14 month old not saying mama/dada?

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

... Or any variation of that.

He is nearly 14 months old. He CAN say 'car' (70,000x a day), and we do baby signing and he has a few signs. But at his 1-year development check (which was actually when he was 10 months old), the HV seemed surprised he wasn't saying mama/dada yet, and said they'd 'refer him' if he wasn't by 12 months.

So most of me thinks he's absolutely fine and I don't want to bother telling the HVs, but just want to check this sound normal?? He started saying 'car' about 6 weeks ago and hasn't got any new words since. It's clear he understands most things we say though, and he's been walking for 3 months so seems fine in all other regards!

[PerpetualStudent]

Whaaa? My 14 month old can say cat (chaa!) and hiya. He makes a spitting noise for toothbrushing. He knows the sign for 'more' (greedy sod) and points to things he wants, pushes away things he doesn't, and actively vocalises and communicates with 'ba' and 'da' for everything else. He understands instructions like 'now we will brush our teeth' and 'mummy wants a hug'
I'm not worried at all (and I'm a phd student in education who has read a bit around language development and communication) and neither was our HV at his 12 month check.

There's a theory the building blocks of communication (listening and responding, turn taking) are more important than vocabulary at this point, so if your DS is using baby signs and you feel you're building that mutual communication, I wouldn't worry....

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

Ok good! I'll trust you, future Dr Perpetual :) thanks.

[2nds]

My two year old now has quite a big vocabulary for her age yet she's only just started saying mama the past week or so, she's been saying daddy for months. My three year old however never says mummy, mama or any other variation of mother.

I really wouldn't worry about it at 14 months honestly.

[minipie]

Your HV is nuts

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

Just what I wanted to hear thanks both!

[0phelia]

Mine is 18mo and doesn't bother with "mama" but "dada" was his favourite for ages ago. We haven't heared it for months since!

He does animals sounds that is all. He's fine for his age and I agree your HV is bonkers.

[Blueredballoon]

My son didn't really say mama/mummy etc until he was about 2.2yrs! Now he says it a million times a day and his speech for everything else is great too- he didn't ease into it really, just one day could say a lot all of a sudden!

[NickMarlow]

My dd was saying both by 11 months and has quite a lot of words now.

But she's 18 months and not walking, cruising, or really standing. Lots of people make a big deal about it but gp said not to worry until she's 2, she's obviously developing faster with language than with mobility!

They develop different areas in different orders. Give it another year or two and no one will be able to tell how late/early they hit certain milestones, it just won't matter. Your ds sounds like he's absolutely fine!

[Bails2014]

My older son 'failed' almost every aspect of his 12 month check, he was below average on everything.

He's totally normal. He just didn't conform to the test. We didn't get any real meaningful words until after he started walking. Which was 20 months.

He very rapidly caught up with his peers.

[gallicgirl]

My 16 month old can say juice and shout his sister's name, not that she wants to know!

He just grunts in my direction.

It doesn't concern me yet but I'm keeping an eye on it as he has a tongue tie. His sister only had a few words at 2 then all of a sudden she was talking in quite complex sentences. Can't shut the damn child up now! They all get there in their own time for the most part.