Baby Signs for Mealtime

Baby Signs for Mealtime

by Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn
Illustration by Penny Gentieu

Babies want to express their needs, especially at mealtime. Through baby signing, they can communicate when they want more, when something is too hot, or even to let everyone know it's 'all gone.'

Baby signing is easy and natural. Infants and toddlers can learn how to say what they need, what they see, and even what they feel long before their vocal chords are developed enough to let them use actual words. In this revolutionary breakthrough in parent child communication, parents have a priceless window into their young child's mind and heart.

This is a research based book that helps babies communicate what they want through nonverbal hand signs. The book focuses on eating different meals, which is a very important part of any baby's day. By learning hand signs for common activities and questions, the baby will learn to communicate better, as they are leaning to be more verbal.

The book is an interactive exploration for you and your child. As you point to the signs in the pictures, you can say the name of the word with which the sign is associated. The book focuses on only the most crucial signs and will come in handy almost daily.

This book was a very effective tool when my niece, Emily, was a baby. She enjoyed looking at all of the other babies in the book and started to emulate their hand signs. By making the hand signs part of her daily life, it was a lot easier to understand what she was asking for and cut down on her feelings of frustration.

--Eve