Practice baby sign language every day, woven into your normal routines, rather than setting aside dedicated training sessions. Experts at Pathways.org recommend using signs every time you say the associated word throughout daily activities like mealtimes, diaper changes, and bath time. In a more structured research setting, a study published through the National Institutes of Health used sessions of just five minutes, one to three times per day, five days per week. But for most families, the practical approach is simpler: sign “milk” every time you offer a bottle, sign “more” every time your child reaches for another bite, and sign “all done” every time you clear the high chair tray. Consistency matters far more than duration.
Most parents can begin modeling signs when their baby is around six months old, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, though some start as early as four months. Babies typically need two to four months of watching you sign before they start signing back, with most producing their first signs between eight and nine months of age. So if you start at seven months, expect roughly two months of consistent repetition before you see results. That waiting period is normal and not a sign that anything is wrong. This article covers how frequently to practice, how many signs to introduce at once, the best daily moments to work signing into your routine, what the research actually says about long-term benefits, and what to do when your baby does not seem to be picking it up.
Table of Contents
- How Often Should You Practice Baby Sign Language Each Day?
- How Many Signs Should You Introduce When Starting Baby Sign Language?
- What Are the Best Times of Day to Practice Baby Sign Language?
- How Long Does It Take Before Babies Start Signing Back?
- What If Your Baby Is Not Picking Up Signs?
- Does Baby Sign Language Delay Speech Development?
- Building a Long-Term Signing Habit That Grows With Your Child
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
How Often Should You Practice Baby Sign Language Each Day?
The short answer is that every interaction is a practice opportunity. Rather than blocking out ten minutes on a timer, you integrate signing into the language you already use with your baby. When you hand your child a banana, you say “eat” and make the sign for eat. When your child is splashing in the tub, you say “water” and sign it. Pathways.org specifically advises against creating separate practice sessions because babies learn language contextually, not in drills. The word and the sign need to appear at the moment the concept is relevant, or the connection does not stick as well. That said, the NIH-published research gives us a useful benchmark for families who want more structure.
In that study, caregivers conducted focused signing sessions lasting five minutes each, repeated one to three times daily across five days per week. The children in these structured groups showed statistically higher receptive and expressive language scores at fifteen, nineteen, and twenty-four months compared to non-signing peers. If your household is chaotic and you worry about forgetting to sign throughout the day, setting a brief intentional window during breakfast, after a nap, and before bed can serve as a reliable scaffold. But the research also confirms that repetition and consistency matter more than the length of any single session. One common mistake is treating signing like flashcard practice, holding up pictures and drilling through a stack of signs with no real-world anchor. Babies are not memorizing vocabulary in the abstract. They are linking a gesture to something they can see, touch, taste, or feel right now. A parent who signs “dog” only when a picture of a dog appears on a card will get slower results than a parent who signs “dog” every time the family pet walks into the room.
How Many Signs Should You Introduce When Starting Baby Sign Language?
start with just one to three signs at a time, and choose words that come up constantly in your baby’s day. The most commonly recommended starter signs are “milk,” “more,” “eat,” “all done,” and “sleep,” because these map directly to needs your baby experiences multiple times daily. Tinyhood and Today’s Parent both advise waiting until your baby shows recognition of your initial signs before layering in new ones. Recognition might look like your child staring at your hands when you sign, getting excited when they see the sign for milk, or attempting a rough approximation of the gesture themselves. However, if your baby seems to pick up the first few signs quickly, often within a few weeks rather than the typical two months, you do not need to hold yourself to an artificially slow pace. Some children are ready for five or six signs within the first month of exposure. Others take eight weeks to produce even one.
The variability is wide and says very little about your child’s overall intelligence or language trajectory. What matters is that you are not overwhelming a baby who is still working on their first sign by throwing a dozen new ones at them simultaneously. Add signs in batches of two or three, and give each batch enough repetition that the baby has multiple daily exposures over at least a week or two. A useful comparison: think of it like introducing solid foods. You do not put ten new foods on the tray at once. You introduce one, watch for reactions, and build from there. The same graduated approach applies to signs.
