Moms Talk: 'Talking' With Your Baby

How do you or did you talk to your baby?

According to the experts, babies learn the most and are hardwired to copy these three moves in their earliest conversations: sticking out your tongue, opening your mouth wide and forming your lips into a pucker.

Almost from birth, babies can watch you and copy these three mouth formations, noted Sherri Hill, PhD, Early Childhood Policy Specialist. On Nov. 4, Hill spoke to a group of legal and social work professionals at Seattle University Law School, in an effort to bring real world data to the legal process that focuses on what's "in the best interests of the child."

Babies come into the world "relationship ready," according to Hill. They not only want to engage in a relationship with you, they need to. And at this age they do it with their eyes on you at close range. 

Much of early development involves "serve and return," or the baby watching and then immitating you, noted Hill. They learn to predict responses and how to interact with other humans this way--indispensible stuff.

During the first three years of life the child's brain is "building what is normal," said Hill. This is a lot of work given that a newborn's brain weighs about 400 grams, and grows to about 1100 grams by age 3. The adult brain? Only 1500 grams, so much of the work is done when it comes to creating the foundation of what feels normal.

Hill talked about the latest research on the development of babies, which now includes brainscans that can show what parts of the brain are firing. When live people interact with babies, the language portion of the brain lights up. But when a video-taped version of the same people doing the same things is shown to the babies, those areas of the brain do not light up. While the babies still respond to the video, it does not have the same impact on the brain, Hill said. She explained that this is because the brain needs both relationships and interaction.

Hill discussed a study where TV's are on in a household, even when not being watched, babies talked 15% less and the adults in those homes spoke 20% fewer words to their babies. Hill noted that the American Association of Pediatrics recommends no screen time before age 2. Fancy instructional videos can't take the place of just plain you.

We've all heard the saying, "The neurons that fire together, wire together."

So go ahead, open your mouth wide, pucker your lips and stick out your tongue. Babies need lots of input, so exagerate, go slow and be patient.