When Do Babies Start Cooing and Smiling?

The first months of your baby’s life will be packed full of different milestones and moments of joy for parents and other family members. Language milestones are some of the most exciting, both with them being receptive to you talking, and expressing themselves through their own speech.

Before your baby utters their first word, they’ll start to coo and smile, functioning as adorable clues into their rapidly-advancing social and cognitive development. So, when can you expect these adorable gestures to start? Don’t go anywhere, because we’re about to tell you all about it!

What is Cooing and When Does It Start? 

“Cooing” refers to the gentle, vowel-like noises that babies produce during their first few months of life and is actually one of the first ways little ones communicate. While body language is obviously important, babies learn to communicate with language.

We typically see babies begin to coo around 2 or 3 months, though no two infants are exactly the same. Nonetheless, it is a very important milestone that marks the starting point of your baby’s vocal development. 

At this point, babies are all about listening to themselves make noise and figuring out the range of sounds they can produce. Cooing is a required building block for language development. However, much before they say their first word, they will start by smiling at you. Their smiling will usually occur around the same time as their cooing begins, which are both very exciting!

Why Are Cooing and Smiling So Important? 

The significance of cooing and smiling is vast, offering valuable insight into your baby’s developing social, emotional, and cognitive abilities. Here are just a few reasons why cooing and smiling are so important: 

1) Social Engagement

Cooing and smiling both reflect your infant’s desire to engage with their environment, particularly those around them. Their gestures are clear signs of their awareness of their world and willingness to connect emotionally. This is a very exciting stage, for everyone!

2) Bonding

Your baby very likely loves to cuddle and be close with you, and cooing and smiling are also ways you can create a tighter bond between you two. When you respond to your baby’s coos and smiles with affection, it not only motivates them to do it more often, but creates a sense of security and trust in you. 

3) Language Development

We’ll get into this a bit more in a moment, but cooing is a huge stepping stone in language development. Here, they experiment with different sounds, movements of their mouths, and skills needed for real speech. 

Significant Language Milestones 

As a new parent, there are a lot of questions around what kind of language milestones to expect and when to expect them. You may feel worried that your baby isn’t speaking fast enough, or following instructions properly. 

Here are some rough milestones, but remember every baby is different:

• Cooing: This is the first sound production aside from crying (which also can mean something unique) , typically occurring around 6 to 8 weeks of age. 

• Laughing: Laughing typically happens around 3 to 4 months, and will start giggling at different things around them. Perhaps they think it’s hilarious when someone does a silly dance, or when their furry cat rubs on their face. 

• Babbling: We’re now getting closer to actual speech, and this “babbling” typically sounds like repeated syllables like “ububub” or “bababa”, without really meaning anything. This usually happens anywhere from 6 months to 9-10 months. Don’t try to look too much into meaning here - it’s just your child gearing up to say their first word. 

• The Word “No”: “No” is almost always one of the first words that infants learn (and at this point, you may have regretted teaching it to them). If they don’t say “no” themselves, they’ll definitely understand the meaning and stop what they’re doing when you say it to them. 

• First Word: If their first word isn’t “no”, then they’ll likely say their first word or two around 10 to 15 months. 

Don’t expect perfection at this time. Your baby may have certain syllables or their own version of words for something. For example, they may use the sound “ba” or “baba” for bottle. It’s pretty common for babies to just say the first syllable of a word, at first. 

Potential Causes for Concern

If your child is exhibiting any of the following signs, you may want to touch base with your pediatrician just to play on the safe side: 

1. Loud Sounds: If your baby isn’t showing a reaction to loud sounds by the time they hit 5 or 6 months, it’s a good idea to inform their physician. 

2. Making Noises: If your little one isn’t making noises (both “happy” and “unhappy” ones) by the time they’re around 5 months

3. Not Looking for What is Making a Sound: For example, if your dog is barking or your phone is vibrating nearby and your baby isn’t looking around for what’s making the sound. 

4. Communicating: By 6 to 11 months, your infant should be cooing, babbling, smiling, imitating noises, and using hand gestures

5. Recognizing Their Name: By 10 months, your baby should react in some way to hearing his or her own name. 

Track Progress

We know how chaotic and stressful it can be to have a baby in the house - especially if it’s your first. However, using an app like Baby Connect can make an enormous difference in keeping up with your little one’s development. You can make notes, keep track of feedings, what kind of babbling they did today, and much more! You have easy communication this way between caregivers, and detailed records of everything your child is doing.