Baby Sign Language: Communicating with Your Infant Before Words

Don’t let the baby babble fool you—long before she perfects her first word, your baby’s brain is primed and eager to tackle the world of language.

From the moment they enter the world, babies are sifting through sounds and phonemes to determine which sounds have meaning, and which don’t. The most pivotal stage of child development and language learning is the first 3 years, but in their first year, moms can use gestures, facial expressions, and basic baby sign language (BSL).

Below, find our guide to BSL or baby sign language basics, plus some remarkable insights on how babies communicate and connect.

What is baby sign language (BSL)?

Most people tend to conflate speech and language, but in babyhood, all humans express themselves through gestures, a foundation of child care and child development. Deaf or hard-of-hearing babies show us something remarkable about human language acquisition: a growing baby “does not discriminate on whether language should be spoken or signed,” showcasing the importance of baby sign language basics.

Baby sign language borrow from the American Sign Language (ASL) used by the deaf community. Where ASL is a nuanced, complex language in its own right, BSL adapts and simplifies some of its gestures to facilitate infants’ ability to express themselves, introducing them to basic signs and simple gestures. This adaptation is crucial for child care and enhances language skills.

Some sample gestures used by both ASL and BSL include:

• Mommy
• Daddy
• Hungry
• Eat
• Milk
• More
• All done
• Cold

A glance at this index indicates that BSL signs taught to infants typically focus on helping babies express and meet their most basic needs: sleeping, eating, feeling comfortable, and connection. While parents can embellish their household’s vocabulary with gestures of their own, it’s these core needs you’ll likely want to focus on in your child’s first year to develop baby signing.

When can babies start using BSL? 

Most babies can start learning sign language by observing their caregiver(s) around 6 months old, beginning their own sign use by around 9 months old.

Often, simply repeating a gesture and its corresponding object or action helps teach your baby to use and understand the sign for themselves. If you live in a speaking household, saying the word or action in conjunction with the gesture can reinforce their speech capacities as well as their gestural communication enhancing language skills.

Additionally, using BSL has been associated with the following benefits:

• Helping your baby develop and refine their motor skills
• Encouraging long-term language learning and development
• Diversifying your baby’s self-expression skill set
• Meeting infants’ need for positive interaction from caregivers
• Fostering a supportive, encouraging home environment
• Giving parents more ways to connect with their baby, reinforcing the parent-child bond

When do babies start to communicate?

Depending on your definition of “communication,” you might say babies start their language acquisition journey in utero when they first learn to recognize their mother’s voice.

However, most people agree that a milestone in infant language development is the moment they articulate their first word. Before that moment, most babies make these strides in their first year, showcasing the early stages of baby signing and language skills:

• Several weeks old – Cooing and giggling are among the first proto-language formulations most babies use. Because they don’t yet understand the complexities of adult language, these utterances are likely to be in response to sensory stimuli—like during feeding or when a family pet nuzzles their head.
• 3 to 4 months – Eye contact, babble, and an experimental/avant-garde/freestyle assemblage of vowels of consonants (“goo-goo,” “ga-ga,” and so on).
• 5 to 7 months – Mimicking speakers’ non-speech sounds, like laughing, coughing, or sputtering their mouths (“raspberries”). Infants may also start to mirror your gestures and continue freestyling vowel-consonant combinations. Around month 6, many babies make one of the most significant developments in their first year of language acquisition: learning to understand your use of the word no.
• 8 to 9 months – At this stage, you may notice a subtle difference in your baby’s utterances: they’ll begin inflecting their speech with new tones and rhythms that may even sound musical.

Around this time, many infants articulate a version of their first word: Now is the time to keep your ears peeled for their first “mama” or “dada!” Many pick up their first words via mirroring—so while they won’t quite know their words’ precise meaning, they have a sense that it’ll achieve a certain kind of reaction (and they’ll use it until they get what they want!).

• 10 to 11 months – Nearing their first birthday, your baby will likely begin to claim their seat as a bona fide conversationalist. They’re just beginning to use their language faculties to express their needs and feelings—brace yourself for interjections like “no!” (or a version of it), or emphatically waving hello to you when it’s time to wake up!

