Teaching our 1 year old a few hand signs while his words catch up. Did it help anyone?

Our son is one, has about three words, and gets furious at meals when we can't work out what he wants. More? Water? Done? He just shouts and throws. A colleague taught her daughter three or four simple hand signs around this age and swears it cut the mealtime screaming in half. I like the idea, and I enjoy learning languages myself, so I'd probably over-commit. My mother thinks it will make him lazy about talking. If you tried signs with a toddler, which ones did you start with, and did he pick them up?