It’s only a matter of time before your baby is talking up a storm!
Over the past two days we’ve looked at the role that mom’s voice plays in helping to organize newborns’ receptive and expressive language around the native tongue to which they were exposed during the final trimester of pregnancy.
And yesterday we focused in on newborns earliest vocalizations: cries, grunts, and squeaks.
But it won’t be long before your baby begins making a much happier set of sounds - which also mark a first verbal milestone: cooing.
Coos tend to be a combination of vowel sounds and laughter, which make them a true delight. They are not only an expression of contentedness but an early form of socialization.
Listen here as baby Millie (shown at 4 months of age) experiments with her voice. Could there be a better sound than a happy baby?
If you hadn’t/haven’t started already, the cooing phase is a perfect time to really get focused on serve and return interactions. When your baby coos, coo right back, taking turns as you go! (Don’t forget to give your baby wait time to respond.)
And get all the cooing video you can as well, because your little one is on the march to full blown speech - and this adorable phase won’t last long.
Tomorrow we’ll look at the next developmental progression here: Babbling.
This darling little one was shared to TT by megz.brooke.