Babies' first words are often seen as a important and precious moment in their development, marking the beginning of their journey into verbal communication. For instance, when the baby looks at his or her parent and says "mama" for the first time, it brightens up the parent's face with joy but it is a meaningful connection in their bond that is growing. For parents, these are some sources of pride and joy. But how do you determine whether your child's speech and language are progressing?

Understanding the communication milestones will help monitor a child's development and spot potential issues before they become more serious. The milestones serve as benchmarks to guide health care providers on whether a child needs further assistance.

Importance of Communication Development in Early Years

The first five years of a child's life are the time of massive growth and brain development at an incredible speed. All domains of development find their roots within this period, including communication. From the day they were born, babies start crying to communicate, and within weeks or months, they begin to babble, imitate sounds, and eventually words. Communication is not only important to express needs but also for understanding the world and building relationships. It is an important tool that supports cognitive, emotional, and social development.

Speech Milestones by Age

Babies learn communication skills at their own pace. General milestones can, however serve as a guideline for typical development. Let's go through these milestones by age:

Newborn (0-3 Months)

At this point, the babies communicate mostly through crying. They give cues as to their needs by responding with actions like smacking the lips when hungry or arching the back when they feel overstimulated. At the end of three months, you may also observe:

• Smiles in response to your appearance.
• Cooing sounds.
• Quiets or smiles when spoken to.
• Your voice.
• Different cries for specific needs.

Upto 6 Months

By six months, babies start experimenting with sounds and use their voice to play. Major developments include:

• Making gurgling sounds during play.
• Babbling with different sounds.
• Vocalizing likes and dislikes.
• Responding to the change in tone of voice.
• Turning eyes toward sounds.
• Showing interest in music and sound-making toys.

Till 12 Months

By the first birthday, there are some significant communication milestones that have been achieved:

• Trying to imitate speech sounds.
• Speaking basic words like "mama," "dada," or "uh-oh."
• Responding to simple commands, such as "Come here."
• Recognizing common items by name, like "shoe."
• Turning toward sounds and voices.

Upto 18 Months

In this stage, children learn to understand and use words in a consistent manner. Some of the important milestones are:

• Knows the names of people, objects, and body parts.
• Responds to simple commands with gestures.
• The child says up to 10 words.

End of 24 Months

By two years of age, children usually have more developed communication skills:

• Using simple sentences, like "more milk."
• Asking one- to two-word questions, such as "Go bye-bye?"
• Following simple directions and answering simple questions.
• Saying 50 or more words.
• Being understood by family members at least half the time.

Ways Parents Can Support Development

Parents can be very supportive in developing the communication skills of their child. Here are some effective strategies:

1. Pay Attention to Hearing: Ensure your child responds to sounds and voices. Notice if they react to noise or look at you when spoken to. If you suspect hearing issues, consult your pediatrician promptly.

2. Engage in Conversation: Respond to your baby’s coos and babbles. Talk to them frequently about daily activities, like “Mommy is making breakfast,” or “We’re going to the park.”

3. Imitation Training: Teach your baby to imitate actions and gestures of others, such as clapping, waving, or peek-a-boo. These activities encourage her to understand turn-taking and even nonverbal communication.

4. Animals Sound: Learning time must be fun. Train your baby to imitate an animal's sound, "A cow says 'moo.'". This encourages sound production along with word association.

5. Read and Sing Together: Reading stories and singing songs expose your child to language patterns and rhythm. Make it a daily habit to promote vocabulary growth.

6. Use Your Native Language: Speak to your child in the language you’re most comfortable with. Early exposure to rich language environments helps babies learn effectively.

7. Strengthen Their Attempts: Cheer every time your child tries to speak. Repeat the words and sounds and gently correct as needed. A little "baby talk" is okay but clearly say simple words for them to imitate.

When to Seek Medical Attention

Though every child develops at his own rate, there are some delays that point toward professional intervention. Talk with your child's health care provider if:

- Doesn't turn toward sounds or his name.

- By 12 months, he isn't babbling, and by 18 months, he has not spoken a single word.

- Uses speech in a peculiar manner or shows delayed speech.

