Excited to showcase your child’s new skills and growth, you walk into your pediatrician’s office with your bilingual baby. But the check-up comes to a screeching halt when the pediatrician tells you to only use one language with your child to ensure normal language development. Have you been doing it all wrong?! Cue the panic.

When your pediatrician recommends using one language with your baby, your instinct might be to change everything. They are supposed to be the experts after all. No more Spanish songs, get rid of the bilingual books, and stop encouraging grandma to speak the minority language.

But wait a minute!

While pediatricians are a wealth of knowledge and are important to the health and development of your child, they simply cannot know everything. With all the areas of pediatrics they have to study, most pediatricians often have limited formal training in bilingualism and language development, which is why they have specialists (enter, bilingual speech -language pathologists) to refer you to! So take a breath, trust in your choice to raise a bilingual baby, and know the common misconceptions a pediatrician may have so you can be prepared to discuss.

The pediatrician might say: Learning two languages causes language delays and confuses your child

Your response: “Bilingual children are actually expected to meet their speech and language milestones at the same time as monolingual children! That means I should expect my baby to babble, say their first words, and put words together to make sentences around the same time as a baby who only speaks one language (3). When my child starts talking more, I know it will be normal for them to code-mix, which is using two languages in the same sentence or conversation. Code-mixing does not mean my child is confused, it just means they are following the course of normal bilingual language development (3). Even adults proficient in two or more languages code-mix!”

The pediatrician might say: Learning two languages causes learning disabilities

"Your response: “There is no abnormal brain development when a child is exposed to two languages (2). Speaking two or more languages does not make your brain develop in an atypical way; but, I do know the bilingual brain may develop differently! In fact, being bilingual may actually be advantageous to my baby’s executive functioning skills. I want my child to be as ready as possible for when they start school, and being bilingual may actually enhance their performance in the non-verbal skills that are key to their academic success (1)! I’m excited my child may be fully equipped to manage their time, solve problems, and think outside of the box when playing at home and when learning at school.”

The pediatrician might say: Your baby will never learn English if you speak the minority language at home.

Your response: “The bilingual brain is actually set up to distinguish between all languages before a baby is 6 months old (2)! Discriminating between two languages is important because it allows the brain to store different languages separately. So, my baby is more than capable of becoming proficient in both languages since English and the minority language won’t be competing for space in their brain. I know it may be better to expose my baby to both languages early, though, because early-exposure to both languages from birth is the best way to make sure my baby becomes proficient (2). I also plan for my baby to have plenty of exposure to English outside of the house! We love going to story-time at the library, and they spend a ton of time with their English-speaking friends and extended family.”

The pediatrician might say: You should stop being bilingual if your child has a speech/language delay and/or disorder

Your response: “If a child has a speech and/or language disorder, it will be present in both languages and not just one, and was not caused by being exposed to two languages (3). Because my child has the tools to communicate in two languages, I should continue to let them build off of and use these tools to successfully ask for what they need and express their ideas. I don’t want to limit their communication potential! Also, if my child does have a language delay or disorder, the bilingual speech language pathologist would probably target both languages in therapy so both language systems can continue to develop and grow.”

Don’t stop speaking two (or more) languages.

Aside from being prepared with research and facts, express to the pediatrician why it is important to you and your family that your baby is raised bilingual. Explain that you want your child to grow up communicating with family members that only speak the minority language (and don’t forget to mention the joy on their face when they sing a Spanish song with grandpa!). Detail how speaking the minority language at home helps to maintain your family’s culture (e.g. customs/traditions, food/drink, dance, religion, the list goes on!) and builds your child’s pride in their heritage. Paint the pediatrician a picture and give specific examples (e.g. my child loves going to Spanish Mass on Sunday mornings, we bake a traditional dessert with our cousins every Christmas, etc.). Whatever it may be, help the pediatrician see how speaking the minority language fits in into the culture of your child’s daily life. After all, culture may be an important pillar of your child’s home environment, and it is your pediatrician’s job to help nourish that.

Be prepared for your next pediatrician visit, but don’t stress! You have all the tools you need to reassure the pediatrician that raising a bilingual baby is the right choice for your family. Who knows, maybe you’ll teach the pediatrician something new, too, and help get rid of those misconceptions for when the next bilingual baby walks (or crawls) into their office.