Is there a right way to talk to your infant?

A development psychologist explains 'parentese'

- JANE HERBERT

You might have seen those heartwarming and often funny viral videos where parents or carers engage in long “talks” with young infants about this and that – usually just fun chit chat of no great consequence.

They're often very sweet, and it's lovely to see the babies' faces lighting up at the sound of their mother or carer's voice, or seeming to talk back. In one, the baby appears to reply in an accent strikingly similar to their carer's.

So, what's going on when we chat like this to babies? And is it better to chat to them in the tone and pace we'd use when talking to other adults, or is it OK to talk in a slower, higher pitched, singsong voice?

Here's what the research shows thus far.

Talking to your baby matters

When you speak with your baby, they are exposed to a rich tapestry of sounds and movements. Can infants make sense of all this input?

Well, by the time they're born babies are already highly accustomed to their mother's voice as well as other language sounds they've heard while in utero.

Understand how Al is changing society

In fact, research shows newborns prefer listening to the language they heard in utero rather than an unfamiliar language.

They also prefer to hear the story their mother read aloud regularly in the final weeks of pregnancy, compared to a different story — regardless of who is reading it. So, although newborns are yet to understand the meaning of words, they are already tuned in to the importance of language.