Watch What You Say

Babies pay attention and copy what their parents do, in more ways than one! Recent studies have found that 6-month-old babies pay attention to the lips of their parents—even going so far as to watch their mommy’s lips and attempt to form the same shape and sounds. Babies are extremely attentive to the lip movements of other people around them, which has implications for speech development in children.

Thinking about a baby saying “mama” or “dada” makes all of us feel a little warmer inside. Because babies are more likely to pay attention to develop verbal communication after watching the lip movements of adults around them, it is extremely important to engage your child in face-to-face interactions.

We are all very busy and each one of our days is filled with endless to-do lists, but it is imperative to remember to take time for the important things in our lives—the things that make us the happiest. So next time you want to play a baby DVD while you’re multitasking (sound familiar?!), remember to take a break after, and spend some quality one-on-one time with your child. Who know? Your little one could surprise you by saying something!

Florida scientists discovered that starting around age 6 months, babies begin shifting from the intent eye gaze of early infancy to studying mouths when people talk to them. Slowly gibberish begins to turn into syllables — think repetitive “ba ba ba ba” — and eventually “mama” and “dada”. For more information about the study conducted, check out The Blaze!