Waxing lyrical about Baby Signing

Baby Signing is something I am very passionate about and I thought it was time I blogged about how signing has helped my family.

While pregnant with my first daughter I spent an inordinate amount of time surfing parenting websites like Babycenter, reading books such as 'What to expect' and basically trying to absorb as much information about something I knew little about- having a baby. Despite all my research I didn't actually come across the concept of Baby Signing until my daughter Eleni was nearly seven months and I thought 'hmmm that looks interesting', decided to investigate it further and never looked back. My husband and I enlisted the help of Deirdre from Sign2music and she gave us a fantastic workshop at home on the basics of Baby Signing and from that moment we were hooked.

We started signing the basics signs like 'milk', 'more' and 'change nappy' with Eleni and were amazed at how much attention she paid- she would watch us intently as we signed and would babble with her hands as she was becoming aware that they were tools of communication. After about a month of us signing with her pretty consistently we got our reward as she signed 'milk' in context. Her next sign was 'light' as she was fascinated with lights and we were always signing it to her wherever we went.

At eight months old Eleni was aware that she could communicate and that by a simple hand movement she got a great response and reaction from her mummy and daddy. Over the next few months her signing vocabulary increased and she was able to tell us when her nappy needed changing and if she wanted 'more' biscuit. Her verbal communication was also developing well as you always clearly say the word you are signing so they get. One of my best memories was Eleni sitting up in her high chair around one years old, her face covered in yoghurt, emphatically signing 'more' while shouting at the top of her voice 'MORE OG, MORE OG' (yoghurt)

Of course some family members thought that it was nonsense and one of my airy fairy faddish ideas but once they saw her in action and saw that her talking had been no way hindered but quite the opposite they were converted; in fact her grandpa was so proud you would have thought he had taught her himself!

With our second daughter Callia we started signing almost from birth and again found it enjoyable and beneficial as it cut out much frustration as she was able to tell us what she wanted without tears. It was also useful in helping the sisters to bond as Eleni would sing and sign to her little sister and took great pleasure whenever she signed back.

I starting to teaching Baby Signing classes to local parents; it's been a wonderful experience and the pleasure of the parents' joy when their baby signs has made it so worthwhile. I am aware that I am biased but I have seen the benefits of signing with my own girls and other signing families' children and would thoroughly recommend it to any parent even thinking about signing with their baby!