At around 12 months the baby already articulates at least four words and by 2 years can already 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 begins by making sounds like "ahh" or "ohh" around 3 months of age, then babbles words such as "give-da" or "bad", for example. By 9 months of age, the baby has already perfected speech and is able to say words like "mama".
Delayed speech can be caused only 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 the speech developed for the age or if it presents other symptoms like not to react to the sounds or emotional coldness that is related to the autism and to consult the paediatrician.
Development of baby speech by age
The development of baby speech is a slow process that improves as the baby grows and develops, according to age.
What the baby already speaks at 3 months
At 3 months of age, crying is the baby's primary form of communication, and he cries differently for different causes. At this age, it already emits sounds like "ahh" or "hghh".
What the baby already speaks between 4 and 6 months
The baby begins to babble and make sounds, using the vowels A, E, U and the consonants D and B for himself to hear or for toys. You can try to say a few words, like "give-da", "pá-pá" or "má-má".
What the baby already speaks 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, such as "papa", "nanny" or "mama", to imitate the cough or to make "psiu". At 12 months, 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 get food or toys.
What the baby already talks between the ages of 13 and 18 months
Around 15 months, the baby can already say between four to six words, indicating names and identifies the name of an object. At 18 months, the baby can already speak five to ten words and organizes sentences with two words and begins naming what he sees as "baby", "duck" (shoe) or "tomove" (car).
What the baby already speaks between the ages of 19 and 24 months
The baby has a vocabulary of about fifty words and uses even words invented by her for people or toys. You can already say your first and middle name and usually you already know the name of everything at home. You can already gather two or three words to form a phrase like "baby wants" or "here ball".
What the baby already speaks at age 3
The child is able to hold a conversation and understand what is being said. Already has a vocabulary of one hundred to two hundred words and is capable of having a basic conversation.
Each baby has its own pace of development and it is important for parents to respect it. It is therefore important to take the baby regularly to the pediatrician to assess whether the baby's development and language are naturally occurring.
Watch the video to learn what the baby is doing at this stage and how you can help him develop faster:
How to Help Your Child Speak
Parents can help their child talk by adopting some behaviors such as:
- Communicating with the baby early, talking and singing to him: Providing an environment with communication makes it much easier for the baby to learn to talk. For this, parents should ask questions, explain what they are doing, singing or pointing to objects saying their name, for example;
- Reading to your baby: This is a great way to increase your baby's vocabulary and help you understand the meaning of words;
- Respond to what the baby says, imitating sounds or noises he makes: parents should show interest and respond to the baby, as this makes him more stimulated to continue talking;
- Use correct language: parents should use a correct language early, avoiding diminutives or wrong words, like "duck" instead of shoe or "bibi" instead of car, for example.
These behaviors stimulate the baby's speech, causing language development to proceed normally and, in some cases, earlier.
When to Worry
Parents should bring the baby to the pediatrician if he:
- Do not try to make sounds, do not respond to the name or do not establish eye contact at around 6 months;
- Do not babble at around 9 months;
- Do not increase your vocabulary, you are losing language skills or it will not show things to you between the ages of 13 and 18 months;
- He is not able to follow simple orders, uses loose words without meaning, does not imitate the parents or does not point to the parts of the body between 19 and 24 months;
- He is not able to articulate two or three words in a sentence or he can not 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 advise the parents to consult a speech therapist or speech therapist to stimulate the baby's speech.
