When Do Babies Say Their First Words?

A child’s first words are one of the most coveted milestones of early development. Hearing your child’s voice for the first time is truly magical and being able to communicate with them is so special.

However, a lot has to happen before a child is ready to say their first words. Ultimately, speech is a motor skill - your brain needs to be able to tell the muscles in your mouth where and when to move, and your muscles need to follow those instructions quickly and accurately for your speech to be intelligible. In fact, producing speech is one of the most refined motor movements that we carry out! So, a lot of learning needs to happen before a clear word comes out! 

Below are the expressive language milestones a child needs to master before we can expect first words for you to be on the look out for!

👉 INTENTIONAL SMILE: This isn’t the newborn smile while sleeping or right after feeding (although those are equally as adorable). This is a smile with intention, meaning your baby is looking at you and then gives that cute little smile. Typically this happens around 2-3 months.

👉 COOING: Babies typically start cooing around 2 months. Cooing consists of the vocalization of vowel sounds, which can be intentional or unintentional.

👉 LAUGHING: Is there anything better than baby giggles? You can expect to start hearing them around 4-6 months!

👉 VOCAL PLAY: Vocal play is a fun stage, full of silly sounds, like raspberries, tongue clicking, and squeals, that typically begins around 4-6 months.

👉 GESTURE USE: This includes gestures like clapping, waving, pointing, and baby sign language. This is where your child really starts to communicate with intention and typically happens from 7-12 months. If you’re interested in learning more about gesture use and how to teach sign language to your baby, check out our Little Signers course!

👉 IMITATION: Around 7-12 months, you might start to notice that your child is starting to imitate simple words after they hear you say them!

👉 BABBLING: Babbling is the combination of vowel and consonant sounds - think mama, dada, etc. However, these vocalizations are not always intentional, meaning that your child may babble “mama” but it’s not directed toward or in reference to their mother. Children typically begin babbling around 6-8 months.

👉 FIRST WORDS: In order to ‘count’ as a first word, a vocalization must be intentional (they say “dada” when referring to their father), independent (they say the word on their own without repeating after you), and consistent (you hear them say this word regularly). We typically see first words around one year!

If you are concerned about your child’s speech and language development or to learn more, click HERE to schedule a consultation!