How much do you talk to your baby?

[Anonymous]

I am the mother of a 12 week old baby and I am wondering how much i should talk to my baby. I get tired of making baby talk so fast. And we often find ourselves in total silence and then i feel guilty. How much did you talk to your baby? What is too little? I dont have baby small talk in me. My husband is much better at it but he's at work all day.

[Anonymous]

I don't do baby talk - never have. I am a talker though so I tend to narrate our activities but if she's content on her blanket or in her bouncer I'm not chattering constantly. That's exhausting!

[Anonymous]

I started talking to my son more when he started "talking." He would make cooing noises and I would talk back and he would smile and I would talk, etc. I didn't do too much talking before he starting making his own noises. I was too tired most of the time.

[Anonymous]

I had to really force myself to talk to my infant. I knew I was supposed to so I just tried to talk or sing.

That said, it gets SO MUCH EASIER when they get older and more interactive. Now I can't shut up around my 17 month old - constantly laughing at her, asking her questions, and reacting to her nonstop babble and random words.

[Anonymous]

I am not good at it... I wasn't with the first and I am not with my second. I like silence so I tend not to disturb the quiet when the house is settled. With that said, my infant hears chatting between my first and I throughout the day... I do talk to the baby whenever I remember that I should be doing it though!

[Anonymous]

I talked to my little girl all the time when she was a baby. I would narrate everything as we walked (I usually carried her in a carrier vs stroller so she was closer to me) and when I did stuff around the house "look, daddy's red shirt" as I'm folding laundry.

[Anonymous]

I had a hard time when my daughter was a newborn, because I felt like I was talking to myself. I got used to it by doing a lot of reading aloud to her. Now she's eight months and I (we) talk to her constantly - narrating what we're doing, what she's doing, making up silly songs...it's just sort of become a habit.

[Anonymous]

I too have talked to my baby a lot. Like the others said, narrating things, singing. But also having "conversations" where I respond to what I imagine she is "saying" when i ask her if she wants to do this or that, etc. But I find it very fun. However, there are also plenty of times when I'm silent. Noone needs constant stimulation (well, I don't, anyway, and my baby doesn't seem to need it either).

[Anonymous]

I read and talked to her all the time. ALL the time. I narrated my day. I sang. As she got older, it was interesting to see her start talking back to me and picking up on things that I didn't think she was picking up on.

"They" say it is good for them. I have no basis for comparison but will say that she is VERY verbal and had a pretty decent vocabulary. Don't know if all the talking, explaining and reading helped with that or not. Regardless, I don't regret it.

[Anonymous]

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/talking-to-baby-in-the-stroller/

[Anonymous]

Constantly? Then again, I wasn't a SAHM after she turned 2 months, so I wasn't really put to the test, so to speak! <-- barum, ching!

[Anonymous]

Don't think you have to do it *constantly*, but singing and talking to the baby as much as you can manage when the baby is alert is great for the baby's language development. I started reading books to my daughter very early, narrated the day, sang songs during changing, bathing, etc., just like PPs.

[Anonymous]

If I don't know what to talk about....I ramble. I tell DC about errands I need to run, laundry I need to do, presents I need to get for family and friends...whatever comes to mind.

[Anonymous]

i honestly didn't make any real effort until she started talking (12months), now that she's 17 months and very verbal i talk to her nonstop and help her with her language development/words all the time......to be honset b/f that i was too tired and didn't have the energy to do any major chatting with her just bits here and there.....sometimes i'd feel so guity for my lack of stimulation...but kids are smart, so don't worry about it, do your thing, and ur baby will be just fine!

[Anonymous]

Again; I could have written your post myself. Just know you're not the only one that feels this way. I make a concerted effort. Sometimes I just have to remind myself, but as others said; sleep deprivation has done a number on my brain!