Baby Sign Language: When, How and Why to Try It

Your baby may be a born communicator, but that doesn’t always mean you’ll always understand what he’s trying to say — especially in the first and second year, when communication (and comprehension) gaps between a little one and the parents who struggle to understand him can be big.

Your baby will likely develop the skills necessary to say his first word around 8 to 12 months of age (give or take a couple of months). Until then, baby sign language can be a really helpful tool.

What is baby sign language?

Baby sign language is an effective way to help your child communicate, allowing your non-verbal little one to express his needs before he knows how to use words.

Better communication, in turn, leads to smoother interactions and fewer frustrations (for both of you). It also boosts baby’s confidence as a communicator ("they get me!"), which spurs his motivation to keep communicating — first through signs, then through a mix of signs and sounds, and ultimately through words.

Will sign language slow baby’s verbal development?

Research suggests that by giving your baby an early method of communication, sign language can stimulate his desire to learn more communication techniques, including talking. Baby sign language gives him an effective way to engage with those around him, so he gets even more out of social experiences.

Signing with your baby means you’ll be spending more time talking with him too — and there’s no better way to help him learn to speak than speaking to him.

How to teach baby sign language

If your baby is about 8 to 9 months old, you’ve probably seen him wave goodbye or point to something he wants. He’s learned these gestures simply by watching and mimicking the adults in his life (that’s you!).

Teaching your baby sign language is as easy as repeating a gesture and saying the corresponding word when you have your baby’s attention. Once he starts to catch on that he can use gestures to communicate with you, he may surprise you with how quickly he learns baby sign language.

If you’d like to start using baby signs, speech-language pathologists recommend keeping these tips in mind:

• Sign on early. Begin teaching your baby sign language as soon as he shows an active interest in communicating with you — preferably by 8 or 9 months, though there’s no harm in getting into the signing habit earlier or later. Most babies will start signing back somewhere between 10 and 14 months.
• Sign as needed. Choose signs that are important, meaningful and useful to your child. These include signs that express his everyday needs — such as being hungry, thirsty and sleepy — and relate to his routines.
• Follow your baby’s signs. As their fine motor skills develop, many babies invent their own signs or modify signs. If yours does, always use the signs of his design, which are more meaningful to him.
• Speak and sign at the same time. Say the word out loud while doing baby sign language to ensure your baby connects the sign with the spoken word.
• Sign consistently. Ensure that your signs are consistent and frequent. Repetition is key: By seeing the same sign over and over, your baby will learn and imitate them more quickly.
• Put in face time. Children love to look at our faces and especially our eyes, so make signs close to your face and your baby will be more likely to notice them.
• Use the world around you. If you are signing for an object, make the sign close to or on top of the object.
• Reward him. Your baby is more apt to learn a sign if he gets what he’s asking for promptly. So if he signs for all done, acknowledge his communication verbally and take away his plate.
• Sign him up. If you want to go more formal, sign you and your baby up for a class on baby sign language (many hospitals, community centers and other organizations offer classes). Or look for books or online resources that teach baby sign language, many of which use the formal signs from American Sign Language (ASL).
• Sign up the whole family. The more people in baby’s life who can speak his language, the happier he’ll be. So aim to make siblings, grandparents, care providers and anyone else who spends a lot of time with your baby familiar with at least the most important signs.
• Know when to sign off. Signing, like all forms of communication, should develop naturally and at a little one’s own pace, without any pressure. If your little one seems frustrated by baby sign language, resists using them or shows signs of sign overload, don’t force the agenda. The idea is to reduce frustration for both of you, not add to it.
• Encourage your baby right from the beginning. When your child begins to imitate your signing, it likely won’t be perfect right away — so consider it sign language babbling. Acknowledge and respond to signs that are close to your signs, just like you would if it was perfect, to keep your baby interested and motivated to keep trying.

The best signs to teach baby

When you first start baby sign language, develop natural signs that work for you and your baby. Any simple gesture that fits a word or phrase well can work. A few suggestions that might come in handy:

• Sleep: Hands together and supporting a tilted head
• Hungry: A rubbed belly
• Eat/food: Tapping the tips of fingers to mouth (like you’re eating) with palm face down and thumb touching fingers
• Milk: Squeeze fingers in and out (like you’re squeezing a cow’s udder)
• Drink: A cupped hand placed to the mouth 
• More: Touch fingers to thumb on each hand and then touch hands together at the fingertips repeatedly
• All done: Fingers facing up, twist your hands back and forth
• Up: Arms up
• Down: Palm facing down, with index finger pointed to the ground, and then lowering hand
• Mommy: Tap your thumb to your chin (open palm, fingers facing up)
• Daddy: Tap your thumb to your forehead (open palm, fingers facing up)

Benefits of baby sign language

While most children can benefit from baby sign language, it can be especially valuable for children who start talking on the later side. Some kids find communicating frustrating, which results in behavior problems (tantrums, crying, screaming or hitting) when they’re not understood.

Studies have shown that language delays are a risk factor in behavior problems in babies and toddlers. Baby sign language can help to alleviate some of that frustration by offering a means of expression.

That said, while sign language is a great tool to encourage early development of language skills, it’s not a substitute for professional help. If you suspect your child may have a speech or language delay or hearing loss, talk to your child’s doctor.

He or she may refer your child to a licensed speech-language pathologist and/or audiologist for tests to diagnose or rule out any issues that require important follow-up help with a specialist.

Does baby sign language improve verbal skills?

Do baby signs signal a smarter future for your baby? Not necessarily.

Though a baby who’s able to sign definitely has an easier time communicating early on, studies have not shown that signing to your baby will enable him to speak sooner or give him a lasting language edge. And once a child can speak and be understood, the verbal gap between signing babies and those who skip signs seems to diminish and eventually disappear.

Baby sign language can make life a little easier during the preverbal stage, but it’s definitely not necessary — either for your relationship with your baby or his language development. So sign on to baby sign language if you’re feeling it, but if you’re not (or baby’s not), don’t feel compelled to keep it up.

Communicate with your little one any way that works and feels comfortable to you both (inevitably, some nonverbal communication will make its way into the mix on baby’s side, whether it’s gestures like pointing or assorted grunts and squeals — all of which can be surprisingly effective). Eventually the words will flow, and the communication gap will close.