By one-year-old, many babies are finally able to use some words and fully grasp their meaning. Most will say their first word between 10 and 15 months old. Sometimes, these words aren’t fully formed—for instance, they may use individual phonemes (phonic parts of speech) in place of a full word, like “bah!” for “bottle.” But so long as their message comes across, know that they’re swiftly making progress!

Tips for Communicating with Your Baby

Babies are more likely to pick up on signing if you practice it consistently. Fortunately, the basic gestures in BSL can seamlessly integrate into the routines you two share, like nursing or bottle time, bedtime, or playing.

When beginning with sign language, it can help to stick to a few gestures and repeat them often, rather than introducing your child to a range of complex signs. It can also help to:

• Make and maintain eye contact – Eye contact is one of the foremost communicative tools your baby uses in the first weeks and months of life. In infant-mother bonding studies, some researchers call this “direction of gaze,” noting that “gaze coordination” between mom and baby enhances bonding.
• Listen actively – Active listening with infants has a great deal to do with body language. Infants can pick up on “positive” vs. “negative” interactions. When using BSL, be sure to completely face your baby, angling your body towards them with an open, receptive posture.

The more actively you listen, the better you’ll be able to observe the signals your child is sending—however subtle! When it seems like they’ve made a connection, you can encourage their learning (and grow your bond) with positive reinforcement—whether a kiss, a cuddle, grabbing their tiny hands, or an elated “You did it!”

• Use facial expressions – Studies indicate that infants possess nearly the full emotional range of adults when it comes to communicating through facial expressions. Babies are highly attuned to your facial cues by just 3 months, so animating your face can help you connect as well as forge an emotional connection. Smiling, nodding, and otherwise expressing enthusiasm helps build trust as well as cement word-meaning links they’re making internally.
• Try different tones – Saying words while signing them can help lay the grooves for complex language development later. You can also vary the tone, timbre, and rhythm of your voice to engage your baby.

As your little one grows and becomes more adept at communicating through baby sign language, another exciting developmental milestone looms on the horizon: the introduction of solid foods. Just as early communication opens up a new avenue for interaction, introducing your baby to solid foods paves the way for exploring a world of tastes and textures. Starting with the right time to introduce solid foods, to choosing the best first foods, and understanding when babies can have cheese or meat is integral to their growth and development. This transition not only nurtures their bodies but also continues to build the bond between you and your baby as you guide them through these new sensory experiences.

Early Communication with Your Child: Why It Matters

Communication is the bridge between a human being’s internal life and the outside world. When young babies are given the tools to build that bridge early, they get a headstart on language acquisition and experience the emotional support and trust they’ll use in the lifetime of learning ahead of them, fostering child development and parent-child bonding.

In fact, early communications with infants are associated with:

• Laying the groundwork for language learning – Long before babies’ language faculties are fully developed, their brains are hard at work fielding and interpreting stimuli from their environment. Communicating with babies—whether through BSL or simply including them at the dinner table—helps expose them to language patterns they’ll need for the rest of their lives.
• Building emotional intelligence – For infants, expressing emotional needs can be as vital as physical ones. With enhanced exposure to language early on, they’ll have more tools to express what they’re feeling and have those emotions understood and validated by their caregivers.
• Supporting social skills – Responsive caregiving through communication helps babies learn that they’re not alone and that self-expression is one of their primary ways to connect to and feel loved by others.

Additionally, communicating with your baby before they’ve even spoken their first words is instrumental for forming secure attachment styles they’ll keep for life. If nothing else, making an effort to communicate early (using BSL or a system that’s unique to your household) helps them feel heard, seen, and connected at this precious stage.

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Sarah Cacia

Sarah Cacia, currently leading as the Director of Business Development at Gateway Genomics, parent company of SneakPeek, brings an impressive blend of bioengineering expertise and clinical business acumen. Her extensive experience, marked by roles at renowned institutions like Genentech and UC San Diego's Cardiac Mechanics Research Group, underpins her deep understanding of biotechnology and clinical research. A UC San Diego alumna with a Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering: BioSystems, Sarah's rich professional background empowers her to provide authoritative insights into the cutting-edge developments in the field.

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