5 Ways To Help Your Baby Learn To Communicate

Laila was only three months old when I had my first “mommy meltdown.” I remember my mom had left to go back to her home in Hawaii and my husband was at work. I was all by myself and got a horrible case of mastitis. For those of you that do not know what this is, it is an AWFUL infection that you can get while nursing. I was in a lot of pain and I had a baby that was just a few weeks old to take care of. I remember laying there so helpless, when Laila began to cry. It started off with just a fuss, then a cry, then a full blown cry and eventually escalated to a scream. I remember BALLING my eyes out! What in the world does she want? I couldn’t move – she couldn’t tell me what she needed – and we both were in tears!

I remember when Tyson walked through the door after work and saw me on the couch with her, both of us in tears, helpless and sad, he stopped and said, “WHOA! Are you okay?!” haha! Clearly I looked like death. That was one of the hardest days of my life! And little did I know, it was only the beginning of my struggles of communicating with my daughter. That was a year ago now, and I can’t count on just my two hands how many times where Laila has cried – she is a baby – but I CAN tell you, what I have learned from her crying!

Just like adults, babies have to learn how to communicate. I am 27 years old and am STILL learning how to communicate! It is a progressive learning experience for each of us. I have learned this past year that when Laila cries, she is not doing it to bug me or to annoy me. She isn’t doing it to give me a headache or yell at me. When a baby cries, they are communicating. That day I was sick and was so helpless, she was trying to tell me something. It was her way of telling me, she was uncomfortable or hungry or maybe just tired.

Luckily, as a mom, I have learned how to communicate with my baby. I have learned her schedule and as long as we stick with her schedule, she is normally a happy camper. AND if she does cry, I normally know why she is crying because it is time for something new….like a diaper change or nap time. Just as frustrating as it is for the mom, as we rock our sobbing child and try to figure out what the matter is, I have learned it is just as frustrating for THEM!

Imagine knowing exactly what you need {like food or to go to sleep} and you are unable to tell anyone about it! You are helpless and nobody understands you. My husband shares an experience of when he lived in Cambodia. In Cambodia they speak Khmer and he was in a training center for 12 weeks as he learned the language. He thought he had it down perfect, until he walked off the plane in Cambodia and he heard the people talking. He thought to himself, “What in the world are these people speaking?! This is NOT the language they taught me the past three months!”

Learning a language is hard! Sometimes I look at Laila and wonder if sometimes she feels like her daddy did! She understands a LOT of what I say, but sometimes she looks at me and gives me the strangest looks! {Although, she IS known for her expert, serious, dirty looks just naturally! 🙂 } Here she is, in this perfect little body, learning how to communicate and is unable to tell us what she is thinking and how she is doing and what she needs! That would be so frustrating!

We have been trying to teach Laila words for several months now and she has learned a lot! Since she was just 9 months old she has been able to say mama, dada, hiiiiii, bye, knows what a doggy says and how to blow kisses on demand. She continues to learn as she is 15 months old now and can give a high five and say ishhhh {fish}, bubbles and ball.  She can also tell us where her tongue, teeth, toes, belly button and nose are! {Well.. not her nose quite yet… she thinks it is on top of her forehead!}

This is a picture of us asking Laila where her nose is. 😉

As every mom has to teach their children how to communicate and how to use words, I thought I would share with you what has worked for us! These are things that Laila LOVES and each continue to help her in her communication development every single day. As she is getting older, we are learning to understand each other and are able to be a lot happier because of it!

5 WAYS TO HELP YOUR BABY LEARN TO COMMUNICATE:

1. BOOKS: Babies love reading! They love that quiet time of sitting close to you and hearing your voice. One of my favorite times of the day is when Laila grabs a book and goes and lays on her alligator stuffed animal in her nursery. I rest my head next to her and we read together. She loves to point out things in the books and turn the pages. What better way for our children to communicate than to hear words from a book?!

2. SONGS: I grew up in a home where music was everything! There is a song for every little part of life! When it was time to clean, we would sing the Clean Up Song! When it was time for bed, we would sing the Good Night Song. When we woke up in the morning, we sang the Good Morning Song! Tyson always laughs because I literally have a song for everything in life! My mom taught us songs to learn our phone number, our multiplication and even our address! I can sing you these songs on demand anytime you would like! 🙂 I love singing songs with Laila. I also love the dance parties that come with it!

3. PICTURES: As you all know, I love pictures! I love taking them and posting them and sharing them with all of you! Pictures are a fun way to learn how to communicate! We don’t live near a lot of our family, so we like to show Laila pictures of her Grandparents and aunts and uncles. We like to ask her, “Where is Grandma?” And she is learning how to point each person out. Not only pictures of people, but another fun way to communicate is to show her pictures of objects and animals to learn about those things as well.

4. HAND MOTIONS: I have heard phenomenal things about Sign Language – “Signing Time” for Babies. I personally did not use this method of communication, but I do know that it works and a lot of parents love it! Even though I chose not to use that program, we do communicate a lot through hand motions! Laila is very good at pointing to tell us what she wants and motioning her hand in and out when she wants someone to come to her. We are teaching her though, the words that go along with pointing. If she points to her drink, we say, “Drink?” or if she points to her blanket, we say, “Blanket?” We are hoping as she is learning to show us what she wants, that we can teach her how to say the words, rather than just pointing.

5. TALKING: The last, but certainly not least important method to communicate with your baby is to talk! I know it is kind of silly and self-explanatory, but just as the motto says, “Practice makes perfect!” If we talk to our babies, they will learn to talk to us. It amazes me how much a one-year-old already knows and understands! Laila knows a lot! In fact, the other day, Tyson and I were talking about a fish and didn’t even know she was listening and she looked up and said, “ISSSSHH!!!” She knew what we were talking about! She was listening to us and completely understood that word! By talking to our little ones, they will be able to learn how to speak themselves. They love to copy-cat at this age!

Being a parent is just the very best, isn’t it?! I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be a mom and to have the privilege of teaching our children how to communicate. I hope next time your baby is sad or crying, that you will remember that he/she is just trying to communicate to you. They are trying to tell you that something is wrong, and as the mom, you have the opportunity to help them!

Do you have any tips on communicating with your baby? I would love to hear!

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Danielle is the owner of Today's the Best Day. She strives to provide creative and uplifting content in order to enrich the parenting experience for women everywhere. Danielle hopes to help you and your family to make every day the best day!

April 21, 2014 by Danielle Davis | 18 Comments