Communication
Your child is going to have needs. For many parents this can be one of the most frustrating parts of parenthood. You had a baby and now all they do is cry and you aren't sure what they need and what you can do to help. There are certain things you can do to make both your life and your baby's life for these first few years significantly easier:
The first six months of a child's life they aren't going to be needing much other than attention, food, and diaper changes. They want to know they're safe and some will be more attached to their parents than others. As they get older they will start wanting different things and this is where the language barrier can be incredibly frustrating, fortunately American Sign Language was created as a way to speak without speaking and children happen to be very good at picking it up.
When teaching these gestures to your little one, it's imperitive you allow them to mimic you and you demonstrate as your stating what the sign is for. If you're giving your baby some milk, you could say here is your milk and squeeze your fist with the other hand next to it so your little one can associate that gesture with milk. It does take a bit of time for your littles to associate these but once they get it it makes communication so much easier for everyone. The other thing to look out for is their gestures aren't going to be exact. Remember babies signing is similar to babies talking, there's going to be some interpretation needed to understand what they're trying to say. Keep your head up and keep signing when you say things, littles are very quick studies and pick up on this stuff faster than you might think.
There's plenty of resources to learn more signs to teach your little one but here are a few of our favorites to help you both understand one another:
Food
Pinch all fingers of your dormant hand together with your thumb and gesture your hand up toward your mouth. The action should look similar to pinching a grape between all five fingers and bringing it to your mouth.
Milk
Extremely useful with your little one and very easy to teach, this involves squeezing your hand into a fist and releasing. Typically babies will do this to or three times to clearly convey what they need.
Water
With your dominant hand, hold up your first three fingers (Pointer, Middle, and Ring) and tap the edge of the pointer finger against your mouth. Your hand is in the shape of a W which helps remind for water.
Done
Both hands are used for this gesture. Splay out all fingers of both hands and rotate them back and forth from palms out to palms in. This is used to indicate completion, typically with food or a play item.
More
This gesture involves pinching your fingers on both hands together and touching all fingers at the tips multiple times. This gesture is great because it can be used in a variety of areas such as more food, more water, or more play.
Mom
This gesture involves the hand splayed out with the thumb pressed against your chin
Grandma
Similar to mom, this gesture starts with the hand splayed and thumb against your chin, but then involves you keeping you hand in that gesture and holding it approximately three inches from your face and then going further out and holding that gesture approximately six inches from your face.
Dad
Like Mom, this gesture involves keeping your hand splayed with your thumb against your face, except here we're going to have it pressed against your forehead.
Grandpa
Following the same format as grandma, you'll start with your hand splayed in the dad position, then extend approximately three inches out, pause, then again extend out to six inches.
Poop
With your non-dominant hand, hold a fist. With your dominant hand, hold a fist with your thumb sticking into the inside of your non-dominant hand. Once put together, then pull your dominant hand down so your thumb comes out the bottom of your non-dominant hand, similar to the function of pooping.
Pee
Middle finger should touch nose with index finger pointed to ceiling. Keep all other fingers clenched.
Toilet
Chench your hand into a fist. Take your thumb and stick it between your ring and pointer finger, then twist your wrist back and forth.
Always remember any additional questions can be answered by your pediatrician. If you don't have one, we would recommend calling your local clinic or hospital and having them advise you how to get started with one.