My almost 1-year-old: What actually helped with first words?

[KiwiKimi]

My little one is about to turn one and I'm keen to give them a good head start on the talking front. 😅
They're a champion babbler and understand loads, but actual consistent words like 'Mama' or 'Dada' are still pretty elusive. I know all babies are different and develop at their own pace, but I want to make sure I'm doing my bit to encourage that next step.
Beyond just constant chatter and reading books, what specific, almost educational things did you do that genuinely seemed to teach your baby those first simple words? Any particular games, ways of interacting, or even resources that felt truly effective for early language acquisition at this stage? I'm trying to be really intentional about their communication skills.
Hugely appreciate any advice. Cheers 🤗

I don’t think there’s much you can do to actually sit down and teach them at that age to be honest @KiwiKimi 😊
They learn through copying you and through repetition so narrate everything you’re doing until you’re blue in the face 😅 that’s what I did anyways and DS seemed to pick up words fairly quickly and easily. Keep it short and simple though.

We also used this book and DS loved it! We got a good couple of years of use out of it. I loved it because the pictures were of real objects rather than cartoon drawings. Early on he’d spend ages pointing at pictures and us telling him what they were. Then as time went on I’d ask him “where is the Apple/ball/horse/table?” etc.
We also used it to expand things further once he was using lots of words - “point to something that is red”, “find something that says ‘meow’”, “point to something that you can eat” 😊

Also, I know screen time is a bit of a controversial topic and everyone has their own views on it…but personally we didn’t allow screens at all until our child was 3. While he was awake the TV wouldn’t even be on in the background.

And as you say, it’s always worth bearing in mind that all kids do things at their own pace and learn differently 😊 My best friend and I had very similar approaches to most aspects of parenting and our kids developed at totally different rates 🤷🏻‍♀️

Chatter away. Narrate your life aloud. Read stories. Have fun. Please don’t try too hard. My wise mother once said that babies should wear t shirts saying “This Grows Up Automatically!”🤣

Also there is a huge range of “normal”. I had one that talked insanely early but didn’t walk til nearly 18 months, and one that was the other way round.

i have two children. One was an early talker and one was a later talker. Just keep talking to them.

Do you notice they watch your mouth when you talk? If you are trying to encourage them to say mama and so on them really exaggerate the way your mouth moves and they should copy you at some point. However your baby is still very very young. Just enjoy your time with them and talk to them in a normal way using a good vocabulary.

I'm a Speech Therapist. Generally lots of talking and lots of reading is the way forward. Some of the general advice we give to support talking is:

• be face to face
• follow their lead - talk about what they are interested in and doing
• imitate their sounds/words and then try throwing in something new
• lots of repetition
• comment on what is happening and what they are doing
• interpret - use the words they would have used if they could, and ideally from their perspective e.g. you are playing with bubbles and they babble and reach towards you so you say 'more bubbles' and blow more

You don't need to do all of these at once. For most children you don't need to think about it this consciously, but sometimes reflecting on whether you already do lots of this can remind you you are already doing lots.

I like interactive activities e.g. Peekaboo, bubbles, songs like 'Row your boat' or 'round the garden' where you do the activity and then pause. Your DC can then show you they want more and you can label that e.g. 'more bubbles', 'let's sing it again'. Books are great too and just playing together and being present in the moment with them, whatever the 'game' is they have chosen.

Talk to them! About what you see, about what they’re holding, about what you’re eating. Read to them (bedtime stories, even if you think they don’t understand things like The Gruffalo at this age). Sing to them, too.

About 75% of people who are telling you their DC has started speaking have got ahead of themselves and are picking things that sound a bit like words out of the babble. For example gagaadabadododomadadada.... Is "Dada"

So don't worry about it, you are doing all the right things and DC will be chatting away soon.

Baby signing! It's utterly brilliant and allows them to communicate with you before they have the physical muscles in their mouth/throat etc. Plus they say that it helps them make the brain connections that help with forming words later on too.

Definitely recommend it. You can go to a class or just look up some signs in a book or on YouTube and start using them any time you say the word. Start with a couple of easy ones and once you start getting some back you can add more in one by one.

