When should I start baby sign language?

Most pediatric guidance points to around 6 months as the earliest useful starting point — that's when babies typically develop the hand control and object permanence to connect a gesture with a meaning. You can start earlier, but expect a longer wait before your baby signs back. Most hearing babies who are taught signs consistently start using them around 8 to 9 months, often weeks or months before their first spoken words.

Does baby sign language actually work?

It depends what you mean by 'work.' There's decent evidence that consistent signing reduces frustration and gives babies a way to communicate specific needs before they can talk — pointing at 'milk' beats crying about it. The claim that it speeds up later verbal language or boosts IQ is much shakier; most rigorous studies find no lasting advantage on vocabulary size by age 2-3 compared to non-signing babies. Treat it as a communication bridge, not an academic head start.

What are the first baby signs to teach?

Start with 3 to 5 signs tied to things that come up constantly in your baby's day: milk, more, all done, eat, and either mom or dad. Adding signs one or two at a time once your baby is using the first ones consistently works better than teaching a whole chart at once — babies need repetition in context, not a vocabulary list.

Will baby sign language delay my baby's talking?

No. This is one of the most persistent myths, and it runs backward from the research. Every major study on infant signing has found either no effect on spoken language or a small positive one — never a delay. Signing and talking use different parts of communication development and reinforce each other rather than compete.

Do I need to know ASL to teach my baby signs?

No. Many families use simplified gestures instead of formal ASL, and that's fine for the communication goal. That said, using real American Sign Language signs (even just a handful) costs you nothing extra to learn and means the vocabulary transfers if you ever want to go further, or if your child interacts with a Deaf or hard-of-hearing person. Consistency matters more than which exact system you use.

Baby Sign Language: A Month-by-Month Guide to Teaching Your Baby to Communicate

Your 10-month-old is whining at the high chair, pointing vaguely at the counter. You guess — water? more food? tired? — and they get more upset with every wrong answer.

Baby sign language doesn't close that gap entirely. But it gives your baby a handful of words before they have any actual words.

The short answer: Start around 6 months, teach 3-5 signs tied to daily routines (milk, more, all done, eat), and expect your baby to sign back somewhere between 8 and 12 months. According to HealthyChildren.org (AAP), signing can improve early communication and reduce frustration, though evidence that it accelerates later spoken language is limited. It won't delay talking — that's a myth with no research behind it.

Why babies can sign before they can talk

Speech requires an enormous amount of fine motor coordination — over 100 muscles in the lips, tongue, jaw, and throat, firing in a precise sequence your baby's brain hasn't wired yet. Hand and arm control develops much earlier.

That gap is the whole premise of baby signing. A baby can wave "bye-bye" or reach up for "more" months before they can physically produce the word. Researcher Linda Acredolo, who ran some of the first controlled studies on infant signing at UC Davis in the 1980s, described it as giving babies a communication tool that matches the motor skills they already have, instead of waiting for the ones they don't.

This isn't a shortcut around language development. It's a bridge across a gap that exists anyway, whether or not you fill it with signs.

When to actually start

Age	What's realistic
4-6 months	Too early for most babies to connect gesture to meaning. Some families start modeling signs anyway — no harm, low payoff.
6-8 months	The window where it typically starts to click. Object permanence and basic cause-and-effect are developing.
8-9 months	Most hearing babies taught consistently begin producing their first sign back.
9-12 months	Vocabulary of signs grows fastest if you're modeling them daily.
12-18 months	Many babies are using 5-10 signs and combining them with early words. Signs often fade naturally as spoken words take over.

Source: HealthyChildren.org, American Academy of Pediatrics and CDC early communication milestones.

The range is wide, and that's normal. Some babies sign at 7 months. Others don't produce a recognizable sign until 11 or 12 months despite consistent modeling. Neither is a red flag on its own.

What the research actually shows

Baby signing became a cultural phenomenon in the 1990s and 2000s, and along the way it picked up some claims the data doesn't fully support. Worth separating what's solid from what's marketing.

Solid: reduced frustration. Multiple studies, including the INSIGHT study published via the National Institutes of Health, found that babies who could sign specific needs (hungry, tired, hurt, more) showed fewer tantrums tied to communication breakdown. This tracks with what most signing parents report anecdotally — it's the most consistent finding across the research.

Solid: earlier two-way communication. Signing gives babies a functional vocabulary before spoken words exist. A 10-month-old who signs "milk" is communicating a specific, met need, not just crying and hoping you guess right.

Weak: accelerated vocabulary or IQ gains. The original Acredolo and Goodwyn studies reported some vocabulary and IQ advantages for signing babies that got a lot of media attention. Later, larger, better-controlled studies — including a widely cited 2000 study — mostly failed to replicate those gains. By age 2 or 3, signing and non-signing children in these studies typically land in the same range on vocabulary size and language measures.