Your pediatrician can refer you to some specialist who could be an audiologist or speech-language pathologist for more extensive testing. In the case of a bilingual child, he will also be evaluated by a bilingual speech-language pathologist.

Communication milestones form a kind of roadmap in understanding how your baby develops. This means through conversation, play, and learning activities, you could be able to enhance language skills while promoting your child's development. When concerned about delay, consult professional help, as this might make all the difference by having communication skills set up to meet a great future for your child.

Communication Milestones: Birth to 1 Year. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Since October 19, the PM2.5 levels, which is one of the key pollutants, in Delhi has hovered well above 120 micrograms, while even crossing 200 a couple of times. While the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines recommend the average PM2.5 levels to be at 15 micrograms per day, reported Healthy Policy Watch. In June 2023, when New York hit PM2.5 levels of 117 micrograms, advisories were issued to shut down schools, for people to remain indoors, and to wear masks. However, there have been no such advisory in Delhi so far.

The data on Delhi pollution has been unreliable, several media outlets have reported the discrepancy between the official data and the on ground data. Many videos online have also shown the gap between these data where people are using their private AQI machines to measure the air quality. Furthermore, a video from opposition legislator Saurabh Bharadwaj that showed water being sprinkled around a government-run air monitoring station in the city on Diwali night have also raised questions on whether the data was tampered.

Amid all this, while doctors have time and again have asked everyone to stay safe, wear mask, and avoid going out during peak hours, studies too have shown fatal links with worsening air pollution. Now, there is an increased risk for infants too. Dr Anjana Singh, director and head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Fortis, Noida, as told to the Indian Express said, "Nowadays each newborn is spending a longer time in the nursery before they can be discharged because they are born with respiratory problems and their lung function needs to be stabilised. Some of them have delayed lung development and congenital asthma later. More and more babies are being born with jaundice."

Pollution And Infant Health

The doctor points out that pollution has a deep impact on fetal development than one may think. "It is the reason why we are seeing many more cases of miscarriage, pre-term births, stillbirths, birth defects, congenital heart disease and neural tube defects (the brain and spine do not develop properly)," the doctor explains.

Toxic particles can cross the placenta, the temporary organ that links a baby to the mother through the umbilical cord, and disrupt normal development. They trigger inflammation in the placenta, which creates resistance to blood flow. Over time, the blood vessels become damaged, reducing the amount of blood reaching the fetus.

Air pollution can mess with how nutrients reach the baby, which often leads to low birth weight. Research also shows that when a pregnant woman is exposed to polluted air, the risk of stillbirth goes up, especially in the third trimester.

High levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are linked to low birth weight and premature birth, both of which can cause other health problems. Tiny sooty particles can move through the mother’s bloodstream to the placenta and affect the baby’s lung development, raising the risk of lifelong breathing issues like asthma.

Pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and PAHs which come from things like burning food, coal, oil or gas can disrupt how organs form. This can increase the chances of conditions like congenital heart defects, neural tube problems or cleft palate. Some studies also suggest that heavy exposure to air pollution during pregnancy may raise the risk of autism spectrum disorder.

Air pollution can also push the mother’s blood pressure up, increasing the risk of preeclampsia, which is dangerous for both mom and baby.

Microplastics in the air come from synthetic clothes, car tires and broken down plastic waste. They act as endocrine disruptors, meaning they can interfere with hormones during key stages of development. They’ve been linked to gestational diabetes, inflammation and gut microbiome imbalance. Microplastics have even been found in the placenta, umbilical cord and cord blood, showing they can reach the baby and interfere with organ and nervous system development.

Children are known for hopping from one activity to the next, often when they should be focusing on just one thing. This is a common experience for parents and teachers. A new study suggests that this behavior is not just because kids are naturally curious. Instead, the real reason has a lot to do with the way their younger brains are still growing and working.

Children have a characteristic less attention span, and many people believe that it is simply because the children don’t find it interesting enough, however the study proved that this is not true. Published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, researchers discovered that children's ability to stay focused on one task is limited because their working memory is not yet fully developed.

Why Do Children Have Less Attention Span?

Working memory is like the brain’s temporary notepad, it holds information needed to complete a task. When this memory gets overloaded, children can't stay "locked in" on a single job.

