If your little one is talking, or at the age they should be talking, do you still use baby speak?
Not so much in this group (I am new here lol), but I have had many friends over the years that have had kids, and newer friends with lil ones, and it always boggled my mind that they would use and continue to use baby speak even as their child goes into kindergarten.
Baby speak is fine, and even helpful during the first year or so of life. However, once a child reaches the age of speach (normally between 12mos and 15 mos) it is recommended that baby speak is cut out. Using proper words not only helps the child identify an object, person, place etc with the proper name, but it actually helps their speech along.
This does not mean that suddenly their vocabulary will increase in greater amounts, but it will help them speak clearly, and helps in their education.
Obviously this is a generalization as there are many things to take into account. Was your child born prematurely? Are there other issues going on in their lives or other diagnosis that play a part in their development? Those are just a few questions that will help a parent decide if baby speak is still needed or not. And obviously (again) no one knows another's child better than the child's parents. :)
Agreed!
Quoting ImNotKarl:We didn't really use baby speak ever. We STILL do goofy voices when we're playing, like a bad Transylvanian accent when I'm being vampire mommy, or the tickle monster voice, or the zombie mumble (Wow. We play a lot of morbid games.), and when my son was an infant (He's 2 now), we'd do exaggerated voices when we were happy, or acting sad. We've always used the right words and correct grammar and phrasing and such, and pronounced things correctly. Baby talk just seems like it would inhibit more than help.
Mine are 4 and 8, but even when they were little, we didn't really do baby-talk. I mean, we spoke to them in a more simple way then than we do now, but it wasn't that silly, babbly baby talk that some folks do.
My MIL has always tried to get them to call my SIL "Aunt Lala." Her name is Laura and when she and DH were kids, he called her Lala. It's cute when it's just what they naturally say b/c they can't pronounce it yet. But it's not cute when Grandma puts you up to it! Always irked me that she was trying to get them to say it the baby way when they could say her name just fine. Grrr.
I only ever used baby speak when my babies were not able to roll over. After that, I tend to speak to them normally.
They can't be expected to be able to pronounce something correctly if they are never hearing it pronounced correctly.
I've never used it. However my MIL still uses baby speak with everyone...my kids who think she's nuts, my husband who is 25, and even her fiance...it drives me nuts. Lol
We never used baby speak... I would always talk to her normally, and I would talk to her A LOT. From our first night in the hospital forward. Whenever we were/are in the car, I engage her in conversation about where we're going, what we're driving by, etc. I also started reading her bedtime stories very young. By the age of two, people always thought she was older because of how she would speak. She never spoke like a baby and her vocabulary was always pretty advanced for her age.
Am I overreacting?
Cleaning Hands
- ejsmom4604
on Jan. 18, 2013 at 12:59 AM