• Baby starts cooing at around 3 months

• Baby makes eye contact with you

• Uses combination of vowels and consonants (ga, goo, ma, da, etc.)

• Smiling and laughing

• Baby uses various sounds and different sounds

• Between 4-6 months; baby starts babbling, using single syllable sounds (ba-ba-ba-ba)

• Starts pointing or gesturing

• Can copy some of the sounds you make, like coughing, laughing, clicking or making ‘raspberries’

• Can dopy some of the gestures you make, like waving, pointing or clapping

• Plays with making different sounds, like ‘aaieee’, ‘booo’ and ‘ahh’ at different pitches and volumes.

• Soon the babbling becomes jargon, where the child starts to sound like they are 'talking' but without recognizable words.

• Puts sounds together with rhythm and tone, in ways that sound like normal speech 

• Can say ‘mama’ or ‘dada’, although they might not know what these mean yet

• Can communicate using noises or gestures to ask for something

• Can say "no" to something, insisting on something, or greet someone

• Ask for something by pointing, or by looking at a person then at something they want.

• First simple words appear around 12 months; mama, dada, etc. 

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When to Seek Assistance: 

• If your baby isn’t babbling and isn’t using gestures by 12 months, talk to your health practitioner. 

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