How Do Babies Learn To Talk?
Babies communicate in many different ways. Even though they can’t yet talk, their repertoire is amazing – facial expressions, smiling, crying, babbling, moving nearer to Mommy, arm gestures, whining, screeching. The list is endless. Speech plays a small part in communication before the age of two – the ways in which babies communicate their needs are as individual and special as they are.

One of the best ways to encourage language development is to simply talk to your baby. Babies learn by imitation and repetition. Whether he is playing, watching or listening, your baby is learning from you and from the world around him. Imitation and repetition are important if he is to develop any new skill – how to talk, how to sign, or just how to interact with the world.

Baby sign language gives babies and parents another tool for communication. Many studies show that signing does not replace speech, but actually aids its development, by improving a baby’s confidence in his ability to communicate.

How Are Confidence And Communication Linked?
Babies who able to communicate their needs successfully will become more confident than babies who struggle to be understood. Every time you respond to your baby correctly – validating his efforts at communication – his confidence grows. As your baby’s confidence grows, so does his ability to communicate. This is a positive spiral. Sadly, the opposite is also true – when a baby is not shown that his efforts at communication are working, he may withdraw. Some babies go on to develop very extreme ways of getting your attention – also known as tantrums!

How Should You Respond To Your Baby’s Messages?
To help with speech development, babies need to know you have received their messages when they try to communicate with you. Nod, smile, or pick him up, but make sure your response fits what your baby is trying to communicate.

Is Baby Sign Language Important For Communication?
Talking is only one small part of communication. For pre-school children it is often only a small part of their range of skills. Children – and adults – communicate with each other through touch, facial expressions, tone and volume of voice. Babies instinctively communicate by using hand gestures. Learning baby sign language can help your baby make sense of the world in this natural way.

Speech development is a natural progression for children as they listen to what’s going on around them. Talking to your baby, reading stories, explaining every day chores and activities, are positive ways to encourage speech. Adding sign language gives your baby another tool for communication. There is no evidence to suggest that baby sign language slows down speech development – but the opposite may in fact be true.

I hope you enjoyed this guest post. It is brought to you by the Baby Sign Language website. We know signing to your baby is very important so we are a FREE resource to help answer any questions you may have.

~Misty Weaver, Chief Editor, Baby Sign Language

Image by daveynin via Flickr

We were blessed with two kids who were pretty good spitter uppers…our son more so than our daughter.  If scary, eerie music had started playing in our house when they spit up, I would have been looking for a nearby exorcist.

Here are some ideas that we tried that may help you bring the amount of new baby spit-up down a notch in your house:

1. I’m sure you have all heard this before but try very hard to get baby to BURP after each feeding and even during a feeding.  If you are breastfeeding, feed on one side then burp him, then feed on the other.  If you are bottle feeding feed them a little, burp them, feed them some more, burp them, etc., etc.  The biggest cause of spitting up is a gas bubble in your baby’s tummy.
2. Feed your baby while she is sitting upright.  Keep her upright for 20 or so minutes after feeding as well.  This will help keep her stomach elongated and reduce the amount of potential gas bubbles.
3. Sometimes baby just has a mild digestive issue (warning: consult your doctor please) and if so putting some acidophilus (the stuff that’s in yogurt) in her bottle or on the breast might ease a bit of her issues.
4. You can try gas drops like Mylicon (generic brands at Target, Walgreen’s, etc. are significantly cheaper and have the exact same ingredients) but we found that we gave the drops to them more because the action of doing so made us feel useful, but honestly it didn’t seem to do much. 
5. Check out the information at Medline Plus (they have pictures) and kellymom for more detailed information and other ideas on how to address spitting up and reflux in a baby.

For those of you who don’t have babies or have not had kids yet, just be glad I did not include any pictures of babies spitting up…it’s not a pretty sight.  

If you are concerned about the amount, frequency, and timing of your baby’s spit up episodes, you can use Baby Insights to record in the comments area when he or she spits up. Elise’s family was able to detect trends in Elise’s spitting up using Baby Insights and show their doctor reports that helped them feel comfortable with the recommendation to give her medicine for reflux.

These tips are based on our experiences. Please always consult with your doctor before implementing any tip that might impact the health of your baby.

Aruni Gunasegaram, President/Founder of Babble Soft

If you are concerned about your baby’s growth or development, you can monitor his feeding schedule and developmental changes using Babble Soft applications and share those reports with your pediatrician. A good doctor will understand that you are just a concerned parent and you want the best for your new baby!

The first 12 months of life are very important in the growth and development of your baby. Dramatic changes are taking place in all areas of their growth and development, sometimes it seems as if they are growing everyday, and they are. Most babies will double their birth weight by gaining an average of 0.5 oz to 1 oz every day for the first 6 months of life, and triple their birth weight between 9 to 12 months. By their first birthday, most babies have grown about 10 inches in length. Their head circumference normally increases 0.25 to 0.5 inches per month.
When you take your baby in for their well checkups the doctor or nurse will take three measurements:

Weight
Undress your baby completely, diaper and all. The doctor will place him on a scale to weigh him. The doctor or nurse will be able to tell you your baby’s weight in pounds to the closest ounce.

Length
While your baby is lying down he will be measured from the top of his head to the bottom of his heel. Some pediatricians use a device that has a headboard and a movable footboard so they can easily get accurate results.

Head circumference
In order to measure your baby’s head, the doctor will place a flexible measuring tape where his head has the largest circumference — just above their eyebrows and ears, and around the back of his head where it slopes up from his neck.

You may wonder why the doctor measures your baby’s head at every visit.  A baby’s brain growth is reflected by the size of his skull. If the head circumference is not increasing normally it could be an indication that the baby’s brain isn’t growing and developing as it should. If a baby’s head circumference grows too quickly, it may be a sign of a problem such as hydrocephalus, which is the buildup of fluid in the brain. Both conditions are rare but they are important to rule out.

Your baby’s pediatrician will use growth charts to evaluate and keep track of your baby’s physical growth. At each checkup, your baby’s length, weight, and head circumference will be measured and put into a chart of national averages for babies of the same age and sex. This will tell your pediatrician what percentile your child is in.

If the pediatrician tells you that your 3-month-old daughter is in the 90th percentile for weight, for example, that means 90 percent of the 3-month-old girls in the United States weigh the same or less than she does and 10 percent weigh more. If your baby was premature, their gestational age is used to plot their numbers on the growth chart.

If your baby was born 5 weeks early, her numbers will be compared with babies who are 5 weeks younger than your baby. Some pediatricians use “preemie” growth charts when measuring premature infants. Whichever growth chart is used your pediatrician will take into account that your baby was born preamturely.

You shouldn’t worry needlessly about these percentages because each child is different and will develop at his own pace. These measurements are used as a general guide to help you and your pediatrician assess your baby’s growth and development. The important thing is that your baby’s growth is progressing. This helps your doctor make sure that your baby is gaining weight as they should with no big drops in weight. The pediatrician will also keep an eye on their weight to make sure it isn’t excessive for their height, an indicator of potential weight problems down the road.
If your baby’s percentile changes significantly the doctor will want to figure out why and make sure they do not have a serious medical condition. Since a minor illness or a change in your baby’s eating patterns might result in a smaller drop the pediatrician may just want to follow your baby’s growth more closely for a while.

If your baby hasn’t been sick but his weight gain is slowing relative to the growth curve he’s been on, your pediatrician may suggest increased or more frequent feedings or may prescribe vitamins. You may be asked to come in for more frequent visits to make sure that your baby starts gaining weight again.