Non-existent: any evidence of delayed talking. This myth runs in the opposite direction from what actually happens. No credible study has found that signing slows down spoken language. If anything, the mechanism runs the other way — signing requires and reinforces intentional communication, which supports rather than competes with talking.

The honest takeaway: sign for the communication and connection, not because it's an academic edge. Both are worth having. Only one is well-supported.

The first 10 signs worth teaching

Skip the full ASL vocabulary chart. Start with signs tied to what actually happens in your baby's day, multiple times, every day — repetition in real context is what makes a sign stick.

1. Milk

Open and close your fist, like milking a cow. Use it every single time before nursing or handing over a bottle.

2. More

Tap your fingertips together (both hands, fingers pinched, tapping). Use during feeding when you're about to offer another bite, or mid-activity when something's about to end.

3. All done / finished

Hold both hands up, palms facing out, and turn them side to side. Use at the end of meals, baths, and activities — it also doubles as an early way for your baby to end something they don't like.

4. Eat

Bring fingertips to your mouth, like putting food in. Use at every meal and snack, said alongside the sign.

5. Mom / Dad

Thumb to chin (mom) or thumb to forehead (dad) in standard ASL, fingers spread. Simplified versions — just pointing at the parent while saying the word — work fine too.

6. Water

Tap your index, middle, and ring fingers against your chin in a "W" shape. Use at the sink, in the bath, or with a water bottle.

7. Sleepy

Rest your head against your open hand, eyes closing. Use at nap and bedtime, paired with your usual routine.

8. Help

Make a thumbs-up with one hand, resting on the flat palm of the other, and lift both slightly. Use whenever your baby is struggling with something and about to ask for assistance.

9. Dog

Pat your leg like calling a dog over. Skip if you don't have one at home — swap in whatever animal or object shows up most in your baby's actual life.

10. Bath

Rub your fists up and down against your chest, like scrubbing. Use every time before bath time starts.

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How to actually teach it (without a class or a kit)

You don't need a course, a DVD, or a $40 flashcard set. The method that works is almost boring in its simplicity:

Say the word while making the sign, every time, in context. Not as a drill — as a normal part of talking to your baby the way you already do. "Do you want more?" while tapping your fingers together. Not a flashcard session; a narrated life.

Pick 2-3 signs to start, not ten. Babies learn through repetition in real situations. Ten new signs at once means none of them get enough reps to stick. Add a new one once the current ones are getting a response — even a partial, clumsy attempt at the gesture counts.

Exaggerate slightly and make eye contact. Babies learn gesture-to-meaning connections faster when the adult is animated and looking at them, not just performing the sign off to the side.

Respond immediately when they attempt a sign. If your baby fumbles a version of "more," treat it as a real communication and respond right away — hand over the food, say the word back clearly, sign it back. That immediate payoff is what teaches them the gesture works.

Expect a lag between understanding and producing. Babies typically understand a sign weeks before they can physically reproduce it. Keep modeling even before you see anything back — comprehension is building in the meantime.

What to do when it doesn't seem to be working

Give it 4-6 weeks of daily, consistent modeling before deciding it's not clicking. Most of the "it didn't work for us" stories come from families who tried it inconsistently for a week or two, not from babies who genuinely couldn't do it.

If you're past 10-12 months with zero response despite daily modeling, or you have any broader concern about your baby's hearing, eye contact, or social engagement, that's worth mentioning to your pediatrician — not because signing itself is diagnostic, but because it's one more data point alongside everything else they're tracking. For a fuller picture of what's typical around this age, see our guide on language development activities by age.

When signs start to fade — and that's a good sign

Once real words show up, most babies drop the signs for that concept within weeks. A baby who's been signing "milk" for months will often just start saying "muh" or "mih" and stop signing it almost overnight. That's not a step backward — it's the system doing exactly what it was designed to do: hand off to speech the moment speech is ready.

Some toddlers keep using a sign or two even after they're talking, especially for words that are hard to pronounce (like animal names with tricky consonant clusters). That's normal too, and it typically resolves on its own as articulation catches up.

If your toddler is well past 18 months and still relying heavily on signs with very few spoken words, that's worth a conversation with your pediatrician — not as an emergency, but as one thread worth checking alongside the rest of their communication development. Our guide on late talking toddlers walks through what's typical and what's worth a closer look.

The realistic version of this

Baby sign language isn't a curriculum and it isn't magic. It's a handful of gestures, used consistently, that give your baby a way to say "milk," "more," and "all done" before their mouth can catch up to their brain. Some days you'll remember to sign at every meal. Some days you'll forget entirely and just hand over the crackers. Both are fine.

Start with three signs. Use them constantly, in the exact moments they matter. Add more once the first ones stick. That's the whole method — no chart, no class, no pressure required.

For the bigger picture on how communication develops by age, see language development activities by age
If your toddler is still mostly non-verbal past 18 months, read late talking toddler: when to wait and when to worry
Pair signing with more hands-on connection through tummy time activities for babies

Your baby is already communicating constantly. Signing just gives you both a shared word for it.