Bababa. Dadada. Mamama. Your baby’s babbles may be cute, but they also serve an important purpose. These early vocalizations are an essential part of their language development. Through babbling, your baby explores all the interesting sounds they can create with their mouth and voice. Eventually, with practice, those sounds turn into recognizable words. Here’s what to know about babbling, when it emerges, and how to respond to your baby to help them learn how to talk.

In this article:

• What is babbling?
• When do babies start babbling?
• Why is babbling important?
• Does your baby’s babbling mean anything?
• How does babbling develop into speech?
• Why do babies screech or squeal?
• How to encourage babbling
• Activities that inspire babbling, stage by stage
• Developmental concerns with babbling

What is babbling?

Babbling is one of the first ways your baby tests out expressive language. Before they can form words that you can actually understand, they practice by babbling. Babies typically begin babbling with consonant-vowel combinations like bababa or mamamama.

When do babies start babbling?

Babbling usually begins at around 5 to 9 months, but for some babies, it starts a little later. Before they start to babble, your baby will likely start to coo—typically between 1 and 4 months of age. Cooing sounds slightly different and is primarily made up of vowel sounds, like ooooh or aaaah. 

 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists babbling as a language development milestone at 9 months. This means that an estimated 75% of babies are babbling by this age.

Why is babbling important?

Babbling is an important step toward learning to say words. As your baby babbles, they learn to use their mouth and tongue in various ways to create distinct sounds. They experiment with different mouth movements and breathing. All this prepares them to imitate the words they hear you and other caregivers speak. 

The social aspect of babbling is important as well. Your responses to your baby’s vocalizations help them learn the meaning of words as well as the rhythm of conversation. If your baby directs their babbles toward an object, for example, you can identify and label it for them: “Yes, that’s your bottle. Ba-ba-ba.” You can also respond with a word that sounds similar to their babble: “Yes, I’m your mama! Ma-ma-ma.” These kinds of “conversations” introduce new vocabulary, language patterns, and the speaking and listening roles of conversing.

Does your baby’s babbling mean anything?  

Much of your baby’s early babbling isn’t recognizable as words. They’re simply experimenting with sounds and learning how to move their mouth in different ways. As their babbling progresses, you may be able to pick out sounds that are similar to words, like mama or baba.

How does babbling develop into speech?

Babies typically go through different stages of babbling as they gradually develop more control of their mouth, tongue, and breathing. The age ranges noted below are based on averages, but each child’s timeline is unique. Your baby’s may differ.

Chain babbling—babababa or aaaaaaaah: between 4 and 6.5 months 

As your baby learns how to coordinate their lips, tongue, and jaw movements, you may hear a more consistent string of single-consonant and single-vowel sounds, such as babababababa.

Babbling double consonants—baba: between 5 and 9 months

Making a simple double consonant sound like baba is actually more difficult than the longer bababababa of chain babbling. This stage is sometimes referred to as reduplicated babbling. These shorter sounds require more breath control as well as lip, jaw, and tongue coordination.

Babbling a single consonant—ba: between 8 and 12 months

After your baby has been babbling strings of consonant sounds for a while, they may begin to shorten their vocalizations to a single consonant, like ba. Single-consonant sounds are more challenging to make because they require greater breath control. To encourage your baby, you can respond to their double consonant sounds with a single one.

Babbling combinations: between 6 and 12 months

Combining different single-consonant sounds—like ba-ma or ma-ba-dee—is known as variegated babbling. Your baby can now produce a greater variety of sound combinations instead of just repeating a single sound. With this type of babbling, your baby is getting closer to forming recognizable words.

Babbling with inflection: between 12 and 18 months

Your baby learns how to control their breathing and sounds through practice. Over time, they develop the ability to add different inflections to their vocalizations the way adults do. For instance, your baby may end a string of babbles with a rise in pitch, like a question, or get louder, like an exclamation. They may convey great emotion or become a storyteller, babbling on and on ❤️ 

Why do babies screech or squeal?

Once your baby has been babbling for a while, you may be surprised to hear them screech or squeal­—loudly 🙃 This is a common form of vocalization at around 6.5 to 8 months of age. Child development professionals consider it a sign of a noteworthy cognitive event: Your baby is learning they have a voice and that adults will respond to it.

Knowing how to respond when your baby makes loud noises in public can be tricky. Rather than ignore them, try using both nonverbal and verbal communication. Eye contact, gestures, and facial expressions are all powerful ways of connecting with your baby. In a quiet voice, narrate what you think they may be trying to say—for example, “Oh! I hear you. You are noticing Daddy’s pancakes. I will give you some. Yum!”Responding to your baby’s sounds—even screechy ones—motivates them to keep trying to learn language. Soon, their screeches will become words 😉

How to encourage babbling

Encouraging your baby to babble can be as simple as responding as if you understood what they just said.

Repeat and expand

If your baby makes an ahhhhh sound, try saying ahhhh, baaaa, and maaaa. Or, if they babble bababa, you might answer with baba, mama, and dada. These playful back-and-forths can make your baby feel understood and encourage them to make more new sounds.

