Before babies learn to speak, their only effective way of expressing themselves is through pointing, crying and screaming. If they are not understood this only gets louder leading to a frustrated parent and baby. Babies have the ability to interpret and understand what we are saying to them long before their vocal chords are developed enough to form words. They are also very capable of knowing what they want and need by about six months of age.
When we are able to respond to our children’s needs through effective communication, we provide them with a sense of security and a feeling of being understood. The earlier we provide them with this, the more content they will be. Babies copy us from as early as 6 weeks old by mimicking our facial expressions. You can see your baby intently watching and copying as you interact with them. As you play with your child, watch their facial expressions. As you are interacting with your baby you will notice that their eyes light up, they may make funny facial expressions, they may even poke their tongue back at you. Most rewarding is when they offer you a smile or chuckle. This is the earliest form of communication and is an essential part of bonding with your baby.
Each parent has their own way of interpreting what their child needs and most often this is done through trial and error. I spoke recently with a friend who said that each time their baby cried they changed the diaper, fed and burped her, played with her and finished it all off with a bath. Not knowing what their baby was crying for they just covered all the bases! They even did this at all hours of the night. I guess the baby was so exhausted by that ritual that she fell asleep! This feeling of incompetence is something we as parents can all relate to. If only we could understand their needs much earlier before they could speak.
Speech requires a complicated sequence of events to occur; it is much more difficult to accomplish than the usual babbling we hear from new babies. It requires specific tongue movements matched with specific lip movements and the development of tiny muscles in the throat and trained vocal chords before it all comes together. The natural progression from using body language before speech is often likened to crawling before walking.