Learning my baby's language | Rebecca Oakley, TinyTalk

So it turns out that new business pitching, budget forecasting and being able to play the After Eight game with clients at the Christmas lunch aren’t exactly transferable skills to life with a newborn. A colicky one who screams for hours every evening and is constantly sick over every item of clothing we both own. Nothing has prepared me for this particular challenge. As a new mother, I found this particularly hard - that I couldn’t over-research and prepare adequately for the realities of having a baby like I do with everything else in life. My baby couldn’t care less that I knew how to excel spreadsheet with the best of them. I felt massively out of my depth and with no idea where to start.

One thing I started to realise though was that my new baby had no idea either and that gave us something to bond over. We both had no clue how to breastfeed and had to learn together for example, or going to sleep at night (still not figured that one out and she’s now 5). I also realised she wasn’t ‘a baby’, she was a person with her own needs, wants and interests and we had to figure out together how to meet those.

I can’t remember how I came across TinyTalk baby signing classes, but I loved the idea that there could be a way for us to communicate better (screams on her part and crying on mine weren’t working for either of us) and we started to go to classes to learn British Sign Language signs and how to use them to support our everyday communication. I liked that I could use that Powerpoint brain again to learn something real and I loved teaching her. When she started to be able to communicate, using signs, that she wanted a drink, or needed her nappy changed, or had spotted a butterfly she wanted to point out to me, it was amazing. She looked at me with an expression of ‘ok, I trust you now, you get me’ and I loved being able to talk with her so much more than expected, being able to talk to her as the person she is. As she grew, the signs supported that emerging toddler speech (especially useful with nursery staff) until she dropped them when they were no longer needed.

While pregnant with my second daughter, I retrained to become a TinyTalk Baby Signing teacher and it’s amazing hearing other families’ stories of the changes this has made in their life – easing frustrations, getting to know their little ones, the fun it brings when communication is easier and in some cases babies being able to convey hugely important information adults wouldn’t be able to know without it. My younger daughter came to class with me for the first couple of years of teaching and signing has been a huge part of her life too - leaving her with grandparents for the first time when we knew she could tell them she wanted milk made that so much easier. Or knowing she was hungry when I was trying another activity made things so much more straightforward. I’d encourage everyone to learn signs with their baby. Find a class, learn the real signs used by the deaf community as well as childcare providers all over the country, learn in a fun way with nursery rhymes and activities and then get a real piece of time carved out not only to bond with your baby, but to have a cup of tea and meet other local families who can call you your real name (because we’re all people as well as parents) and get to know the new parent you too.  I could do you a Powerpoint, but it isn’t quite the same!

Head to www.tinytalk.co.uk for your nearest class.