| There is no "perfect" time to start. Parents who choose to start earlier (i.e. before 6 months) will, yes, have a longer wait before their baby signs back. Realistically, babies won't be developmentally ready (in terms of motor skills) to imitate simple signs until around 6 months. Case in point: With our son whom we started signing to at 8 months, he signed back after 6 weeks; with our daughter whom we signed to from Day 1, she signed back only when she was 6.5 months.
That said, parents who start "early" can get into the hang of signing sooner so that by the time their babies are ready to sign back, the parents are more "natural" at signing. When parents start "later" (from 6 months+), their wait for babies to sign back tends to be a bit shorter, as by then, babies can start to imitate/make simple signs back.
"Basicaly, it's whatever works for you and your baby."
Yes, this is correct. The whole objective of signing with your baby is not to learn sign language as a second language but rather to have a means to communicate effectively with each other before the words come. :) |