How you can build your baby's vocabulary -- even before she's born!

Talking is an important milestone that your baby achieves with time. But there is a lot you can do to help your baby blurt out words and build her vocabulary. In fact you can start even before your baby is born. Here is how you can help:

Talk to your baby-bump: Your baby's hearing gets stimulated sometime during the 20^th week of your pregnancy. Start talking to your baby-bump from that time to connect with your baby. This stimulates hearing in the fetus by developing new synapses in the brain and helping in recognizing words and phrases later.

Talk to your newborn: Just because your newborn doesn't talk to you, you shouldn't be doing the same. Talk often to your baby and with a smile, she would respond with cooing and gurgling around two months onwards. This is first step she takes in learning to talk.

Read picture books: You can introduce your baby to books at around six months of age. The hidden benefit is that it is a great way to start introducing your baby to the world of speech and words. Read 6 ways to help your baby talk soon.

Initiate small talks and conversations: By around eight or 12 months your baby will blurt out those magical words 'mama' and 'papa' though will not be able to associate you or your partner with those words. But this is also the time when babies look for more one on one interaction too. So ask her 'where is papa?' and point out to the person. Then ask her the same question and wait for the answer.

Take help of an app: If you are worried about your child's speech development try a new app called Called ChildChat, this can help you keep a track of speech, language and communication development of your toddler. It also gives you access to resources, support, guides and local contacts in case you need assistance with your child's speech development. 'The idea is that with the easily accessible resources, support and contacts at your fingertips, you will ask for advice or help earlier on if the need be,' says Kristi Rabbitt, a speech and language therapy student at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

When should you worry about your child's speech development?

Delayed speech in an otherwise playful, active and healthy baby can also mean there is some other trouble elsewhere that needs attention, such as:

Oral impairments: Delayed speech can be associated with a physiological problem in the tongue or the palate. A short frenulum, the fold beneath the tongue, can limit the movement of the tongue and delay speech production.

Oral-motor problems: This means insufficient functioning in the areas of the brain responsible for speech production. This also results in difficulty in co-ordination with the lips, tongue and jaws to produce speech. Another significant sign that points to oral-motor problem is difficulty in feedings, like trouble in chewing and swallowing solid foods.

Hearing problem: Speech development in babies depend on a simple principle of 'listen and learn'. The more you talk to your baby the more he is introduced to words, phrases and sentences. This opens a whole new world of words for him. He listens, absorbs and tries to reproduce the words later. Hence it is always advised to talk to the newborn and toddler often to initiate speech development. If you have done your part well and still your baby fails to respond, it can indicate that he is suffering from a hearing problem. Hearing problem are commonly related to delayed speech. A child who has trouble hearing may have trouble articulating as well as understanding, imitating, and using language. Also ear infections in the initial months of the life can affect hearing. As long as there is normal hearing in at least one ear, speech and language will develop normally.

Image source:Getty Images

You may also like to read:

• 5 reasons why crying is good for your baby
• How to manage your baby's colic
• 8 important weaning foods for your baby

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