Baby boys are more ‘talkative’ than girls during their first year of life, study finds

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Typical men! Baby boys are ‘more talkative’ than girls in their first year of life, research shows

  • Baby boys are significantly more ‘talkative’ than girls in their first year of life
  • It is only after their first birthday that girls catch up with boys and start babbling more

By Victoria Allen Science Editor for The Daily Mail

Updated:

With their repertoire of squeaks, raspberries and “ba” sounds, all young babies may seem equally boisterous.

But baby boys are significantly more talkative than girls during their first year of life, a study suggests.

It is only after their first birthday that girls catch up with boys and start babbling more.

Researchers looked at 5,899 babies up to two years old who were fitted with small audio recorders for an average of six separate days.

This resulted in more than 450,000 hours of recordings, including more than 56 million baby sounds, which were analyzed by an algorithm.

With their repertoire of squeaks, raspberries and “ba” sounds, all young babies seem equally noisy (stock image)

Baby boys are significantly more

Baby boys are significantly more “talkative” than girls during their first year of life, a study suggests

For babies up to one year old, boys were 10 percent more talkative than girls.

This was based on sounds that represented early speech-like sounds, including screeching, raspberry, and “gaga” and “baba” sounds, but excluding crying, laughing, sneezing, burping, and hiccups.

The researchers conclude that young baby boys may be determined to babble more because, when we were early humans, this was an important way for babies to let their parents know they were healthy and needed care rather than in the abandoned.

Because boys are more likely than girls to die in their first year, medical records suggest, early parents probably neglected or abandoned them before, so this was extra important from an evolutionary point of view.

However, the study found that girls aged one to two were about seven percent more vocal than boys.

Dr. Kimbrough Oller, who led the study from the University of Memphis, said: ‘Babies tend to babble and make speech-like sounds because adults find this cute and want to take care of them.

‘Human babies are more helpless compared to our closest relatives, the apes, so it’s especially important that adults take care of them.

“So it doesn’t seem to be about practicing for speech at this age, as many people think.”

Babies under the age of two make an average of about five speech-like sounds per minute when they are awake.

Previous evidence suggests that about 90 percent of babies’ speech-like sounds are directed at no one, rather than their parents or other people.

But the research finding that girls babble more than boys after one year may be because they are becoming more social and wanting to communicate more with their parents.

HOW IMPORTANT IS BABY BABEL?

Scientists claim that talking to babies gives them benefits in life that go far beyond increased vocabulary.

They say chatting with babies under one helps them make friends, and also makes them smarter as they are better able to discover the world around them.

There is some debate about how important it is and also whether adults should use their normal voice.

Speaking more slowly, using a singing voice and using strange words are common when talking to toddlers, but research has shown that it can be harmful to a child.

Conflicting research claims that the high-pitched voice used when talking to a baby is essential.

Many believe that “baby talk” helps develop early speech and language skills.

These are associated with success in developing reading, writing and interpersonal skills both later in childhood and later in life.

Long before they can speak clearly, babies understand the general meaning of what you say.

This bond is important in their development and happiness.

Other advice includes:

  • Have back and forth conversations in baby talk
  • Imitate baby’s vocalizations such as “ba-ba” or “goo-goo”
  • Reinforce communication by smiling and mirroring facial expressions.
  • Imitate babies’ gestures, as body language is important for their communication
  • Smile often at the baby, especially when the child is engaged in baby talk
  • Watch the baby as the toddler makes noises

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