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Having a chat with your baby at meal times is a great way to bond and develop their communication skills during a busy day.
Take a look at the video below for ideas to chat through lunch.
Why chat to your baby at mealtimes?
Meal times are a great chance to chat with your baby about the tastes and textures of different foods.
They can also hear words for actions as you prepare their snack or meal and they explore it.
It can be an easy opportunity to build chatting and bonding time into your daily routine.
How to chat with baby at mealtimes
Name the foods and wait for baby to respond when you talk. If they babble, respond to them in turn by babbling back or saying something more about the food.
You might say words like 'tasty', 'yummy' and 'sweet', words for textures like 'smooth', or even words for temperatures like 'cold'.
Give them foods to hold and feel - try not to be afraid of it getting a little messy!
Use words for actions too - both the things you're doing, using words like 'cut' and 'chop', and the things they're doing like 'eat', 'taste' and 'smell'.
More on how to make the most of baby mealtimes from a speech and language therapist.
There's plenty of baby mealtime advice from Tiny Happy People, including some baby and toddler recipes.
