16 month not saying words

[rubyroot]

I don't feel hugely concerned, but i'm questioning myself as everyone says toddler should be saying words my now. He's said a few words, once or twice but then never again. He understands some commands, generally knows what you are saying and he will obey- when he feels like it. When I ask him to do things such as pat head, get shoes, wave he can. but sometimes he won't- he seems quite headstrong and so does not always 'perform'. If I ask him to point at different fetures on his face he generally goes for his nose every time. He doesn't really point to the right item in books.
But, everything else seems to be on track, he's quite dextrous, good at shape sorter, loves playing, reading books, cuddling teddies. He comes for cuddles, points to things he wants and of interest- is very vocal and makes lots of different sounds.
I'm considering taking to GP just to be on safe side.

[rubyroot]

Oh he does say mamma and dadda when he feels like it, but he often won't repeat. He has gone through phases of saying dadda a lot and mamma a lot and then just stops!

[MummyBear2352]

My LG is 20 months and still only says a few words (when she feels like it not when shes cued to say them) I dont think you should be too worried at 16 months, as long as he is understanding what you ask him to do it sounds completely normal to me. I'm only going to start to worry if she hasn't made much progress by the time shes 2. My HV said they dont assess speech until they're 2years and 4 months (might be different in other areas) as it's more common for them to be delayed in speech nowadays x

[milkshak3]

at that age it is not about saying words. It's about understanding and communicating his needs. If you have concerns in that area, it might be worth having a chat with the GP but be prepared to be fobbed off!

[rubyroot]

@milkshak3 he communicates his needs fine, he even tells me when he’s about to do a pooh by tugging at his nappy and then goes upstairs to be changed with me following. He undresses himself when asked etc and he says random things but never says them again! Today he said roar when he opened his book to the lion and he’s done it before for a tiger- but it’s so random and then he doesn’t bother again!

[Emmabryant123]

He sounds absolutely fine
My dd didn't say a single word until 21 months
She does have a minor speech delay at 3 years old but she's catching up and improving every week

[rubyroot]

Thanks for your replies. I think I’ll give it a couple of months before I bother my dr then as can imagine just getting sent away!

[DownStreet]

Sounds completely normal to me. You know him best so if you feel like he understands a lot, even if he doesn’t fancy obliging you with actually doing a thing you say, then that’s probably fine.

My first said 1 word around 9 months, and a couple of signs. By 18 months she’d gained a couple more words, but her understanding was good. Then a couple more words, and then it was a couple of words a day. Some children just have something better to do than what you expect from them.

[jollyohh]

Have you had his hearing checked?

[rubyroot]

No because his hearing seems fine as he follows instructions when he wants to obey- that is!

[Kle209]

My 16mo doesn’t have any ‘words’ as such. We have ‘daaa’ for baa, ‘da’ for boo and ‘dada’ for dummy. So essentially the same noise to mean different things! But I have had his hearing checked and even though he seems to hear everything and follow instructions etc he does have some hearing loss due to glue ear. They explained it to me as it being as though he has his fingers in his ears all the time. At this age they just monitor it, but I find it a bit reassuring to know that is likely to be a contributing factor to his speech and to make sure he can see me when I talk etc. Personally I felt that it’s a good idea to rule it out as a problem if nothing else, even though I was worried that I was wasting everyone’s time - turned out I wasn’t!

But at the same time they don’t do much until they’re older anyway so if you just make sure you minimise back ground noise and try to be in their line of sight when you’re talking, your plan of waiting til 18 months probably sounds good to me! That’s what I have to do anyway even though I’ve had his hearing checked!!