The dos and don'ts of baby talk
5/19/202620 min
If you have a baby in your life, you may not find them the most intellectually stimulating conversation partner. But your baby is soaking up everything you say. On this episode, advice from early childhood experts on the importance of talking to babies from day 1 to 12 months old, and tips on what to say.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Andy Tagle0:29
You're listening to Life Kit [upbeat music] from NPR.
Marielle Segarra· Host0:34
Hey, Andi.
Andy Tagle0:36
Hey, Marielle.
Marielle Segarra· Host0:37
[upbeat music] I was just talking to my nephew. We FaceTime a few times a week. He always grabs the phone, and he does this thing where he communicates his glee by shaking his head like this.
Andy Tagle0:49
Like, "I'm so happy to see you."
Marielle Segarra· Host0:51
Yeah. I think that's our signal to each other, like we're excited to see each other because it's hard to know how to talk to a baby really before they're talking.
Andy Tagle1:03
Right.
Marielle Segarra· Host1:03
It's like, how do you have conversations? How do you know if you're connecting in some way?
Andy Tagle1:09
What it sounds like is something called serve and return, and so it means when you're interacting with a baby, you're serving them some form of communication, "Hi, baby. How are you?" And you're letting them return communication. You're giving them space to coo at you or to babble, to basically tell