Waiting for the first real word? Your child understands everything you say and will soon figure out how to respond. From coos to growls and sing-song vowel-consonant combinations, your child’s vocalizations and verbal experiments can sound as delightful as they sound nonsensical. But listen carefully, and one day you will hear it: the first real word.

By 9 months, your baby will probably begin to combine the sounds “ma-ma” and “yes-yes” without necessarily knowing what they mean. But when those sounds begin to transform into meaningful words, it becomes a milestone like magic. When do babies start talking? Babies start talking, that is, trying to express themselves in words with meaning, somewhere between 9 and 14 months. But babies start learning to talk right after birth, mainly by watching and listening to you and other people.