When do babies recognize their name?
Name! Each new milestone is precious during a baby’s first year, and learning to recognize their name is no exception. If you’re anxiously waiting for that look of recognition in your baby’s eyes when you say their name, you can expect this language learning skill to happen sometime between 6 and 7 months.
While you wait, you can help your baby learn their name through warm and frequent communication. Just by being a trustworthy and loving caregiver for your little one, you encourage their brain to grow.
How babies learn their name
Babies will understand their name sometime between 6 and 7 months old, but the groundwork for this amazing milestone begins before birth. During the third trimester, babies have a breakthrough: They start to hear your voice and other familiar voices and sounds outside the womb.
From their first breath, babies are listening to and learning from the world around them. Long before they babble or say their first word, they’ve begun absorbing what they need to know to understand language.
When you bond with your baby through eye contact and conversation, you play an important role in teaching them to recognize their name. These moments of connection help them learn. And when you sing, laugh, and smile, your baby starts to collect clues about socializing with others.
Newborn to 1 month
When your newborn’s awake, they’re using their senses to gather information about their environment. All of this knowledge accumulates over time and will eventually lead to your baby assigning meaning to what they hear, see, and feel.
During the first month of life, babies are able to tell the difference between the voice of their parents and the voice of strangers. This helps them stay tuned to the most trusted people in their world. Even during the beginning of their life, they’re paying attention to your smile and changes in the tone of your voice. When you touch them, they take comfort knowing you’re near.
2 to 3 months
Watching what’s going on around them will be a big part of your baby’s waking hours.
Babies between 2 and 3 months become more interactive with the people closest to them. When you talk to your baby, you’ll notice they turn their head toward your voice. They’ll start communicating with you by smiling, and respond to you by cooing and gurgling or kicking their legs.
4 to 7 months
By now your baby has formed bonds with their caregivers and know when someone is a stranger. After listening to you and watching you closely, they’ve learned to recognize their name and they know you’re talking about them when you say it.
When you say your baby’s name, they might turn their head to look at you or smile in response. They might even talk back with squeals or repetitive noises like “bababa.”
How to help your baby recognize their name
You’re a very important part of your baby’s learning. When you interact with them with warmth and responsiveness to their needs, you’re encouraging healthy development.
Here are a few ways you can encourage language learning and help your baby learn to recognize their name:
- Use their name often when you talk to them. With time, they’ll make the important connection that the name you’re saying belongs to them.
- Smile often and talk to your baby in a calm tone of voice. This will soothe them and engage their brain in a positive way.
- Give your baby plenty of affection and attention – having a loving parent who cares for their needs is important for their development.
- Good communication skills begin with a whole lot of listening. Chat with your baby beginning from their very first days of life. Babies hear at higher pitches than adults do, so speaking in “parentese” (high-pitched speech with slower, exaggerated words) can boost their language learning.
- Start reading to your baby when they’re an infant. They might not be able to understand the words you read or follow the story, but it’s a routine they’ll associate with closeness with you.
- Even though newborns are tested immediately after birth for hearing loss, watch for signs that it may have developed after that initial screening. Babies with typically developing hearing will startle at loud noises and learn to recognize your voice. If your baby hasn’t met these milestones, talk to their pediatrician about having their hearing tested.
What to do if your baby doesn’t know their name
Each baby develops at their own pace, so your child may reach this milestone a little earlier or later than another baby the same age. But if your baby doesn’t respond to their name by 9 months old, mention it to their doctor.
Your baby’s doctor may want to check for a hearing problem or development delay. A baby not responding to their name can also be an early sign of autism.
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