Baby Sign Language - The Reward Period

From a very young age, we pretty consistently signed 'milk', 'all done', and 'more' and somewhat regularly signed 'mommy' and 'daddy' with Lilah. At 12 months of age, she finally started to sign back! I was so thrilled! We were driving in the car and I was feeding her a banana (of course I wasn't driving) and she signed ‘more’! Since that time, she has been using it on occasion and we continue to work on the others. We have added 'food' which she has picked up on very quickly (after only a few days of exposure) and we are starting on 'please' and 'thank you'. I think it is just great that she is learning how to communicate with us in ways other than grunting, crying and fussing.

At one time it was believed (and still is by some) that teaching a baby to sign can delay speech. Research has shown over and over again in that this is NOT true and is, in fact, the opposite of what happens. Babies that are taught and use baby sign language speak sooner and use more complex sentences earlier. There are a number of additional benefits including a reduction in frustration and aggressive behaviours like biting.

If you are interested in signing with you baby, it is recommended that you start around the 6-9 month mark (but it is never to late to start). We started earlier than this, but for us it was more about getting into the habit of doing it (which helped because I think if I tried to start doing it later on, it would have been more difficult than it already was to be consistent).

You might be wondering when your baby will sign back to you (which I myself was wondering until a short time ago). As with most other developmental milestones, it varies widely. Generally speaking though, you can expect you baby to sign back to you sometime between 6 and 14 months of age depending on how frequently and consistently you sign.

If you want more information on baby sign language and/or would like to look up some signs just do a Google search and you will be set!

Have fun and good luck!