Communicating With Your Baby Using Sign Language

It's a great way to communicate with your baby and something I really think I'll be trying myself when I do finally have kids of my own.

A friend (and recent first time mother) was asking on Facebook the other day if anyone she knew had tried teaching their baby sign language. At first I thought "really?" and then I looked into a bit. Seems this is actually a wonderful way for babies to communicate with their parents and ask for what they want even before they have the ability to speak.

According to babysignlanguage.com, babies as young as six months can use simple signs to communicate their needs. And research shows that using sign language has a lot of developmental benefits, like learning to speak earlier and having a larger vocabulary.

So how can you get started signing with your child?

Babysignlanguage.com has all sorts of kits and videos that can help. They also provide parents with ten simple signs to get started.

And other sites, like Parenting.com, offer readers 21 signs for every day items like "more", "done", "change" and "eat" that can help your baby tell you exactly what they need when they need it.

As for the friend on Facebook, lots of parents weighed in on her question saying they had in fact used baby sign language with their children. They loved it, said it was incredibly helpful and encouraged her to give it a try.

So how about you? Have you tried communicating with your baby through sign language? Would you give it a shot?