When will my little one say their first word?

This question was something that often kept me up at night; when would my baby say his first word and what would it be? I had huge romantic notions that it would be “Mummy.” However, his first word was “bonk” and he said “Daddy” long before he ever said “Mummy.”

Children typically develop their language and communication in the following order:

Parents respond to their child: At this stage adults are doing all the work, smiling, talking, touching.

Awareness and responding: Babies show awareness of people and begins to respond with eye contact and smiling.

Deliberate communication: Babies begin to develop intentional communication, joint attention and jargon. This may take the form of babbling, pointing and taking an adult’s hand and leading them to what they want.

First words: Verbal communication begins. Children use a small number of words and persevere to communicate when their care giver struggles to understand what they are saying.

Joining words together: Children’s understanding of language develops further; they ask questions and talk about the here and now.

Longer sentences: Understanding and use of language grows rapidly, grammar increases. They ask more complex questions and develop conversational skills.

Speech is a huge skill and there are stepping stones that a child needs to achieve before they produce recognisable words, phrases, sentences and can then hold a conversation. The most effective way to demonstrate what skills need to be in place before a child says his first word is The Language Development Pyramid.

For our children to be able to say their first word, everything underneath the orange and yellow segments need to be securely in place.

Please see below for a more detailed breakdown of each of these stages and suggested activities to support your child communicate.

Desire to Communicate

A desire to communicate is the first stepping stone and your baby starts working on this as soon as they enter the world. In order to have their basic needs met; hunger, tired, being uncomfortable, need to be close to you etc, your baby cries. That cry is extremely effective because a hormone is released within you which springs you into action. The cry then moves onto a babble / finger point and it is really important to continue to respond to these early communications. The more you respond to your mini human, the quicker they will learn that by communicating they receive a positive response that everyone involved enjoys.

As your mini human gets older you can build on this desire to communicate by placing favourite toys within sight but just out of reach. This encourages your child to communicate with you, so that they receive their favourite toy. Your mini human will communicate their desire for an object by crying, pointing, taking your hand and leading you to the object. Furthermore, your child is learning about the importance of body language and gestures to communicate.

Ability to Share (Joint) Attention

Shared attention is the next stepping stone and is our ability to share focus on an object with another person. My son was about 6 weeks old here and he was beginning to shift his attention from the book, to me, back to the book and then back to me; ie shared / joint attention. The feely noisy books are great for working on shared attention because, depending on how much of an actor you are, you can mimic the noises and movements that the animals make. I found with my son the more ridiculous I was, the more animated he became. Also don’t be afraid to read the same book again and again. Repetition is great for babies. The book in the photo that I am reading from is Noisy Farm published by Little Tiger Press.

Pretend Play

The next stage is basic pretend play and at this developmental stage we are not expecting our toddlers to be putting on huge productions of pretend play. Instead it is activities such as dumping objects in and out of containers, stacking blocks, pushing a car back and forth and pretending to feed a teddy. This stage is important because your child is using toys to become symbolic for what they are thinking. And that is what words are; they are symbols for people, objects, events and then later abstract concepts such as their emotions.

Ways to build on this include creating ‘tea parties’ with toys and modelling how to feed one of the toys. Goldilocks and the Three Bears is a great story to use as inspiration. By putting porridge oats into bowls, using plastic spoons and different size teddies you can encourage your child to start feeding the teddies.

You can also create race tracks with masking tape so the whole family can get involved in the pretend play. Building towers and encouraging your little one to knock them over is also good fun. You can create a post box using an old shoe box and cutting a rectangle out of the lid to encourage your baby to post different objects and then empty the box when it is full.

Understanding Words (Receptive Language)

Being able to understand words needs to be in place before a small human can start producing their own words. Typical development suggests that we have to understand words before we learn to express them meaningfully. If you ever speak to a professional about this area they will use the phrase ‘receptive language.’ This is the ability to focus on and to understand/process what has been said to you (words/short phrases). This is why it is so important to talk to your little human and label objects throughout the day. For example, commentating on a walk to a baby class; “I see a dog. Ooo there’s a tree” etc will help your baby to start to understand what words mean. Reading stories and singing nursery rhymes are other fantastic ways for a baby to learn the meaning behind words.

Saying Words and Phrases and Speech Clarity (Expressive Communication)

So, when all of the above is in place we would expect your little one to say their first word. However, your little one also needs to ensure that their tongue and mouth are in the correct position and form the correct shape to form the letter sounds, which then become words. For this reason, it is important to try as much as possible to face your baby when you speak. They are then able to see the way your mouth and tongue move as you form words. When my son and I would go for walks, I would often have him sat parent facing in the buggy. This was for two reasons; one so that I could respond to his babbling. Secondly, so he could see the shape of mouth and tongue when I responded to him.  

It’s important to note that I have left ages off this because please remember all children develop at different rates; it’s about your child’s communication stage not age. Your baby will say their first word when they are developmentally ready. However, by taking a step back and just observing your little one, you could support them to reach the next communication milestone.