Why sign with your baby?

So why should you sign with your baby, seems like a lot of effort and maybe a tad silly? While many parents are familiar with baby sign language, some who have not yet heard of it sometimes look at me like I have four heads. Baby sign language?(and I can see them unconsciously rolling their eyes). I can see how at first is may sounds a bit kooky, why would you teach a hearing baby sign language? What these parents don't know is how beneficial it can be for their babies. Imagine yourself in a foreign country and you do not know the language, thats what it's like for babies. It gives them the ability to tell you what they want and need, and what interests them. Some parents worry that sign language will delay speech because they will not be bothered to learn to talk when they can just sign it. However its just the opposite, research has shown that signing babies tend to talk sooner. Signing is like crawling, it can be a stepping stone to talking. When babies can sign they can tell you what they are interested in, when you know what interest them than you flood them with vocabulary about what they like. If your baby sees a dog on a walk and signs to you dog, what do you do, you flood him with word about the dog. "Oh do you see the doggie, thats a brown doggie, what a nice doggie, hes such a little doggie" etc. Interesting enough 80% of therapy in infants and toddlers is speech therapy, sign language is a great tool to use while helping your infant learn to talk. Another HUGE benefit is reducing tantrums, when your baby can tell you whats wrong or what he/she wants it makes life way easier!

Another misconception about infant sign langauge is that is too hard and too time consuming. It is just the opposite, it really is just including it in daily life. Signing during mealtime, bathtime, reading stories are great opportunities to teach your babies signs.
The benefits go on and on, below is an article from the baby signs program about all the benefits!