Tips to help your baby pronounce his first words!

From 3 months old, your baby is fascinated by language. He makes sounds, babbles and tries his very best to communicate with you. He is also very reactive to sound and to his environment! It is only around six months that he starts to say his first words. He learns consonants: "bababa", "papapa". Around 9/15 months, the baby finally says his first word! But you will have to wait until 3 years for him to be able to speak correctly and build a strong foundation for language. But how can you encourage baby to speak? Are there any little tricks to help baby say his first words? Let’s look together at some techniques to help your baby better understand the world around him!

Our tips to help baby talk:

Speak to him often : Even though this may seem obvious, in order for baby to learn to speak it is necessary that you talk to him! Don't hesitate to say soft words to him or tell him some short stories. Apart from getting him interested in language, this is a chance to bond with your baby!

Encourage him: When your baby tries to speak, even if it's not always easy to understand baby language, repeat what he says with the correct phrase. This encourages him to speak and to associate a word with a need, a person or an object.

Adapt your language: Baby is very sensitive to intonation. Try to articulate and speak a little slower than normal. In the same way, stress the important words!

Give him the right word: When baby points at something and can't find the right word, make a sentence with the word in question. "Is it the book that you want?" "Do you want to say hello to the cat?"

Sing nursery rhymes: Nursery rhymes are an excellent way to learn some vocabulary. Sounds and syllables are often repeated and associated with gestures, which helps baby to better understand the word. Besides, the melody is an excellent way to memorize certain terms!

Play with language: Baby is very curious! Have fun with him and amuse yourself with the use of your native language: make rhymes for example, or play around with genres and numbers. You will see your child quickly become captivated by this ballet of sounds and phrases!