What Are the Best Times of Day to Practice Baby Sign Language?
The strongest results come from embedding signs into routines your baby already expects. Mealtimes are the single most productive context because hunger is a powerful motivator and the same words repeat at every meal: more, eat, milk, all done, water. A typical breakfast might give you fifteen natural repetitions of “more” and “all done” alone, without any extra effort. Bath time is another high-value window because the environment is contained, your baby is usually calm and attentive, and words like “water,” “bubbles,” and “all done” recur predictably. Diaper changes, despite being brief, offer a surprisingly good opportunity. Your baby is lying still, you are face to face, and you can sign “diaper,” “wet,” or “all done” in a moment when your child has nothing else competing for their attention.
Pathways.org specifically highlights these low-stress daily routines as ideal contexts, partly because both parent and child are relaxed. If you try to practice signing when your baby is overtired, overstimulated, or in the middle of a meltdown, neither of you will get much out of it. One concrete example: a mother in a parenting forum described her breakthrough moment as happening during the bedtime routine. She had been signing “sleep” and “book” every night for six weeks with no visible response. One evening, her nine-month-old crawled to the bookshelf, grabbed a board book, and made a rough version of the sign for “book” while looking at her expectantly. The consistency of the nightly routine was what eventually made the connection click.
How Long Does It Take Before Babies Start Signing Back?
The timeline depends on when you start and how consistent you are, but the general expectation is two to four months from the point you begin modeling signs. According to The Bump, most babies start signing back between eight and nine months old, which is when they develop intentional gestures and enough hand control to approximate signs. Pampers reports a similar window, noting that babies need two to four months of observation before they produce signs themselves. Huckleberry puts it concretely: a baby who starts learning signs at seven months typically needs about two months of consistent exposure before using a sign independently. There is an important tradeoff here between starting early and managing your own expectations. Parents who begin at four months will be modeling signs for a longer stretch before seeing any return, potentially four to five months.
Parents who begin at six or seven months may see results in closer to two months. Starting earlier is not wasted effort because your baby is absorbing language the entire time, building receptive understanding even when they cannot yet produce the gestures. But if you are someone who needs visible progress to stay motivated, starting at six months may feel more rewarding because the gap between effort and response is shorter. Keep modeling signs even when your baby is not signing back. The Bump emphasizes that receptive understanding, your baby knowing what a sign means, develops well before expressive use, your baby producing the sign. Your child may understand twelve signs while only producing two. That hidden comprehension is real progress, even though you cannot see it directly.
What If Your Baby Is Not Picking Up Signs?
The most common reason a baby is not signing back is simply that not enough time has passed. Parents sometimes worry after two or three weeks of signing with no response, but the research consistently shows that two months is a normal minimum. If you have been signing daily for less than eight weeks, patience is the most important tool you have right now. However, if you have been consistent for three months or more and your baby shows no recognition of signs at all, not producing them and not seeming to understand them either, it is worth mentioning to your pediatrician. This does not necessarily indicate a problem, but language comprehension milestones are something pediatricians track, and signing can be a useful data point in that assessment. Research published in PMC found that children who were behind in language milestones, described as “low-ability” in the study, actually showed the largest gains from sign language exposure.
So if your child is a late talker, signing may be especially valuable rather than something to abandon. A limitation worth noting: not every baby takes to signing equally. Some children are more visually oriented and pick up signs rapidly. Others are more vocal and may skip signing in favor of early babbling and word attempts. Neither path is wrong. If your baby is clearly communicating through other means, pointing, grunting, pulling you toward what they want, they may simply prefer a different channel. Signing is a tool, not a test.
Does Baby Sign Language Delay Speech Development?
