It takes approximately 10 months before your child will utter the first words that can be understood by a stranger but they will begin communicating with you a long time before that.
Once again don’t be too concerned if you feel that your child is taking a little longer than anticipated to start talking as they will develop at a different pace and provided you are getting expert advice from a health professional to ensure that there are no problems with your baby you should just relax as this will come in due time.
You can encourage your child to talk by speaking slowly and clearly to it on a regular basis and preferably without any other sounds around so it can concentrate on what you have to say.
They will begin by making various different sounds as their form of communicating with you and then slowly one by one start picking up words here and there.
It can be really exciting when your child starts uttering its first words and often you will be the only one who can understand them due to the bond that you have with one another through the time that you spent together.
You will understand all the body language and facial expressions that come before the words and your communication with your baby will start long before anybody else’s.
Activities such as reading bedtime stories and particularly nursery rhymes will help your child to pick up more and more words and this will only be expanded upon as they get older and you continue to read more books to them.
Children’s songs are also an excellent way of increasing their vocabulary as the repetitive nature of the music helps them to pick up more words faster.
The sooner your child starts developing their communication skills the better they will be in the future but it is not necessary to panic if they take a month or two longer than other children of a similar age.
Soon enough they will be talking more than you can handle so make the most of it while you can.