Coo-ing, raspberries and babble: your baby's super sound system
Your baby will have been moving their mouth in different ways since before they were born. These movements won’t have been accompanied by any noise at first, and some of these will be involuntary reflexes, such as sucking and swallowing. Now you might notice your baby making shapes with their mouth, and beginning to make a few sounds. They may be blowing raspberries, gurgling and even watching you while they do this.
Crying, coo-ing and exploring sounds
As your baby begins to make sounds such as coo-ing, you may notice that they are crying less. They will begin to direct these sounds at you, looking at you and often making eye contact as they make them.
Now they are gaining more control of the movements of their mouth, lips and tongue they will experiment with the different sounds that they can make, like raspberries, and moving their tongue to make bubbles.[1]
Your baby is starting to develop the strength and control in muscle movements needed for speech. They will be beginning to move their tongue horizontally, vertically and in conjunction with their vocal folds, and they will have more control over these movements as they do them more often.[2]
Bring on the babble!
As your baby becomes more confident with making different sounds, they will start making even more of them! These are often soft vowel sounds, and noises that sound similar to giggles or laughter.[3] They will begin to babble and this will develop and sound like regular speech, with their babble taking on the rhythm and intonation of conversation.[4]
References:
[1] NHS Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. (2021). Speech and language development from birth to 12 months. Available: https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/conditions-and-treatments/procedures-and-treatments/speech-and-language-development-birth-12-months/.
[2] David Crystal (2007). How Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning, and Languages Live or Die. London: Avery. 82-83.
[3] NHS Berkshire Healthcare. (2021). Babbling and baby talk. Available: https://cypf.berkshirehealthcare.nhs.uk/support-and-advice/your-baby-and-you/babbling-and-baby-talk/.
[4] Wye Valley NHS Trust Speech Therapy. (2021). Talking with your baby . Available: https://www.wyevalley.nhs.uk/media/187248/SALT-LEAFLET-talking-with-your-baby-6-to-12-MONTHs-Job-No1238.pdf.