After your baby reaches a certain age, many of us parents are guilty of panicking and questioning when our babies are going to mumble their first ever word. Don’t panic! As you know, every baby is different, don’t compare your baby’s progress to anyone elses. Your baby is making progress at his/her own pace. To give you an idea though, Zippy fans told us on our facebook post that your babies burbled their first word on average at 7 months however this ranged from 11 weeks to 16 months (total of 30 reponses).

Babies love to mimic you which is why you should be careful of what you say repeatedly around them! Give everything a name. Make sure you call everything by its name, this will help your baby recognise what is what and also encourage them to call things by their name. When we asked you what was the first word your baby spoke, it was quite clear that ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ were tops!

It’s a good idea to read books and concentrate on saying names and pointing them out as you read. It helps them if they can learn what different words really mean and how each word is attached to something. Try having one sided conversations with your baby and see if they respond, even if what they say back doesn’t make sense, make sure you give them eye contact and smile so they know you’re paying attention- this encourages them to carry on.