You don't need to do educational things to a 1 year old. Continue chatting to them. Relax. Enjoy your child. They will suddenly start talking when they're ready.

Don't feel bad if you're doing all these things and baby isn't "talking soon " at promised. Babies just do their own thing.

Don't put "effort" of any kind into this. Your baby will start talking soonish. Talking early doesn't indicate intelligence or eventual high achievement and if you have people in your life who are using date-of-first-talking as a proxy to insult your baby, cut them out of your life, they aren't going to become less horrible people when your baby starts talking. Chill. You do not need your baby to be in a hurry to grow up.

Early years (0-5) education consultant and grandma here. Lots of good advice has already been shared. I would say the most important thing is to talk away to your baby, commentate on what you’re doing, talk about things you can see, point to things and name them. Lots of stories, books, songs and rhymes - use actions where you can. Play alongside your baby and have fun!

Lots of songs and rhymes. Action ones are great - sit them on your lap facing you, and help them do the actions.
Lots of books - talk about the pictures, point to things.
Running commentary on what you're doing.
Talk to them - ask questions - eg do you want the car? Di you want the red car? Can you say car? Here's the car.
Repetition of all the basics - mummy, daddy, please, thank you, hello, goodbye
Animal noises are a good start too.
Point things out on walks - stop the buggy, get down to their level and get really excited about the cat, flower, etc

I agree teaching baby sign actually increases early communication and language skills. Speech is harder to master and it doesn’t delay their speech.

I would expect there is a notable percentage of toddlers that are later to speak because they have glue ear or hearing impairment some of which clears in its own.

Please relax Op, this is a baby you’re talking about. Most children will spend years ploughing through the sausage factory that we call an education system and they really, really don’t need you to start specific educational interventions now.
Talk loads, don’t be afraid of baby talk it actually is rooted in babies developmental needs, sing, play, read, go out to places and have fun. Basically enjoy your baby, give them a rich and varied life, stay away from screens (even if labelled “educational”) and they will start talking soon enough.

Honestly don't try too hard. As long as you are communicating with your child it doesn't make any difference in the long run. Things even out and some early developers plateau and late developers soar.

DH was sentences at a year, and reading chapter books by 3 (MIL kept a diary so I know what was accurate rather than mis-remembered) and reading bedtime stories to his older sibling at 4. BIL didn't say a single word till he was 5 and was a late reader. DH went to Oxford and BIL went to Cambridge.

DD was an insanely early talker - first words at 6 months and full sentences by 12 months, and very argumentative. People used to stop me in museums and ask her age as she was incredibly tiny for age but had this huge vocabulary. She turned out to be severely dyslexic and didn't learn to read till she was almost 8. GCSEs have been an incredible struggle but her talents all lie in music.

ETA: One thing I did do was limit kids TV (CBeebies stuff) as it's not great for focus. Instead we watched DVDs of things like Beatrix Potter, Narnia, 5 Children & It... I enjoyed them and it does give better vocabulary,

There's a great book- Baby Talk by Sally Ward, a speech therapist. A lot of the things pps have mentioned are in there but it gives a bit more background on why it helps. Her big thing is a ring fenced half an hour a day, 1:1 chatting reading playing. Just because it's so easy for the week to rush by and you haven't fitted in a bit of daily time. Doesn't need to be structured just consistent.

Makaton.

This isn't your job. Love the child, engage with the child. Let him or her learn to speak on their own schedule.

Your job isn’t to teach, it is to support the development of the child you have in the way they need it. If you talk sing and read to your baby, then you are doing that when it comes to language development. As your baby sounds like they are doing well in that area, think about wether there are any other areas where you could put your energy to help your child more like gross or fine motor skills.

If you’re interested, you could research the early learning goals or whatever they’re called now to get an idea of what you’re working towards and individual skills you can support.

People are aware this baby isn’t a year old yet? All you have to do is chat your way round Tesco! Oh, and don’t pull them away when strangers talk to them. It’s all about communication.