Which Baby Signing Signs To Start With

When starting to sign with your baby it is important to choose baby signing signs that are relevant and important to your baby. Watch to see what motivates and interests them as this will give you an indication as to which baby signing signs to start with. It is also important to introduce baby signs that are suitable for a baby’s motor skills and understanding.

Knowing what interests them is important, because babies are likely to pay more attention and pick up baby signing signs faster if they are able to influence the topic of conversation. (Clearly, they will be more motivated to pay attention if you are making a sign about their favourite toy or activity. On the other hand, they will be less receptive if you attempt to introduce the sign for EAT after they’ve just eaten and are no longer hungry.)

It’s important to use enough baby signing signs that your baby becomes accustomed to signing as part of the daily routine, but if you introduce too many signs at the one time, you may become confused and find it difficult to sign frequently and consistently.

At Tinytalk we suggest that when starting to sign with your baby you use no more than eight signs until your baby produces their first baby sign with understanding and suggest you split the introduction of your chosen signs up as follows:

1. Start with the following three baby signs until you are comfortable with signing. The reason you should start with these signs is because they are easy to remember, easy to perform and can be used frequently during the day. Introduce them one at a time - EAT, MILK, MORE

Through extensive research, we have found that these are the best signs to start with. In later stages of a baby’s development, signs for MUM, DAD and NAPPY CHANGE can be introduced, these are not recommended in the early stages of signing as a baby’s motor skills and understanding are not developed enough to enable them to perform these signs.

2. Once you are comfortable with signing (this may take a few hours or a few weeks) introduce up to five more baby signs. The Tinytalk Starter Signs Reference Card includes instructions for the best 12 signs to start with.

An important point here, make sure that you are familiar and comfortable with a baby signing sign before starting to introduce it to your baby.

By: Alison Basson

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A great place to learn more about introducing baby signing signs would be to get your free baby sign language chart and mini course by going to Tinytalk Baby Signs where you can also get access to resources and information on how to start signing with your baby today within just an hour!