3-min read
2025-08-26
3-min read
Development isn’t a race. It’s a flow.
Every baby—and parent—is figuring it out at their own pace.
Instead of milestones, we encourage you to focus on this amazing moment.
Your baby’s brain makes more than one million neural connections per second in these first three years. Simple, consistent interactions with baby today can have profound, lifelong benefits.
Here’s how baby’s brain is developing this month, and how you can support their progress.
Developmental Highlight
As eating’s advanced over the last few months, baby’s facial expressions have become more refined. Now, with improved motor control of the lips and tongue, baby’s starting to make the first hard consonant sounds. Welcome to the babbling stage!
Babbling can be recognized by up-and-down tones that sound like talking, with a healthy mix of noises, gestures, and squeaks. Supporting and encouraging babbling creates opportunities for baby to experiment with various forms of communication and discover the most effective ways to be heard and understood. A lifelong skill, if ever there was one!
Babies model speech patterns and the ebb and flow of conversation from those around them. As they develop receptive language—the ability to understand language—baby will understand you better and soon better communicate their own wants, needs, and opinions.
Brain-Building Activity
Labeling
Routine: Anytime
Baby is actively trying to tell you something when they make sounds. Acknowledging and responding to babbling makes baby feel heard and gives them a greater sense of agency.
These two-way conversations are an opportunity to introduce baby to new phrases, verbs, and nouns to help promote receptive language. Learning to hear and process the meaning of words is central to language development and communication.
- Notice what’s piquing baby’s interest, and label it. “Are you looking at the lamp? Yes, the lamp is bright.”
- Expand on what baby is trying to say. If baby says “wa,” expand the word and say, “Yes, that is your water.”
- Answer baby’s attempts to communicate and take turns in conversation as if you understand exactly what the topic is. Add pauses in conversation, so baby can jump in.
You’ve Got This
Despite all the babble you may hear from other parents (or babies!), remember that every baby develops at their own pace. It takes time and practice for them to connect all the dots. Activities in the Grow with the Flow guide can be done again and again.
If you’re concerned about baby’s development, contact their pediatrician for advice, more information, or a referral. If you get a referral, it will most likely be to Early Intervention, a national program that can help your baby get evaluations and therapy, if needed.
