Talk to Your Baby

Why it matters

Talking with your baby is one of the simplest and most useful things you can do. Babies learn language by hearing it from the people around them, and the back-and-forth matters most: your baby makes a sound or a face, you answer, they answer back. That everyday exchange helps language and the bond between you. You don't need a program, flashcards or special toys for it.

How to do it

• Say what you're doing. "Now the wet diaper comes off. Cold wipe. There, all clean." Changing, feeding, bathing and getting dressed are all good times to talk.
• Answer their sounds. When your baby coos or babbles, pause, then answer. Give them time to "reply". It's a conversation, even before words.
• Look at them. Face to face, close up, is how young babies take in voices best.
• Name things. "That's the dog. The dog says woof." Point at what they're looking at and give it a name.
• Read and sing. Any book and any song count, from the first weeks. Short and often is fine.
• Use your own language. Speak the language you know best and feel most at home in. Babies can learn two or more languages, and speaking more than one does not cause a speech delay.
• The sing-song voice is fine. Many adults naturally use a slower, higher, stretched-out voice with babies, and babies tend to listen to it. Plain talk works too.

What doesn't replace it

• Screens. Babies learn language far better from people than from videos. A TV on in the background also cuts down how much the adults in the room talk to the baby.
• Talking near the baby while looking at a phone. It's the exchange with you that counts.

You don't have to fill every minute

Quiet is fine. Babies also need calm time, and they let you know when they've had enough by looking away, fussing or yawning. Talk when you're together and they're interested; you don't need to keep up a stream of words all day.

When to check in

Talk to your pediatrician if your baby doesn't react to loud sounds or turn toward voices, if they missed or didn't pass the newborn hearing screen, if they lose sounds or words they used to have, or if you have any feeling that their speech or hearing isn't on track. Asking early is never wrong; hearing can be tested at any age.