One interesting chapter in Nurture Shock talks about the advancement of speaking skills in babies; it says that communicating with one's baby is of primary importance. But not just talking to them. One needs to listen to their sounds and immediately respond, with a word and a caress or a touch; physical contact is especially important. Studies are showing that if mothers (and fathers) respond quickly and consistently to their babies' attempts at communication in this way, it can have a profound effect on how fast the babies learn to speak.
It seems pretty obvious that if someone smiles and hugs and caresses you, you're going to talk to that person more. Yet none of my parenting books pointed out the importance of this; they all just said, "Talk to your baby all day." I'm sure that's important too, but it makes sense that even for young babies, communication needs to be a two-way street. (And surely, Mom babbling on and on, all day long, could make even a baby tune out.)
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