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Babies absolutely will still communicate by utterance, gaze, reach, and body language what they want. My son has a particular cry that means either that he want

Babies absolutely will still communicate by utterance, gaze, reach, and body language what they want. My son has a particular cry that means either that he wants food, wants to comfort nurse, or wants water. When we hear that my wife and I can just present those three things one by one and he’ll select what he wants. Don’t feel like you have to follow this advice.

HumblyTossed 2y ago
> Babies absolutely will still communicate by utterance, gaze, reach, and body language what they want. Oh, I totally get that. But SL makes it that much easier. > Don’t feel like you have to follow this advice. I wasn't commanding anyone to do something. Good Grief.
lolinder 2y ago
Certainly no one should feel obligated to follow anyone's advice! There's too much contradictory parenting advice going around to be able to follow it all. That said, there's a marked difference between the kinds of assymetrical communication that you're describing and baby sign language. We've done sign with each of our three children and it's remarkable to watch them pick it up—they clearly understand that these hand gestures are words that carry specific meaning and get a lot of delight out of learning and applying them correctly and being mimicked and understood. The language center of the brain clearly develops much faster than the parts responsible for controlling the tongue, and sign gives them a great outlet for that language. Also, you don't have to do anything complicated to give them just a little bit of sign, so unlike a lot of parenting advice it's not difficult to try out. Just say a word while making a sign (ASL if you want but we'll sometimes just make up one on the spot) and then give them the thing or do the thing. "More", "water", "milk", "diaper", "good night", "up"—just pick one and try it! Once you start and see their delight it's hard to stop.
- munchbunny 2y ago
  > Certainly no one should feel obligated to follow anyone's advice! There's too much contradictory parenting advice going around to be able to follow it all. As one of many, many parents, my observation has been that there is so much contradictory parenting advice because there is so much variation in the kids, in terms of behaviors, personalities, the order in which they bootstrap their motor vs verbal skills, body awareness, etc., etc. As a result, consuming parenting advice is like going down a checklist of things to try, and the kid won’t respond to most of it.
d1sxeyes 2y ago
Of course you don’t have to, but I don’t think this was intended as an instruction, rather as helpful advice. I would second it, my son still uses a few signs (especially “sorry”) even now he’s two.

HumblyTossed 2y ago

> Babies absolutely will still communicate by utterance, gaze, reach, and body language what they want. Oh, I totally get that. But SL makes it that much easier. > Don’t feel like you have to follow this advice. I wasn't commanding anyone to do something. Good Grief.

lolinder 2y ago

Certainly no one should feel obligated to follow anyone's advice! There's too much contradictory parenting advice going around to be able to follow it all. That said, there's a marked difference between the kinds of assymetrical communication that you're describing and baby sign language. We've done sign with each of our three children and it's remarkable to watch them pick it up—they clearly understand that these hand gestures are words that carry specific meaning and get a lot of delight out of learning and applying them correctly and being mimicked and understood. The language center of the brain clearly develops much faster than the parts responsible for controlling the tongue, and sign gives them a great outlet for that language. Also, you don't have to do anything complicated to give them just a little bit of sign, so unlike a lot of parenting advice it's not difficult to try out. Just say a word while making a sign (ASL if you want but we'll sometimes just make up one on the spot) and then give them the thing or do the thing. "More", "water", "milk", "diaper", "good night", "up"—just pick one and try it! Once you start and see their delight it's hard to stop.

munchbunny 2y ago
> Certainly no one should feel obligated to follow anyone's advice! There's too much contradictory parenting advice going around to be able to follow it all. As one of many, many parents, my observation has been that there is so much contradictory parenting advice because there is so much variation in the kids, in terms of behaviors, personalities, the order in which they bootstrap their motor vs verbal skills, body awareness, etc., etc. As a result, consuming parenting advice is like going down a checklist of things to try, and the kid won’t respond to most of it.

d1sxeyes 2y ago

Of course you don’t have to, but I don’t think this was intended as an instruction, rather as helpful advice. I would second it, my son still uses a few signs (especially “sorry”) even now he’s two.