Baby signing

[Kazkabs]

Hi there, we have started baby signing with DS. we started at 5 months and he is now 7.5 months and although i think he understands the signs, he doesnt really do them himself. how long has anyone else waited and perservered?

I went to baby signing for 2 terms. None of the babies could do any signs until there 1st birthday. I'm sure you will find babies that do sign earlier but in our class it seemed they systematically got it at 12 months. I stopped at 14 months but wish I'd kept it up because its the transition stage just before talking when signing comes in really handy.
Don't expect your baby to do any signs before 12 months and you won't be disappointed but might be pleasantly surprised if they get it early

thanks - we will keep on going

We went and DD never really did anything except occasionally food and drink. But she loved all the classes, and I really enjoyed going somewhere to see other mums without having to take my baby to a toddler group where you just had to make small talk (it was great to have something in common). Mind you when DD was about 18 months I braved toddlers and totally love it! Think it helps having a child you can pretend to talk to if you're a bit shy with the grown ups (how sad ). I'm ok now though!

Signing is great.Even with quite severe learning difficulties dd has picked it up eventually!!It can take time,7.5 mnoths is very young!!!Reinforcement and not expecting them to learn too many different ones at a time is the way to go I think :)

I did it with both my DSs and they were both over 1 before they did any signs - my 16 month old does more -its so cute
and my older one that was his first sign as well -

• - but I agree its the transition to talking where is really useful - ie from 1 to 2ish - where they want to communicate but maybe can't say the words

oh and I would only do a very few until they start signing back

thanks everyone, we are only donig food and drink at the moment (well, is there any mroe to life at 7 months old?) so will definitely keep going

My dd1 did milk at 9.5 months and I have the certificate to prove it!
Dd2 who 13 months can do 7 signs including book and duck :)
Good luck we love baby signing!

Tip: do signs all the time that's how they pick it up.

GS 9 months does "milk " at his mum when she offers him a "drink" in a cup. It's very consistent and very sweet.

ds picked it his first sign up within a week but he was 15 months then another 4 in the next 2 weeks. i dont think they are REALLY ready until they are 12 months.

My DS is 2 and recognises more than he does although he can sign about 20 words (they started doing it at nursery that helped loads) but DD is just 1 and can do milk (either that or it's twinkle twinkle) lol they get there eventually I sign everything I can at them to familiarise them with it

With DD1 we started at about 8 months. She used her first sign at around 9 or 10 months , but didn't really take to it until about 11 months I think. Definitely worth persevering though, it was very useful for us, especially signs like 'more' 'enough' 'milk' 'food'. It also really helped us to understand her speech- a lot of her first words were difficult to understand, but she would make the sign at the same time so we knew what she was trying to say.

I started going to classes when DS was 14 weeks (I needed to get out!) and started signing at 6.5m with milk. We didn't have many more till 10m when he added another 2 or 3 or so, but at 12m he just started signing all the time and by 18m had around 50 or so signs. If you're enjoying it I would definitely say persevere

ds had two signs before one, hot and bath, but more have come since (milk, brushing teeth and some others on and off).

I really think even if they never sign back at you, it aids there understanding of what is going on. We even do it as adults, just think how we gesticulate when giving directions. We night not need to repeat the movements to get there, but our understanding and memory are aided by a physicaly or visual clue.

to get the ball rolling choose exciting ones that engage them. When my ds was about 9 months I pointed at a spider in the corner of the room and made up a sign 'open hand, fingers spread, open and close the fingers repeatedly' and said spider while pointing at the spider and he did it straight away and was delighted with himself. He then went on to point out every spider he could see for months. He made up a drinking one himself.

Read to them loads, explain everything you do "I am putting the kettle on now, look at the silver kettle" etc and they will understand & speak very very early.

DD could do milk, food, sleep/tired and nappy from about 10 months (with milk being the first) thanks to being taught them at nursery. I found these massively helpful, although I can't think of any other words that would have been hugely useful (cute maybe) so I would suggest at least focusing on those you think will stop your child becoming frustrated when they can't communicate their needs. It definitely bridged the time for us when DD knew what she wanted but couldn't yet simply ask for it.

I started signing at about the same time as you and DD signed "milk" for the 1st time at 9 months - followed quickly by "more" . We stuck with it and DD (now 22 months) still uses her signs all the time but her speech now is quite advanced and I'm positive it has to do with the signing. She understands that communicating can get her what she wants.

Stick with it and it will pay off but I agree that using them all the time will help with how fast they pick it up.

I have been diligently signing a couple of things since my guy was 3 months old, with no response either way (let alone a sign back) now at 10 months (although he does have some very expressive groans)

I shall persevere, as I saw an amazing Youtube video of a 1 year old who new what juice, apple and all sorts of things are, but I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that my baby just isn't interested.

Chunkypickle, definitely don't give up. I signed with my DD from birth (only 'milk' at that stage!) as I sign for my work and just thought it a useful additional way of communicating. She didn't sign anything until the day after her first birthday. 2 weeks later she could do over 100 signs! Stopped signing each word as soon as she could say it, although still uses a lot of gesture at 22 months if we don't understand her first time.

belindarose that's fantastic!

I definitely will be keeping it up. Perhaps I'll rethink what I'm signing (milk, potty, sleepytime, nappy) and try some stuff that he's interested in rather than chores

:)

I stopped with DS just at 11 months because I was going back to work. He wasn't signing at all, I assumed he wasn't interested, and I let it slide.

A couple of months later, he spontaneously came out with a whole bunch of them - milk, food, sleep, mouse, apple, duck. Clearly he had been storing the information up and retaining it, even when he hadn't been using it. Funny little thing.