I am trying to teach my 6 month old the sign for milk. I see her opening and closing her little hand now, but not sure if she means anything by it. She may just like to do that action, but it's so cute.
I taught my son a few signs and helped him communicate with us before he started talking.
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
We did and it was so useful. She has probably 50-60 signs and even now she'll sometimes run across a word that she only knows in sign (like dragonfly). I think we avoided a ton of tantrums by allowing her to communicate at an early age, and I also think it helped with language development. At a year she probably had close to 100 words and now at 20 months she can express herself in 5 word sentences... We wouldn't be here now without emphasizing communication through signing!
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
We didn't/aren't. I've read that it can delay normal speech because if babies are already communicating, why should they use words. But obviously that's not always true since @Mrs.Jacks has a little talker and signer!
pear / 1764 posts
I've been using the book "Teach Your Baby to Sign" An Illustrated Guide to Simple Sign Language For Babies by Monica Beyer & so far so good. I must admit I'm not always great about doing it but we sign "all done" when she is done eating her solids, "toilet" for elimination communication, "up" when she wants up & "bath" before & during her baths. We've only been doing it for a short amount of time, maybe a month? & she seems to know "all done" so far. I want to see if she starts using these signs & then move on to more. It suggests starting with 6 but we started at first with just 2 (mostly so I didn't have to carry the book everywhere!)
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
I looked forward to the day he could talk since the day he was born, so I didn't want to risk any kind of delay in speech, so we stayed away from signs. I think they could have been useful, but I was a SAHM and could usually predict what he wanted. Of course watching your baby learn ANY thing at all is amazing, so I always marveled at the other kids who could use signs! So far RJ's speech seems to be pretty on target. He's almost 26 months and he's stringing 4-5 words together now. If I had to do it again I would do the same and stay away from signing.
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
@Mrs. Jacks: that is interesting about signing and avoiding tantrums!
My LO started talking pretty early on. She is 21 months and can speak in 5-6 word sentences so communication is pretty good. So I never really considered teaching her to sign.
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
i def plan on teaching olive how to sign from 6 months on. charlie only knew one sign -- more -- that he learned in one class, and it was invaluable just having that one sign! even now when he really wants something he'll say more and sign at the same time.
i've read that it does not delay speech and actually helps it.
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
I used to think I would teach my LO to sign, but not sure I'm going to. :T
pear / 1861 posts
Not really. we watcfh babyfirst tv and they have some signs and I've tried mommy, daddy and no.
nectarine / 2636 posts
I'm all about signing. I kind of do it naturally since working in a daycare that used it in their curriculum. I've been trying to incorporate it more with my 2yr old niece since she doesn't have many words and I feel like she throws tantrums alot because of not being able to communicate yet. I wish I had started teaching her earlier bc I think it would've lessened some of the the screaming. 
she does know "please" and says "pweese" at the same time and uses that most of the time whenever she wants something. So I guess thats a plus! Lol
blogger / honeydew / 7081 posts
I'm a trained speech therapist/infant sign language instructor, so our kids are definitely going to sign. I'm hoping to teach them enough so that even once they do talk they can still sign - its just an awesome skill to have.
pomegranate / 3503 posts
I ended up only teaching my son 10 signs or so and it was so helpful before he was able to express himself verbally. I have actually been told that learning sign language does not affect when they will speak. It gives them the ability early on to communicate their needs/wants versus crying.
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
I have not heard this about it delaying speech. In fact, in developmental pediatrics we learn (and then teach families) that learning two languages and learning sign do NOT delay kids.
persimmon / 1202 posts
Maybe. I used to sign a lot, and I sometimes still use it if I'm panicked. I haven't seriously considered using it because I'm not sure what all words would be useful.
blogger / honeydew / 7081 posts
Sign has actually been proven to improve a child's speech, Because there is less frustration surrounding communication. Also , because children can use their hands earlier than they can master the motor skills of their mouths, kids can communicate much earlier using sign than they would speech.
End of programmed response to sign vs speech, lol... Too many years of grad school exam questions on the topic 
cherry / 216 posts
I intend to. In my research, I've also read that it's proven to improve speech, not impair. Plus, I think it's a great way to mitigate frustrations with a baby/toddler.
clementine / 958 posts
@Mrs. Jacks: & @redsmarties: Do you have a suggestion for a good book, dvd, website, etc to use for teaching LOs to sign?
grapefruit / 4800 posts
My LO is 8 months so we're semi trying to but not really putting forth much effort right now because she doesnt even want to wave hi right now. Hopefully soon she'll start showing more interest but right now she doesn't seem to be picking up much on it.
kiwi / 575 posts
I definitely want to when our little one is born and old enough! I took an ASL class when I was in high school and loved it. I love the fact that sign language can help babies communicate before they can speak!!
blogger / honeydew / 7081 posts
@owlmom: I teach using the WeeHands program. You can either go to the website and look up teachers in your area, or just order their books and DVDs. That's the only program I've really had experience with (teaching).
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
Hmm, I always thought it was cool but I didn't want to delay their speech. That's good to know that it doesn't. Going to put it back on my parenting list.
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
@owlmom: We got the baby signing time videos and we have a couple of books including Signing Illustrated. We also downloaded two iPhone Aps... Baby Sign and another that I don't remember. We used the iPhone most because whenever we didn't know something that she was interested in, we could just look it up right then and there.
pomegranate / 3388 posts
We're planning on teaching our baby some sign language. We have several other friends who sign with their babies, and it seems to work great for them.
cherry / 173 posts
@Mrs. Jacks: We definitely will be teaching sign! LO is 6 months now, when would be the best time to start?
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
I wanted to, but never got around to learning about it beforehand. As it is, we use two languages with our son, and I felt that it would be confusing to add a third, especially one where I'd have to use only one language to reinforce it, if that makes sense.
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
@sunshine44: We started at about 4 months. She had her 1st signs at 6 months (more then milk then cracker).
bananas / 9227 posts
I think it's great that so many people are teaching their babies to sign. I actually haven't heard of this myself but I've been living abroad for awhile and have been out of the loop.
However, I don't plan on it - mainly because we don't know sign language and plan to raise our LO bilingual (maybe even introduce a 3rd language but not as soon). Both myself and DH are bilingual and roughly trilingual (English, Swedish, Tagalog, and German) and honestly, it'll be tricky enough to work just 2 languages in.
It's our first baby so we don't want to get in over our heads.
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