what the baby's cry can mean.
Between 4 and 6 months
The baby starts babbling and making sounds, using the vowels A, E, U and the consonants D and B for him to hear himself or for toys. You can try to say a few words, like "give-give", "man-man" or "man-man", for example.
Between 7 and 12 months
The baby begins to make sense of the sounds it makes and tries to imitate the words that adults use. He is already able to vocalize words, like "daddy", "babysitter" or "mommy", imitate a cough or do "psycho". At 12 months, he already articulates at least four words, understands and responds to an order and has already learned to use two or three combinations of sounds to obtain food or toys.
Between 13 and 18 months
By the age of 15 months, the baby can say between four and six words, indicating names and identifying the name of an object. At 18 months, the baby can speak five to ten words and organizes sentences with two words and begins to name what he sees as "baby", "duck" (shoe) or "tomove" (automobile).
Between 19 and 24 months
The baby has a vocabulary of about fifty words and even uses words she has invented for people or toys. You can now say your first and second name and usually already know the name of everything at home. You can now gather two or three words to form a sentence like "baby wants" or "here ball".
At 3 years
The child is able to hold a conversation and understand what is being said. He already has a vocabulary of one hundred to two hundred words and is able to have a basic conversation.
Each baby has its own pace of development, so it is important for parents to respect it. Therefore, it is important to take the baby regularly to the pediatrician to assess whether the baby's development and language are occurring naturally.
Watch the video to find out what the baby does at this stage and how you can help him develop faster:
How to help baby talk
Parents can help their child to speak by adopting some behaviors such as:
- Communicating with the baby from an early age, speaking and singing to him: providing a communicative environment makes it much easier for the baby to learn to speak. For this, parents must ask questions, explain what they are doing, singing or pointing at objects saying their name, for example;
- Reading to the baby: it is a great way to increase the baby's vocabulary and help him understand the meaning of the words;
- Respond to what the baby says, imitating sounds or noises he makes: parents must show interest and respond to the baby, as this makes him more stimulated to continue talking;
- Use correct language: parents should use correct language at an early age, avoiding diminutives or wrong words, such as "duck" instead of shoes or "bibi" instead of car, for example.
These behaviors stimulate the baby's speech, making the language development proceed normally and, in some cases, earlier.
When to see your pediatrician
Consultation with the pediatrician is important throughout the child's development period, however some situations require special attention and it is recommended that the visit to the pediatrician is more frequent, as there may be some issue that may be interfering with speech development. Thus, some situations in which it is recommended that the baby be taken to the pediatrician are:
- Do not try to make sounds, do not respond to the name or do not establish eye contact at around 6 months;
- Don't babble around 9 months;
- Do not increase your vocabulary, you are losing language skills or will not show you things between 13 and 18 months;
- He is not able to follow simple orders, uses loose, meaningless words, does not imitate his parents or does not point to body parts between 19 and 24 months;
- He is unable to articulate two or three words in a sentence or is unable to express himself between 25 and 36 months.
These signs may mean that the baby's speech is not developing normally and, in these cases, the pediatrician should guide the parents to consult a speech therapist so that the baby's speech is stimulated.