If you’ve ever found yourself talking to your baby in what you think is a ‘silly’ voice, you’re not being silly, you’re just using Baby Talk – and it’s very beneficial to your baby!
What is Baby Talk?
Baby Talk is something most of us do without thinking when talking to babies and children! It’s a style of talking where your voice takes on a higher-pitched singsong-like quality. More specifically, when using Baby Talk, you’ll find yourself speaking in shorter sentences at a much slower speed. You may also start using shorter, simplified, and sometimes made-up words; you’ll likely drag these words out, particularly if they include vowels. For example, below is a sentence you might say to an adult, followed by the Baby Talk version you may use when talking to your little one:
“Are you feeling a little bit tired, shall we go up to bed soon?”
“Is someone feeling a bit sleepy, is it time for bedibise?”
The intensity of your Baby Talk usually depends on the age of the baby/child you are talking to. If you’re talking to a really young baby, you might use a very exaggerated form of baby talk: making your voice’s pitch vary from very low to very high and taking a long time to say each word. However, if you’re talking to a toddler, your Baby Talk might only be evident from a slightly higher-pitch and using shorter, more simplified sentences.
There are also a lot of other names for this kind of speech, including:
Child-directed speech (CDS) – often the term used in developmental research
Child-directed language (CDL)
Infant-directed speech (IDS)
Care-taker speech
Caregiver register
Parentese/motherese
How can Baby Talk benefit your baby?
So, what is the point in talking to your child with such a strange dialect? Well, there are many benefits to using Baby Talk when communicating with your little one:
Improving you & your child's emotional bond
This is because the positive cheerful voice used in Baby Talk helps your baby to know they are loved and cared for.
Improving your child's social skills
Babies learn about so many social cues from faces and Baby Talk encourages them to notice faces more. This is because it is often accompanied by happy, smiling faces – the type of expressions babies love to look at.
Improving your child's language skills
Studies have found that babies prefer listening to Baby Talk over regular styles of speech, therefore they will pay better attention to you when you’re using it. This means they are likely to develop their language more quickly and effectively. Developmental researchers have also found babies who are spoken to with Baby Talk often pick up words faster and will start to mimic their own pre-language babbling based on the intonations used in the Baby Talk they are hearing.
How to use Baby Talk most effectively
Now you know why Baby Talk is so important, here are some top tips on how you can use it most effectively:
1. Talk often
Talk with your baby as often as you can, the more they hear you talk the more they will get the benefits from the experience.
2. One-on-one communication
Wherever possible, try to spend time talking to your baby alone. This will help them focus on you and your Baby Talk and allow them to attend to it more readily.
3. Keep eye-contact
In order to keep your baby engaged, try to keep good eye contact and refrain from interrupting them when they respond to you – even if it’s just non-sensible babbling! This will let them know you’re interested in their response.
4. Include “Grown-up Talk”
Although we’ve established how important Baby Talk is, it is also helpful to speak to your little one using regular speech – this helps them to understand how standard conversations sound.
Take home message...
Baby Talk is a style of speaking that most people will naturally use when talking to babies and children. Although it would be a very strange way to talk to adults, it’s really helpful when conversing with your little one as it can improve their language acquisition and facilitate their emotional bond with you. Baby Talk includes talking to your baby with a slower speed and with a higher variance of pitch and is most effective when used often while keeping eye-contact with them. It’s also important to try and communicate using Baby Talk when it’s just you and your baby in the room but also in conjunction with typical adult style speech.
About the author
Alice is our Marketing Executive and also a developmental psychologist. She is currently studying as a PhD student at the University of Birmingham within the Birmingham BabyLab. Her research involves exploring how babies develop a sense of self-awareness, creating and using a new virtual reality system to do so.
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