I saw this in The Stir - When my kids were babies, I talked to them constantly (now, of course, they're the ones who won't stop talking, lol). Do you?
Why Talking to Your Baby Won't Make You Feel Like an Idiot Anymore
When my kids were babies, I had a habit of narrating our daily lives. Not in a Morgan Freeman/cinematic storyteller way, just a sort of running commentary on whatever it was we happened to be doing: "Okay, now we're going to pour the oatmeal in the bowl. It's a blue bowl, see? Isn't that a pretty blue bowl? Hmm, now we have to find a clean bib. This one is yucky. See, there's bananas on it."
Apparently when a woman with bedhead and dark circles under her eyes babbles incessantly to an infant, she appears somewhat unbalanced, because I distinctly remember various casual observers staring at me as if I'd gone mad: "You do know that baby can't understand a word you're saying, right?"
Oh, but that baby could (yours can too)! And now we have scientific proof: A recent study showed that babies as young as 6 months of age can understand words spoken to them.
Ha! I knew I wasn't crazy!
Word recognition was previously believed to start later, somewhere between 9 and 14 months; younger infants were thought to recognize only sounds. But now that we know how early those cognitive abilities kick in, there's no reason not to talk to our babies about anything and everything.
Sure, some stuff is bound to go over their heads (hopefully that includes the stuff you yell at other drivers on the road and the stuff you say when you drop something heavy on your foot or spill a container of baby powder all over the floor).
But they're still picking up on plenty of useful information. And as one of the researchers put it, "The more they know, the more they can build on what they know."
So go ahead, talk to your baby about loading the dishwasher and paying bills and sorting out the recycling. It doesn't mean you're losing your mind.
(I mean, you might be losing your mind. But if you are it doesn't have anything to do with this.)
Do you talk to your baby? Does it seem like she can understand what you're saying?
Yes I talked to my daughter when she was a baby. She was the only person I had to talk to during the day other then cats. And I wouldn't care if people thought I was crazy for it.
I talked to all my children when they were babies. My youngest is 7.5 months and I know he understands some of what I say. :)
Yes, I did lots. I'm the type of person that talks to myself when I'm alone, so it was just natural to talk to my son about everything I was doing or thinking.
oh constantly when he was a baby and it was never baby talk either
I don't even remember. that was like 2 years ago. I think I did. I don't ever remember talking to him like a baby but I don't do it now either. I talk to him as if he were older.And yes he does understand what I'm saying.
im not very talkative, so for me this took effort. and i made quite an effort because i know how much better it is for them. i'd say i talked to them pretty often. at times they were responsive, other times not so much, lol.
I never feel like an idiot talking to my babies. I know that it benefits them. My two year old is actually starting to have conversation with me now, and I love it! I talk to them about everything (even though my six month old can't talk back at all). And I read to them all the time too.
I've always been big on talking with babies. My daughter and I always are "talking" together. She points and is able to recognize a lot. We also let her watch the your baby can read movies starting at 3 months. She loves them. We go easy though I don't pressure or push her to be some genius but I do feel like it helps her when she has a better understanding of her surroundings
All the time.. I think I talk to him more than anybody else to be honest.
yea i talked to my son and i knew he understood me. i think its a great way to teach them.
Breastfeeding--please help me!!!
- Cafe AmyS
on Feb. 15, 2012 at 2:25 PM