Haute-Loire: the gestures to learn to communicate with your baby

Baby sign language workshops are offered in May and June in Chadrac in Haute-Loire. Parents learn to communicate with their children using gestures. This facilitates dialogue and limits the frustrations linked to misunderstanding.

Early childhood professionals from Chadrac in Haute-Loire have noted the difficulty some parents have in identifying the needs of their children. "Understanding your baby is not always easy. He does not speak. This is why we have decided to set up workshops to introduce parents to baby sign language" explains Charlène Leyre, family referent at the social center of Chadrac. "We found that families were looking for ways to communicate with their babies. Thanks to gestures, it's possible. Parents but also brothers and sisters can use it," she adds.

Between the end of May and the end of June, six workshops are offered to parents whose children are between 6 months and 2 and a half years old. They were initiated by the Vivre Mieux Social Center, the Arc en Ciel multi-welcome and the social and family life of UDAF 43. The theme of the workshops corresponds to the daily life of babies: the day (eating, drinking, his toilet), the clothes, the exterior with the park, the animals, the people and the emotions.

Be understood

Baby sign language is a very useful means of communication, the time that the child acquires the word. Used between parents and children, it allows messages to be passed on through gestures. "This language gives children the means and the tools to express their needs, their desires and their emotions. Through gestures, they can tell, for example, if they are hungry, if they are thirsty and if they are sleepy" explains Elizabeth Champenoy, leader of the baby sign workshops.

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The sign is associated with the word. The child thus understands that such a sign means "again", that another means "drink" or yet another "cake". "To say cake, for example, you have to close your fist, put it against your cheek and knock twice. To ask for water, you have to raise your index finger and bend it, like a tap, keeping the other fingers closed. " she clarifies.

Over time, communication is established. "With repetition, the baby manages to do it spontaneously. We are not in the construction of sentences or in the syntax. These are the key words of baby's daily life to be understood".

Reduce frustration and improve the bond between parents and children

For the proper development of the child, it is essential that parents can meet the physiological and psychological needs of their children.

It is therefore important that a baby makes himself understood. However, parents do not necessarily identify what is hidden behind the crying and the chirping. This therefore generates frustration, on both sides. "The signs allow the child to be understood. The parents are no longer questioning themselves, wondering what their little one wants," says Elizabeth Champenoy.

The parent-child relationship is greatly improved. The child feels understood. "He will later have greater self-confidence. It also develops his fine motor skills as he uses his hands and fingers," she says. For his part, the adult will be satisfied. He will understand his baby. But she stresses, however: "Parents must be observant, they must look carefully. Gestures are not always well done. The idea is to repeat the gesture and say the word. Do you want some water? It's that? Water … making the sign again.”

More and more parents are using baby sign language. The six workshops offered at Chadrac are already full. Faced with this enthusiasm, other courses should be scheduled. Elizabeth Champenoy concludes by indicating that many early childhood structures use this means of communication to enable staff to understand the babies in their care. "A baby's face that is understood lights up...that says it all!".