Researchers at Ohio State University essentially forced adults to behave like young kids during a task. They found that when an adult's working memory was filled up, their attention scattered, and they started acting just like young children.

To create the "kid-like" condition, some of the adults were asked to do a second, very difficult task at the same time as playing the candy game. This second task required them to intensely focus on a screen full of numbers and immediately shout out whenever they saw two odd numbers appear right after each other.

This extra mental effort, or load, completely soaked up their working memory, making it much harder for them to stay focused on finding the best candy character.

How Do People Concentrate?

The study included 40 five-year-olds and 71 adults who played a computer game. In the game, participants collected virtual candy from four cartoon characters. Each character always gave a different, fixed amount of candy (1, 2, 3, or 10). The goal was to figure out which character gave the biggest reward.

Some of the adults were given a second, demanding task to do at the same time: they had to watch numbers streaming by and call out when two odd numbers appeared in a row. This extra mental load made it much harder for them to focus on the candy game.

What Causes Scattered Attention In Kids?

Everyone, including the children and the distracted adults, was able to figure out which character gave the largest candy reward. However, the adults whose memory was overloaded, just like the young children, kept switching between characters instead of sticking to the best choice.

Researchers explained noted that this scattered attention happened even when participants knew the correct answer. The finding suggests that what we see as simple distraction in kids might actually come from a brain that is still developing.

The results change how we should view a child's attention span. They suggest that a child's natural tendency to switch focus might actually be a good thing, helping them learn in ways that are more flexible and adaptable than adults. It's not a weakness. This vital research could help teachers and parents create new teaching methods that work with a young child's natural way of learning, instead of always trying to make them concentrate against their developing brain's natural tendencies.

Men's health is a topic often not talked about, however, it is as important as any other health related topics that are addressed more frequently. This is the case especially when it comes to men's reproductive health. While there has a been a lot of studies around semen production and what makes a sperm healthy, there are still many myths around it.

To burst one of such myths, we spoke to Dr Beena Muktesh, Senior IVF Expert at Motherhood Hospital, Gurugram. We asked her whether there was any truth in the claim that semen production is linked to healthy sperm.

Dr Muktesh points out that while sperm-related problems are rampant in men, many men still assume that producing semen automatically indicates fertility. "However, it is a myth that needs to be addressed." She says that there is a need to understand the difference between the two.

What Is Semen? How Does It Tell Whether The Sperm Is Healthy?

Semen is a fluid that is released during ejaculation. It contains sperm and other substances from the male reproductive organs. The sperm is around 1 to 5% of the semen. The rest of it is a liquid called seminal plasma, this includes water, proteins, enzymes, and nutrients like fructose for energy. It Is important for reproduction by helping sperm reach and fertilize the egg. "Healthy semen is pivotal when it comes to male fertility. However, a common myth among men is that if they ejaculate normally, their sperm must be healthy and fertile," she points out.

The doctor says that while semen production is sign that the reproductive system is functioning, it may not guarantee that the sperm it contains are capable of fertilizing an eff.

Dr Muktesh says, "Fertility depends not just on the presence of sperm but on their count, motility or movement, and morphology, or shape. Though many women do not know about this fact and continue to struggle in silence."

Semen that appears normal is volume, color and consistency, could still contain sperm that are low in number. They could move poorly, or have structural abnormalities, pointed out the doctor. "These factors impact the ability of sperm to reach and fertilize an egg, making conception difficult even if ejaculation occurs regularly."

The doctor suggests that men must undergo a semen analysis to evaluate their fertility. The analysis will be able to tell the number of sperm in a given volume of semen.

"Low count can reduce the chances of fertilization. The sperm motility will be checked to know how the sperm will move. Poor motility means sperm may struggle to reach the egg. The expert will also pay attention to the sperm shape and structure. Abnormal shapes can affect the ability to penetrate and fertilize the egg, and make conception challenging," she points out.

There are also other factors like the semen pH, volume, and white blood cell presence that could be monitored to detect infections or other underlying concerns. This is why it is important to get the analysis done and not just assume, she points out.

"Awareness and early evaluation allow timely intervention, increasing the chances of conception and promoting informed decisions about reproductive health. So, men, consult the expert without any delay and know about your sperm health status for healthy conception," she says.