This is one of the most persistent myths, and the research is clear: signing does not delay spoken language. HealthyChildren.org, the parent-facing resource of the American Academy of Pediatrics, directly addresses this concern. A landmark study by Drs. Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn at the University of California tracked 103 children and found that signing children actually had statistically higher receptive and expressive language scores at fifteen, nineteen, and twenty-four months compared to non-signing peers.
By age eight, the children who had been signed to as infants scored an average of twelve IQ points higher than the non-signing control group. The reason signing supports rather than replaces speech is straightforward: the Cleveland Clinic recommends always saying the word aloud while signing, so your baby gets dual input. They hear “milk” and see the sign for milk simultaneously. This reinforces the spoken word rather than substituting for it. Signing gives babies a bridge to communication during the months when they understand far more than they can say, and research from SigningTime confirms that children who sign tend to have fewer tantrums, better social-emotional skills, and parents who experience less stress and frustration during the pre-verbal period.
Building a Long-Term Signing Habit That Grows With Your Child
Most families find that signing naturally phases out as spoken language takes over, usually between eighteen and twenty-four months. But some parents continue using key signs well into the toddler years, particularly for situations where verbal communication is difficult: across a noisy playground, during a quiet church service, or when a child is too upset to form words. The sign for “help,” for example, remains useful long after a child can say the word, because a frustrated toddler in the middle of a meltdown may not be able to access spoken language but can still produce a gesture.
Looking ahead, the early investment in signing also appears to build a broader comfort with non-verbal communication and body language awareness. While the long-term studies are still limited in number, the existing data from Acredolo and Goodwyn suggests that the cognitive and language benefits persist years beyond the signing period itself. For families considering whether the daily effort is worth it, the evidence consistently points toward yes, with the caveat that consistency over months matters far more than intensity in any single session.
Conclusion
The core practice guideline is simple: sign every day, during the routines you are already doing, starting with one to three high-frequency words. Say the word out loud every time you sign it. Expect to model signs for about two months before your baby signs back, and do not add too many new signs at once. The research supports daily, context-embedded practice over structured drilling, and confirms that signing benefits language development rather than hindering it.
If you are just getting started, pick one sign today, “milk” or “more” are the most common first choices, and commit to using it at every relevant moment for the next two weeks. Do not worry about perfection. Your baby will not judge your form. What they need is repetition, context, and a caregiver who keeps showing up with the sign day after day, even when it feels like nobody is watching.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I start baby sign language before 6 months?
Yes. You can begin modeling signs as early as four months old, but understand that your baby will not sign back for several months. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends around six months as an ideal starting point because babies are more developmentally ready to absorb and eventually produce gestures.
How many minutes a day should I spend on baby sign language?
There is no required minimum. The NIH research used five-minute structured sessions one to three times daily, but most experts recommend weaving signs into your existing routines rather than timing separate sessions. If you sign during meals, diaper changes, and play, you will accumulate plenty of exposure without a stopwatch.
What if only one parent or caregiver signs with the baby?
Babies can learn signs from a single consistent caregiver, though progress may be faster when multiple caregivers use the same signs. If your partner or daycare provider is not signing, your baby will still benefit from your individual consistency. Share a short list of your starter signs with other caregivers to encourage broader use.
Do I need to use official ASL signs or can I make up gestures?
Many families use simplified versions of American Sign Language signs, and some invent their own gestures. The benefit of using real ASL signs is that they are standardized, so anyone familiar with ASL will understand your child. Made-up signs work within your family but will not transfer to other settings.
Will my baby sign the gestures perfectly?
No. Babies approximate signs the same way they approximate words. A baby’s version of “more” might look like clapping rather than the precise fingertip-touching motion of the ASL sign. As long as you can recognize what they mean, the communication is working. Their form will improve over time as motor skills develop.
At what age do most children stop using signs?
Most children naturally phase out signs between eighteen and twenty-four months as spoken language becomes their primary communication method. Some children drop signs earlier, others keep a few useful ones longer. This transition is gradual and does not need to be forced.