You can also incorporate babbling sounds into songs. Sing the tune of a familiar song, but use just one consonant sound instead of the actual lyrics. For example, sing, “Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba” to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” 

These interactions create a positive cycle. The more you respond to your baby’s vocalizations, the more they’ll experiment with language—and the sooner they’re likely to talk.

Pause and wait

After responding to your baby’s babbles, pause for a few seconds and look to see how they react. They may need a moment or two to think about your reply and what to do next. Your pause is a nonverbal signal that you expect them to respond. They may attempt to copy the sounds you made. See how many times you can go back and forth.

Make conversation

Once your baby learns how to make those initial vocalizations, they may begin to babble back and forth with you, almost like a real conversation. Respond to their babbles right away to encourage them. You can repeat their sounds or respond as though you know exactly what they’re saying: “Oh, really? I can’t believe it!” All of this reinforces the idea that talking is a social exchange ❤️

Look and label

If your baby babbles while looking at an object or person, say the name of whatever or whomever has caught their attention. For example, if your baby babbles when they see a dog, try pointing to the animal and saying dog with emphasis. This helps your baby link words with real-life objects. When you look at the same object together, you practice “joint attention”—research links these moments to strong vocabulary and language development.

Encourage self-talk

Between 12 and 18 months, your baby’s babbles may start to have all of the inflections, pitch, and rhythm found in adult conversation—just without intelligible words 🙂

Exploring and practicing different sounds helps strengthen your baby’s mouth and vocal cords. You may notice your baby babbling when they wake up from a nap or play independently. This kind of monologue—known as “crib talk”—helps strengthen their mouth, so  let it go uninterrupted when you can.

Activities that inspire babbling, stage by stage

Playtime also offers great opportunities for your baby to practice babbling. Try these games and activities to encourage their language development.

Ma-ma-ma mirror play: 7 to 8 months

If your baby is working on repeating consonant-vowel babbling—for example, ba-ba and ma-ma, this activity may prompt them to practice those sounds:

• Hold the Framed Mirror in front of you and your baby so they can look at both your mouth and their own.
• Speak their language. Say, “Ma-ma-ma” and “Ba-ba-ba.”
• Point to your mouth as you speak and give your child time to respond.
• When they do, listen attentively. This tells them that their sounds are important and effective.

Storytime dialogue: 7 to 9 months

Research has found that playfully mimicking your baby’s babbles can accelerate their language skills. Storytime is an ideal setting for this ❤️

• Sit with your baby and look at a favorite book together. Babies often enjoy books with photos—like My First Signs or any of the books in Lovevery Book Bundles.
• When your baby babbles, listen with interest.
• Respond by repeating the same sounds back to them.

This turns the “reading” experience into a two-way dialogue. It also tells your baby that you value their sounds and interests—inspiring them to offer you more. Centering this exchange around a book also sets the stage for a love of reading later. 

Name that plaything: 7 to 10 months

At around 7 months of age, your baby may start experimenting with intonation and volume as they form what are known as “proto-sounds.” These vocalizations are similar to adult language but with a drawn-out vowel, like baaaa. The b sound is typically one of the first babies make when they begin to babble consistently.

You can create opportunities for your baby to practice vocalizing by starting back-and-forth verbal exchanges that intentionally include many initial b sounds.

• Place a few playthings with a name that begins with the letter b in the Treasure Basket to guide your conversation. Some ideas: a ball from the Wooden Ball Set, the picture of the baby in the First Puzzle and the My First Signs book.
• Take the objects out, one by one, and name them, emphasizing the b sound. Make eye contact with your baby so they’re more likely to see your lips move. Seeing how your mouth forms the sound may help them learn how to imitate it.
• Repeating the same sound to your baby may motivate them to try recreating it through babbling. This is an early step toward expressive language ❤️

Approximating words: 11 to 12 months

As your baby approaches their first birthday, they may be learning how to shorten their long strings of babbling into sounds that more closely resemble words. You may notice them trying to imitate your sounds. At this age, when your baby repeatedly uses the same babble to refer to a particular person or object—like ba for bottle—it counts as a word.

Try encouraging your baby’s attempts to speak with the “Things I See” Texture Cards.

• Point to and name the realistic images on the cards to expose your baby to some common words.
• Enunciate the words clearly again and again.
• Pause to see if your baby imitates a sound or makes a word approximation.
• If they do, repeat it back to them.

Developmental concerns with babbling

Since babbling helps lay the foundation for your child’s language development, it’s considered an important skill. Being aware of changes in your baby’s vocalization can help you see how their language development is progressing.

Below are a few of the major language and communication developments to look for during the first year of life.

At around 6 months, your baby may:

• Make sounds
• Express some vocal form of happiness or frustration, such as laughing, grunting, and screaming.
• Respond to changes in your tone of voice.

At around 9 months your baby may:

• Smile back at you. 
• Show interest in faces, sounds, or moving objects. 
• Engage in back-and-forth sound-making exchanges.

At around 12 months your toddler may:

• Use gestures as part of their communication.
• Consistently use at least one word or word approximation. 
• Intentionally take turns with you during conversation.

If you have concerns about your baby’s language development, please reach out to their pediatrician.  The doctor can assess your baby’s overall development and answer any questions.

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