I'd love to teach my little one some signs?

At what age did you start signing to your baby? I’d love to teach my LB milk, food, mom, dad, more, all done, please, thank you, etc. I read that babies don’t start communicating with sign language until about 8 months, but if I start signing to him now at 1 month will he learn any sooner? What are your experiences with teaching your babies sign language?
Like
Share Mobile
Share
  • Share

Show your support

I always recommend you start when they are born, because it gets you into the habit.. Also, I have heard of babies signing at 4mo. One signed thank you after her mom breast fed her ❤️ at 4mo. But it is never too late to begin either ❣️ I love seeing moms that want to sign with their baby, the communication is amazing!

1 reply

Omg that’s so sweet!!! I’ve started doing the “eat” or “food” sign right before breastfeeding my little guy! Dude I’d cry if he signed “thank you” after a good feeding 😂🤣 I’m so excited to teach him as I was always a really shy child and I wish I had a way of communicating with my parents in public without having to be verbal so I figured this would be a great thing for my baby too!

I started at about 5-6 months. My boys started signing back around 10 months. Maybe if you start sooner they will communicate back sooner. I don’t know. Our most used signs were: milk, eat, all done, more, mom, dad, please, thank you, and help. I was on a learning curve though after I found one of my twins was making up his own signs. 🤣

2 replies

No. They just did it with me. Once they started talking (and I understood them), they dropped sign. They didn’t do a lot of communication (other than laughs and babble) with each other for a while.

Yo that’s so funny but sooo cute 😂🤣 just curious but do your kids communicate with each other in sign language also?

I also started teaching my LO sign at 6 months and he started signing back within a month or two. Starting earlier seems like a good idea though so you get into the habit.

2 replies

That’s awesome! I was thinking that also - it will also give me time to learn more signs to teach him 😊

I used to watch this YouTube video with my son. Baby signing time. It has songs too so it makes it fun and mesmerizing for the little baby 👶🏽 there is also an app, but I think you have to pay for a membership after the first month. However, the resources are amazing. You can also just make a list of words you use a lot with your baby or things you want them to know and google the signs for them. It’s really easy, and ASL as a rule is pretty easy to learn.

Any age

1 reply

Thank you!

I think starting as soon as possible is great, even if just to establish kind of a routine if that makes sense. It’ll get you into the habit like mentioned above. It’s also never too late to start. I’ve worked with infants (6 weeks-18 months) and they all pick up on it at different ages. It’s never too early or too late to start in my option as it won’t hurt anything. I had a 15 month old in my class who didn’t have any experience with sign language and picked up on it fairly quickly. They are like sponges at this age! Best of luck to you ❤️❤️

2 replies

It’s always so exciting when they sign back for the first time!

Aw that’s so sweet - it must be great seeing the development! I’ve started to use the “eat/food” sign with my 5 week old right before I breastfeed him! I can’t wait to see when he begins to sign back!!! 😊😊

Following

Hey how are you? My name is Ashley I’m a preschool teacher at Goddard for eight years I have baby sat for 15 years also have a degree in child psychology and education and I am a mother of two boys, a 11-year-old and a one year old.

2 replies

So sign language is great to do with your kids as well as using picture cards, always talking to your children, involves music with them and different activities. Sign language is a great way to communicate with your child especially for their needs wants and self help skills. I think it’s great that you’re doing it early. I work with children that are six weeks old all the way to maybe two depending on if they have any disabilities but I can’t move to the next room in my classroom. The words we teach them is some of the following, yes, no, more, food, drink, milk, water, mommy, daddy, teacher, hello, goodbye, good morning, good afternoon, good night etc not too much now but they really do the signs It’s amazing to see

We started around 4-5 months when my daughter started eating/trying solids. We mostly just focused on the basics, but she picked it up like a champ. Almost every word she can say, or is attempting to say, she can also sign it. I think it helped a ton. We knew her hunger cues and stuff like that, but its amazing for her to be able to walk up and sign that shes hungry, or wants juice, or has to go potty.

1 reply

That’s so awesome! I think that sign language is a great way for children of any age to communicate! If they don’t feel like speaking, they are non-verbal, or they aren’t at the speaking age yet they can still communicate what they want or need at any given time! 😊

We have been using sign language with our LB since birth. He didn't have comprehension of it obviously at first but he is 4mo old and starting to understand it. (Not copying us yet) but we chose to start from birth as we are a partially deaf house and we also have mutism in my house so... sign language is a common occurrence. We wanted him to communicate with anyone so we're teaching him young

1 reply

Hey that’s awesome! Sign language is a necessary and great way of communication! I’ve always believed that learning ASL should be mandatory in schools! I’ve began signing to my LO and he’s only 5 weeks! I can’t wait to see his development and at what age he begins communicating back to me 😍😊

Read more on Peanut