My Baby Is A Toddler! Is It Too Late To Start Baby Signing?

It's never too late to start signing with your baby or toddler! Watch the video below for inspiration.

Too late to start signing? No!

No no. no. no. No n-n-n-n-n-n-no!

It’s never too late to start signing with your child!

In fact, signing gets better and better as your baby gets older.

So though a six month old might sign ‘milk’ with perfect competence, it’s more fun to be around a toddler who is signing for everything they see. And the best part is, you can pick it up and run with it at any time. If you can remember to sign consistently for a little while, your child (and your relationship) will reap the benefits for months to come.

Watch this 5 minute video on how baby signing can be a wonderful part of life with a toddler. Then pick a few signs and give it a go yourself!

Signing With A Toddler

A Family Activity!

(5 minute video explaining the everyday pleasures of signing with your toddler.)

You See? All good fun!

The Wonders Of The Potty Sign

If you’re doing baby-led pottying, or considering potty training a young toddler, a good clear potty sign can come in really handy. In fact, it can open up a whole new world of communication.

Thoughts?

Did you enjoy signing with your baby? If you’ve not tried it, are you inspired to give it a go? Let me know in the comments and I’ll join in the conversation.

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The Comments: Your Turn!

You know more people read the comments than the article, right? Get stuck in!

  1. I did sing and sign with my daughter from early on and recently someone said to me that they thought it delayed speech. However, for us I think it has had the opposite effect! My daughter is 15 months and very chatty. She signs and says words and so a word that may not otherwise be easy to understand is clear and I think this is encouraging her to speak more.
    Funnily enough I was never very good about signing potty as it seemed difficult to sign while getting her on it – but she says ‘poo poo’ and ‘pot’ now as well as ‘no’ in response to ‘do you need the potty’ so I guess we don’t need the sign!

    1. Hi Zoe, Sounds like your toddler is doing brilliantly!

      I’ve heard that myself, actually – people thinking that signing would delay speech. It’s certainly not my experience and baby signing teachers are always very clear that it helps speech rather than hinders it. My youngest daughter is 20 months and chattering away – but her words don’t have many consonants yet, so like you I rely on her signs to help me understand.

      I agree with you that it encourages her speech – she gets frustrated when I don’t understand her and she doesn’t have a sign to help me out. She never chooses to sign rather than speak – having used signs forever, you might thing she would, especially if sign really did delay speech – but her natural choice is to attempt to say the word first and use the sign as a backup.

      I recognise her words in context, but out of context it can be impossible!

  2. Thanks for this signing encouragement. I’ve continually *meant* to do signing with my now 15 month old. He has no words yet and is getting frustrated so I really must just bite the bullet and look up some you tube videos and start doing it! :)

  3. Super video very informative and very true. I run TinyTalk Baby & Toddler signing classes and see the benifits you mentionall the time. Yes it’s never too late to sign. Well done.

  4. OMG… we started signing with our 13mo only just a few days ago (like 3 or 4) and he’s already picked up « eating/food/hungry » sign and this morning he signed « potty » on his own with the cutest little chest slap…(so I went on to get the potty and he indeed wanted to 💩). That was amazing! We managed to catch a wee a bit later too, but this time he was prompted by us, but he replied with the chest slap and so I put him on. 👏🏽

    I’ve just read that speech specialists don’t think it delays speech as it stimulates the brain more – but also does it matter? We are bilingual and so my son is learning 2 languages at once and that is meant to delay speech a but – although he’s such a chatterbox!! They said you need to say the word every time, and not just sign without…

    I’m so excited about this but I’m wondering if introducing too many signs at once is too much? What’s the appropriate amount we should use/introduce? Any experience? Also, can you share your signs?! 😅 it’s hard to choose sometimes!!!

    Thanks and if you’re still hesitant to try, don’t be, just do it!!

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