As a baby's brain continues to develop, infants also develop the ability to communicate; to comprehend and produce spoken language. Even the youngest of babies learn language by taking in information through their senses of hearing and sight as they learn to process the meanings behind those sights and sounds. Babies will use their mouths, tongues, and ears as they learn to mimic the sights and sounds of other people in order to create their own sounds and communications. In order to learn from what is around them babies need functional hearing abilities and a well-formed mouth, lips, vocal chords and tongue. And most importantly they need a well-formed brain, for it is the brain that provides for the baby's instinct to mirror, copy and mimic facial expressions and movements they encounter. If a parent is concerned about their baby's ability to hear, to use their mouths properly (in a mechanical sense), or to copy and mimic faces and sounds this should be brought to the attention of the baby's pediatrician as soon as possible so that any necessary therapy or treatment can be provided at the earliest possible time. Catching problems early before they become huge problems can help to avoid developmental delay.

It is important to understand that babies' language development is strongly influenced by the language they hear spoken around them and to them. The more babies are exposed to language, the more opportunities they will have to practice their developing communication skills. This is why it is so crucial to interact with your child regularly, speaking with and reading to him or her whenever possible. It is important to keep in mind however that each child is different, and will reach different milestones at their own rates. If you have any concerns about your baby's development, contact your pediatrician or family doctor.

Early infancy and language
When infants are first born, they will do most of their communication through crying. They are limited to crying to tell caregivers they are hungry, tired, or uncomfortable; have a dirty diaper; are in pain; or they just want some attention and affection. However, anyone caring for an infant should realize that they are already learning about spoken language from birth. As their caregivers talk to them in their field of vision (8-10 inches from their face) they will copy the mouth movements the caregivers are making. Around age 2 to 3 months, infants will begin cooing and making soft, exaggerated vowel sounds to show pleasure or excitement. Babies are able to do this because their larynx (vocal chords) and other parts of their throat have developed enough to allow them to make these sounds.

Ages 3-6 months
At this age babies will add more verbal sounds and start to make the consonant sounds of b, k, m, g, and p. By around the age 4 months, babies will begin to put vowel sounds and consonant sounds together to form nonsense words such as "gaga" and "ahpoo" as they start to experiment with how sounds can be linked together. Also at this age infants can blow through their lips and may blow bubbles to practice using and controlling their lips and mouths. You may find that your baby continues to practice making those sounds, as her brain learns how to interpret and process the communications she is hearing. By around age 5 months, babies are beginning to process the musical sound and speech patterns of their caregiver's native language, which is the language they hear the most. As they continue to make practice sounds, they will begin imitating their first sound patterns. Also around this age, babies will begin using non-verbal cues to communicate their thoughts and feelings to those around them. They will often cling to their caregivers, push them away when upset, and turn their heads when they do not like something. Around age 6 months of age most babies begin to babble. This allows them to connect consonant sounds with vowel sounds in ways that are used (in their native language) to make distinguishable syllables. Babbling also allows children to imitate the sentence length, intonation, and rhythm of adult speech as they begin to learn how to form verbal thoughts.

Ages 6-9 months
As babies begin the second half of the first year, their ability to understand how language works and how to communicate continues to become even more sophisticated. By around age 7 months, babies often begin taking turns "speaking" with others instead of talking at the same time as others do. They may also initiate conversations with others as they begin learning how conversation between people works. Many babies will also try to imitate the sounds caregivers make, especially animal sounds such as "moo". By around age 8 months, babies will begin to connect sounds they and their caregivers make to actual ideas and thoughts that can be universally understood. Also around this age, babies will build on top of the syllables they started making earlier and now link syllables in more understandable words such as "dada." They will also continue to add new sounds to their verbal menu, adding new consonant sounds such as t and w.

Ages 9-12 months
Babies begin to put together all the language lessons they've learned so far near the end of their first year of life. Between the ages of 9 to 12 months, babies will begin to say their first real words, such as "mama" and "dada." During this period, they may also slowly add a few more words to their vocabulary. Some babies by the age of 12 months may have as few as a 2-3 words in their expressive vocabulary, while others may have a dozen. It is important to remember that babies' receptive language will be more developed than their expressive language at this point. While most babies will speak only a few words, they are able to comprehend the meaning of hundreds more. They will also begin to show this understanding as well. Also around age 10 to 11 months, babies may begin communicating by pointing or nodding in agreement (or disagreement) with what their caregivers say. Around age 12 months, babies will also begin to show word and sentence comprehension as they point to a dog in the picture when prompted or nod their head when asked if they want a treat.

Language and cognitive development
The development of language and cognitive development really go hand in hand. As baby understands or has cognitive development of the sights, sounds and actions around her she will begin to place these actions within the context of language. Here are some of the cognitive development milestones that will precipitate your baby developing language:

Birth to 1 month
At this age, infants respond purely by reflex. There really is not any cognitive process in these actions. They simply imitate observed mouth movements, which is the first language milestone, but vocal cords are too undeveloped to form language-like sounds.

Ages 1-4 months
At this stage babies will start to understand patterns, such as the presence of a bottle means that it is feeding time. Infants will start to choose to do things because they anticipate the outcome. They also learn trust (if their needs are met) or mistrust (if they are not).

Ages 4-8 months
At this stage babies will start to perform actions on external objects without regard to their physical needs. They will explore by hand and mouth and begin experimenting with objects. They also will track objects that leave their direct line of vision.

Ages 8-12 months
Babies will start to adopt more sophisticated means-end behavior. They might mimic actions such as clapping. They will also repeat the same action with different objects to compare results, for example discovering that dropping a block on a hard floor makes a sound while dropping a teddy bear does not. They learn that objects actually do not disappear when they are out of sight (object permanence) and will look for objects that have been hidden.

Ages 12-18 months
When babies reach this age they will continue to explore and experiment but do not understand that some things can hurt them, such as knives and electric sockets, so it is crucial that baby-proofing should already be in place. In addition their understanding of object permanence is more advanced and they can find objects that have been hidden and then moved to another place. They can also remember images of objects without seeing them, and the same applies to other senses. They may also start to use different tones of voice to give words multiple meanings.

Ages 18-24 months
At this stage babies will look for objects in expected places, such as looking for a toy in the toy chest, even if they did not see the object put there. They also learn scripted routines, such as understanding that a simple phrase like "let's go for a drive" means going to the garage, then getting in the car, then getting buckled into a car seat, then seeing the driver get in, then hearing the car start, and so on. They have gained an understanding of past, present, and future. They also learn to group objects into categories, thus recognizing an object as a shirt even though it is different from other shirts they have seen. By the end of this period, they will have learned to make things up and engage in pretend play.