Should I be worried?

[elsmommy]

Dd is 20 months old. A few months ago she could say about 5 words but she seems to have forgotten them.
Now she doesn't really say anything. She babbles on in her own little language, reads books to herself, says things to me and looks at me as if I should understand!!
She does understand me. If I say can you put this in the bin she toddles off and does it. Or if I say daddys back she runs to the front door.
I read her books and talk to her all the time and she passed the hearing tests when she was younger.
Should I do something or wait?

[elsmommy]

bump

[foolysh]

It sounds like she understands well (receptive speech ok). It's what she says (productive speech) that may be below average (but still ok).

How does she communicate with you? How does she make it clear what she wants? If she isn't frustrated about communicating than she's getting her needs met & she maybe will be later to talk properly?

FWIW, my DS1 didn't start saying words until he was 19 months. He's 5 now and all the teacher ever tells me is how wonderfully articulate he is. My DD started talking earlier, but she still strugglest (age 3.5yo) with pronunciation.

[Lethal]

elsmommy - like foolysh, my ds was quite late to start talking, but is now very articulate. At 22 months he was still babbling in his own language and by 24 months was talking a bit more, but only really stringing two words together. He started to speak a lot better at around 2 1/2. I even took him for a hearing test at 18 months (on the advise of a clinic nurse) because he wasn't saying anything besides "Mama" & Dada".

Well, now he's 4 3/4 and very articulate for his age... has a big vocabulary and picks up language really quickly. He even had some lengthy problems with ear infections & fluid in his ears over the last couple of years, and it didn't hamper his speech in the slightest! (thank heavens for that). He really communicates very well and expresses himself easily now. So I probably wouldn't worry at this stage, esp. if she's understanding you & trying to communicate with you. Perhaps some kids just spend a lot of time soaking up what they hear and then one day it just all comes out. That's how it seemed to happen with ds, anyway.

[elsmommy]

Thanks for the reassurance

[emily05]

my ds was like this. I soon realised that he was being lazy! He is 2 and a half and natters away now. I wouldnt worry, like the others have said, she understands. At this age they babble away in their own language, makes you wonder if you get two toddlers together - would they understand each others babbles!