My Baby Week 46
Your baby continues to learn from the world around her and probably becomes more engaged in interactive games like pat-a-cake or peek-a-boo each week. You may also notice that she is becoming stronger each week. If she isn't able to walk on her own yet, there's no need for concern, all babies move at their own pace and reach developmental milestones when they are ready. When she does begin to walk and you are chasing her anywhere and everywhere, you will miss these more passive days.
Language Acquisition
Each week your baby also makes advances in communication. Her first words may have been mama or dada, but by week 46 she may have up to 5 different words in her vocabulary! Keep in mind that these early words may only be recognizable to her daily caregivers. When she shouts out “beebah” you may immediately know that she is saying “bottle” even if it is less than obvious to another adult. In order to get her on the path to being understood by anyone she tries to talk to, you may be wondering what steps you can take to help her language development. Following are some suggestions.
- The Name Game – as you go throughout your day, try to name the items you and your baby come into contact with.
- Explain concepts. Lifting your baby up and down while saying, "up and down" is a great way to teach them a new concept. And you can teach them other concepts using items you already have in your house, like wet and dry, in and out, and hot and cold.
- Explain Cause and Effect. Connecting consequences and actions will help your child as they begin to learn language. As you go through your day, feel free to point out why certain things happen, or why you are doing certain things. For example, "It's time to take a bath so you can be clean" or "I'm putting dinner in the oven so it will cook".
- Avoid baby talk. You don't need to correct your little one when they use baby talk, but it is important that you don't use baby talk, since they are learning language partially by modeling your speech.
- Be a good listener. Even though your baby may only be babbling, it is important that he feels like when he tries to communicate that you are listening. Reinforcing his babbling with phrases like, "Really!" or "You don't say" will help your infant to feel like he is understood. If it seems like he is trying to ask for something and you aren't sure what, it's perfectly okay to start listing items that you think he might be referring to, like his bottle or favorite toy. You may get a response in the form of a smile, but these are the first steps in effective communication!
- Count when you can. It may be some time before your baby can count to ten, something you no doubt will want them to show off! But in the meantime, you can teach them about numbers by using them throughout your day. When you are cleaning up toys, you can count them as you put them back into place. You can also count the items on his plate while you are feeding him. You'll surely find many opportunities to expose your baby to numbers and counting during a typical day.
And just like walking, every baby learns to talk at their own pace. Try not to compare your own child's language acquisition to other children of the same age. If you have any concerns, you can always speak to your child's pediatrician.