The Importance of Talking Baby Talk to your Baby

[chri'stina 190]

This computer is driving me crazy. I've been trying to reply for awhile.

I dont think its the words as much as the tone and as they get older the eye contact that babies respond to. I talk all day to my baby in regular sentences and vocabulary but I talk in a sing song voice or sometimes sing. Actually I often sing the words but to a common tune, I find myself singing lots of 'conversations' to the tune of various Christmas carols. I guess those are the simple melodies I have committed most readily to memory. For example, I might have a whole song about changing diapers/clothes to the tune of Jingle Bells that I am improvising while doing the activity. I make sure to look her in the eye a lot and she loves it, usually laughs and flails her limbs around... I am sure if anyone else were to witness any of it I would look like an idiot but oh well

Haha I do the same thing. Not really Christmas tunes, but all different tunes.

I can't resist talking to him in baby talk when he looks at me so cutely. For me it's the sing song way I say things, not that I make every word sound simpler. I tell him full sentences. But sometimes feet becomes feetsies and toes become toesies. How can I resist?

I didn't do the baby talk thing too much, but I did try to understand the things my son said that werne't readily understandable. The most intersting word he 'made up' was 'gubby' which he used for bottle. For a while I was non plussed, what had 'gubby' and 'bottle' in common? Finally, the light dawned. Whenever I gave him a drink in the bottle I would give it to him and say 'good boy' (for the life of me I don't know why now) so 'gubby' was a corruption of 'good boy'.

My baby grunts, but I know he's trying to talk to me...his face gets very animated and he gets excited, so I reaffirm whatever he's trying to tell me like I'm having a conversation with a mute. It's very cute. I think he's going to be really smart...must have got it from his mom.

Is that grunt as in... "GRUNT :: Get me my bottle... or GRUNT:: Get me my beer bottle..." ???

Male practice

This was a few weeks ago...his vocabulary now includes more grunts.

I am glad you posted a video so it doesn't make me feel so silly for wanting to post one too! I took one recently of him making sounds. You're talking so cutely to Joshua hehe. I love it. Only in baby talk can throw up sound cute.

These are Kavi's bigger sounds now. I swear he immitates me saying "love you" sometimes, making a uhhh-doooo sound! He wouldn't do it for the video though. Oh my gosh, I just tried and he's doing it again, sounds so much like "love you" it's crazy! He'll look so intense like he is trying to make sounds and his mouth is moving but he can't get them to come out. And even if he does make the sound, he looks like he is doing hard work hehe.

Darn, I can't embed. I have it on google videos, not youtube.

Here's a link:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2...14464&hl=en

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I am glad you posted a video so it doesn't make me feel so silly for wanting to post one too! I took one recently of him making sounds. You're talking so cutely to Joshua hehe. I love it. Only in baby talk can throw up sound cute.

These are Kavi's bigger sounds now. I swear he immitates me saying "love you" sometimes, making a uhhh-doooo sound! He wouldn't do it for the video though. Oh my gosh, I just tried and he's doing it again, sounds so much like "love you" it's crazy! He'll look so intense like he is trying to make sounds and his mouth is moving but he can't get them to come out. And even if he does make the sound, he looks like he is doing hard work hehe.

Darn, I can't embed. I have it on google videos, not youtube.

Here's a link:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2...14464&hl=en

Awww, Stina! That's awesome! Both our boys do a lot of grunting....hahahaha. Kavi looks very attentive...Joshua is the same...he'll look at his mobile or a picture on the wall for a while. If we can only keep them from TV, which will shorten their attention spans to about 2 seconds.

[Scott & Lai 12]

I saw a cartoon once that relates to this. A woman is pushing a baby stroller down the sidewalk, talking baby-talk to her infant. Another woman passes her going the opposite direction while walking her dog; she is speaking to the dog in baby-talk. After they have passed each other, the first woman said, "That woman is talking to her dog as if it were a baby!" The second woman said, "That woman is talking to her baby as if it were a dog!"

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I saw a cartoon once that relates to this. A woman is pushing a baby stroller down the sidewalk, talking baby-talk to her infant. Another woman passes her going the opposite direction while walking her dog; she is speaking to the dog in baby-talk. After they have passed each other, the first woman said, "That woman is talking to her dog as if it were a baby!" The second woman said, "That woman is talking to her baby as if it were a dog!"

Nice!

[chri'stina 190]

I have to admit it does bother me when people talk to animals constantly like they are babies. I have a close friend who does this, it drives me nuts! And she knows it.