To most people, the idea that you might be able to actually communicate with a baby is totally out there (cuckoo) but to proponents of baby sign language, it’s totally normal.

Babies first communicate by crying, but even from the earliest days, they are watching, listening and learning. Most babies will utter their first clear words, beyond babbling, at about 12 months. By 18 months, that grasp on language is more pronounced, and by two years old, they have a language explosion and start to grasp communication concepts that they will use for the rest of their life.

It really is incredible, but for parents, it’s also daunting. They are the caregivers of a little person that, for at least 18 months, will have rudimentary communication skills. They won’t be able to indicate what they want, what’s bothering them, or anything else, making for lots of error and considerable frustration and stress for both parties.

That’s where baby sign language comes in. It’s a parenting technique that involves teaching simple signs to children from the day they are born, signs they can understand as early as 8 months and try to sign back.

Just imagine being able to communicate, on a very simple level, with a baby who has almost no communication skills. With baby sign they do, and communication is very much a reality.

When To Start Baby Sign Language

Although your baby won’t make solid attempts at communication for the first few months of their lives, they are always watching and listening. This means there’s no reason not to start teaching them baby sign language all the time, understanding that it will be a one-way communication street for a while.

In the early months of their lives, babies pay close attention to the sounds that come out of our mouths, assigning simple meanings as they age. When you start early with signs, this association with meaning happens with both the sound of the word, and the sign it’s paired with.