She got pregnant without really trying this time, after suffering from supposed infertility. Trista should stop whining about how much her pregnancy sucks.

I’m sure that Trista and her doctor will be able to decide what’s right for her.

I really think every kid is different. What works for one kid may not work for another.

I had no interest in learning baby sign language to teach my 18month old son. However, they do teach them signs at school (my son has only done one sign repeatedly “please” – he says and signs the word at the same time).

My son is extremely verbal and honestly knows so many words it is hard to count. But i know others who sign and don’t talk and others who don’t talk at all.

Everyone is different. Trick is figuring out what works with your kid and running with it!

I’m also pretty surprised by the sign language comment. I think most speech experts agree (at least this is what I’ve read/been told by doctors) that actually being able to verbalize is far more efficient than signing, so there’s no reason why a child would choose to sign once they’re developmentally able to speak. Just in terms of my personal experiences (I’m a long time nanny and have worked with many infants and toddlers) kids that learned baby signs seemed to verbalize faster, since they’d been using words (through signs) for a long time, and had caught on to certain aspects of word usage. Even better, it saved A LOT of whining/screaming/grunting for random objects, and me running around the room picking up everything in sight saying “You want this?….this?…this?” Hahaha.

Everything I’ve read seems to be strongly in favor of signs, but I have heard parents who feel otherwise. To each his own. Max is an adorable baby!

E, you have a good point. But if her doctor is really uneducated and she is passing his/her advises, that doesn’t make her educated. She is a great and very nice woman, but she seems to be passing wrong advices as she seems to be missinformed about certain issues. Sometimes people just adopt certain opinions and dont see left or right.

Amy,
I agree with you! Baby sign language is absolutely helpful…my nephew is 18 months, he can sign about 10 words and he SAYS 28 words…so clearly the baby sign has not impaired his speaking vocally…

I think we all need to stop talking about how “uneducated Trista” is. Different doctors think different things. You have no idea what her doctor tells her. Maybe her doctor is the stupid uneducated one.

I have watched Ryan and Trista since it all began and I LOVE them!! I’m so happy for them and their little family. It was good to hear that someone else feels like this morning sickness is never going to end and can’t remember what it was like to NOT feel sick 24/7. Can’t wait to continue to follow their story. SO CUTE!!!

I have to agree with Amy. Sign language not only does not inhibit speech, it actually facilitates it. I totally respect not wanting to do sign language. She doesn’t have to justify it, especially with misinformation.

Nikka – Trista’s remarks about staying educated regarding fertility had to do with keeping hope, not conceiving.

Amy – I’ve heard a few negatives to teaching kids SL, too. I can’t tell you where I heard/read them, but I remember one being that they are slower to develop speech. You might correct me on that, of course.