California’s parenting website

Talking, reading, and listening – these are all essential parts of your child's language development. As your newborn grows, watch for these early language milestones:

• Reacts to loud sounds

• Calms down or smiles when spoken to

• Recognizes your voice and calms down if crying

• When feeding, starts or stops sucking in response to sound

• Coos and makes pleasure sounds

• Has a special way of crying for different needs

• Smiles when he sees you

If your newborn is not demonstrating these milestones by four months old and/or you have concerns about your newborn’s development, contact your pediatrician.