When Do Babies Start Cooing?

We’ve all heard those adorable early newborn sounds, when they’re wide-eyed and excited. It’s like they’re trying to tell us something but just can’t find the words. These delightful baby cooing noises are often met with smiles, kisses and imitations, but they also serve a pretty big role in your child’s language and speech development.

When my daughter was a newborn, she used to have animated “cooing conversations” with me, my husband—and even the ceiling fan in her bedroom. We always wondered what was going on in that rapidly developing brain! Any parent who’s witnessed their baby cooing knows how entertaining it can be: “My baby loves to ‘chat’ with her teething toy in her mouth—it makes her little voice sound even cuter and never fails to make us laugh!” says Sarah Beth C., a mom of one in Richmond, Virginia.

So when do babies start cooing, and what else should you know about this super-cute milestone? Read on as pediatricians break it down.

Key Takeaways

• When do babies start cooing? It will vary, but it typically begins between 6 and 8 weeks of age.
• Cooing is an important milestone in baby’s development—it helps strengthen their facial muscles and teaches them the “back and forth” of communication.
• You can encourage baby cooing by talking, reading and singing to baby.
• If you’re worried about baby not cooing, reach out to your pediatrician. It’s never too early to get the support baby needs.

What Is Cooing?

Aside from crying, cooing is “the first vocalizations that babies make,” explains Joelle McConlogue, MD, a pediatrician with Stanford Medicine Children’s Health in Palo Alto, California. And it’s more than just adorable: Cooing is actually the start of language development in babies. “[It’s] when they’re starting to learn how to make sounds and to process the muscles that’ll be needed to make sounds,” explains McConlogue.

Baby cooing examples

Cooing consists of soft vowel-sounds, such as “ah,” “eh” and “oh”—and may even sound like an actual “coo” from a little bird, adds Denise Scott, MD, a pediatrician and pediatric endocrinologist in Oklahoma. She adds that cooing noises are often made in the neck near the vocal cords, as opposed to crying, which comes more from baby’s chest.

Humming is also a form of cooing, and it can be a delight (or surprise) to behold. Connie S., a mom of one in Chicago, says she and her husband heard humming coming from the baby monitor while their 3-month-old son was in his crib and panicked, thinking someone else was in the room. “We went tearing up the stairs and found [our son] playing with his toes and humming a little baby tune. He looked at us like we were the crazy ones,” she says.

When Do Babies Start Cooing?

When do babies coo, on average? “Most babies begin cooing between 6 and 8 weeks of age, though some start a little earlier or later,” says Jean Siri Moorjani, MD, FAAP, a board-certified pediatrician at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. You’ll likely catch your little one’s first coos when they’re just living their best baby life. “Cooing usually happens when babies are calm, content and alert—often during face-to-face time with a parent,” says Moorjani.

Why Do Babies Coo?

There are two primary ways cooing helps with baby’s development. First is a physiological aspect: “Since cooing derives from the larynx, it can contribute to their developing the muscles they’ll later use to form speech,” Scott explains. It also helps baby practice using their facial muscles for speech.

Secondly, baby cooing helps with social interaction. “When a baby starts to coo, they’re starting to interact with their world,” McConlogue says, explaining that many parents and caregivers will innately coo and smile back. “It’s a really good beginning of personal connection where [babies] have that social interaction and realize, ‘Oh, I’m part of something more than just me.’” This back and forth interaction is great for baby’s social development, as it teaches them listening and responding.

Baby cooing can also help infants communicate emotions. “While coos aren’t words, they often reflect how baby’s feeling,” explains Moorjani. For example, she says “ah” sounds may indicate comfort or relaxation, and “oh” sounds might signal curiosity. While most coos generally represent contentment, she says “eh” sounds can point to discomfort or effort. “Over time, babies learn that making sounds gets a response—and that realization is a huge motivator to keep ‘talking.’”

How to Encourage Baby Cooing

Aside from responding to baby cooing, there’s a lot parents can do to encourage language development overall. McConlogue encourages creating a “language-rich environment” full of speech and sounds. She suggests talking to baby (even if they don’t yet talk back), narrating actions, using facial and vocal expressions, reading to baby and singing to baby.

Baby will learn a lot about your emotions and personality from your words. For example, if you speak in a comforting manner, baby may smile or coo, but if you’re angry or you yell, baby may startle or cry, per the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

What Comes Next After Cooing?

Eventually, as baby’s verbal language develops—around 4 to 6 months—they’ll also start to add consonant sounds, such as “ba,” “ga” and “da,” says McConlogue. This marks baby’s transition from cooing to babbling.

“You start to get a link of different syllables together, and that’s really babbling—once you have a combination of those harder sounds and the vowels,” McConlogue notes. They’ll continue to babble until 9 months old and later, and soon start to learn their first words.

Stages of Baby Communication and Language Development

“Language development unfolds in predictable stages, though every child moves at their own pace,” explains Moorjani. Here’s generally what to expect, she says:

• Cooing: Between 6 to 8 weeks and 3 months
• Babbling: Between 4 to 7 months
• Babbling that sounds more like real speech: Between 8 and 12 months
• First words: By 12 months

Keep in mind that these are approximations—timelines vary from baby to baby. If you’re concerned about language milestones, talk to your provider.

When to Reach Out to Your Pediatrician

McConlogue recommends letting your pediatrician know if baby isn’t cooing or making some kind of vocalizations by the time they’re 4 months old. By this age, baby should also be smiling, responding to noises and responding to faces, Scott says.

McConlogue adds that some babies will coo and make vocalizations, even if they have issues with hearing. “Deaf children may initially coo, but then their language doesn’t progress [to babbling],” she says. Other babies with hearing issues may not coo at all or will coo less frequently—it varies.

Some parents may worry about an eventual autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis, but McConlogue emphasizes that a language delay is only one piece of the puzzle. “There’s often some delay in vocalization…however, that’s one of many things,” she explains. For an ASD diagnosis, there will likely also be delays in other aspects of personal social communication, as well as the presence of repetitive behaviors. “A lot of times it just takes time to watch and to follow and to develop…we won’t know until the child just grows with a little bit of time,” she says.

To Sum It Up

Cooing is a sweet milestone that marks the beginning of baby’s language development journey. Newborns get to learn how to move their facial muscles and communicate, and we get to experience the delight of it all. If baby isn’t cooing and you’re concerned about it, reach out to your pediatrician for guidance. “Early evaluation doesn’t mean something’s wrong—it just helps ensure your baby gets support if needed,” says Moorjani.

Please note: The Bump and the materials and information it contains are not intended to, and do not constitute, medical or other health advice or diagnosis and should not be used as such. You should always consult with a qualified physician or health professional about your specific circumstances.