You quickly realize when having an infant that it can be incredibly hard to discern what they are wanting at times. From day one all they can do is cry and it’s your job to determine if that cry means they are hungry, tired, need a diaper change, or want to be held. Babies do not come with translators, but they’re human and still want and need to communicate with you.

As Jase got older, he began to try and communicate with us even more. Instead of it always being through cries this time, it often came through grunts, growls, screams, and a lot of other sometimes annoying noises. I knew that Jase was just trying to communicate with us the only ways he knew how. He couldn’t formulate words yet, but he could formulate sounds that got our attention. Even then, we didn’t always understand what his sounds were trying to communicate so it could result in a lot of frustration on his end, resulting in frustration on our end.

Baby Sign Language:

This is where Baby Sign Language comes in. Sign Language is an incredible way to teach your child to communicate with you before they are able to formulate the words to do so. We started teaching Baby Sign Language to Jase pretty regularly at six months old. I used certain milestones we were reaching in his development to begin teaching him the words that went along with them.

For the most part, the sign language Jase learned started with all things revolving around eating. I sat him in his high chair, would sign “eat”, and begin feeding him. If he would grunt and cry for more after finishing his food, I would sign “more”, and then give him more. I would also take his hands and help him to do the signs himself. When he finished eating I would sign “all done” and then would get him down. Anytime I taught Jase a sign, I would do the sign while saying the word out loud so that he would learn both, and then I would help him to complete the sign himself.

Start with these signs:

More
Milk
Cup
Eat
More
All Done

There are a lot more words that you can teach your infant, some like to even teach them please and thank you! The purpose for teaching Jase sign language was mostly to help him communicate the things we needed communicated on a daily basis until he was able to do so on his own. Gradually, after a month or so of teaching the signs, Jase really began to pick up on them and do them himself. Whenever he would scream to get our attention we would ask him what he wanted, and wait for him to do the sign to communicate. This way we were encouraging him not to yell for what he wanted, but to communicate what he was asking for.

I highly recommend teaching your infant baby sign language to help you through those frustrating in between stages where they aren’t able to communicate completely. It is really easy to do, all it takes is some repetition and they catch on pretty quickly. You can find a great resource for baby sign language here. We relied on sign language a lot through the ages of six months to a year, and then Jase began to really pick up on using words more to communicate. He still does some of the signs while talking, but most of them he hasn’t used anymore.

If you have any questions about baby sign language, feel free to ask away, I would love to help in any way I can.

Did you teach your baby sign language? What do you think about teaching your baby sign language?

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