All sorts of weird and wonderful noises come out of babies’ mouths, from soft cooing and babbling to big loud yells! Why not try to have a chat by making those noises right back at them?

At this stage, copying your baby lets them know that you’re listening, even though the conversation could get noisy! When you’re talking to your baby, try to leave some short pauses so they can answer with a little babble – it’s all helping them learn how to have a conversation.

Babies also love it when you talk to them in a high-pitched, sing-song voice: you’ve probably heard grannies at bus stops use it countless times before! But if you run out of things to say, don’t despair - just look around you. Birds, trees, cars, clouds - everything is new to your wee one, and it’s never too early to start naming things and pointing out what you see. It’ll help encourage their curiosity about the world and give you both lots to babble about!