Does the third child walk and talk sooner?

[HowDoIhelp321]

I'm a middle child of 3 and my little brother couldn't string a sentence together when he started reception, despite being NT.

My third child started walking at 10 months and is talking way sooner than my older two and I keep being told it's because he has older brothers (one is a teen and never here!).

Is it really because he's the third child? Or is it because every kid is different and he would always walk/talk at that particular age no matter at which point he was born?

My third was late at everything as he had 2 servants in his siblings!!

That's EXACTLY why my brother was late with everything!

I'm a middle child of 3 and my little brother couldn't string a sentence together when he started reception, despite being NT.

Was there any intervention or was he just left?

My third child started walking at 10 months and is talking way sooner than my older two and I keep being told it's because he has older brothers (one is a teen and never here!).

My 3rd didn't walk until 16 months. The previous 2 were around the 13 month mark when they walked.

Is it really because he's the third child? Or is it because every kid is different and he would always walk/talk at that particular age no matter at which point he was born?

Every child is different.

My youngest walked earliest. I think he wanted to get away from the toddler playing dollies with him! He talked last- maybe couldn’t get a word in edgeways. They all even out in the end though. He’s never quiet now!

Was there any intervention or was he just left?

No, my mum wasn't worried .
I wondered how the teachers would understand him!
But he was fine, he's now a very successful carpenter about to get married.

They all even out in the end though.

That's exactly how I view it.
I don't buy the whole "it's because he has older brothers".
I believe that each kid is going to walk and talk when it's good for them, whether they are baby number 1 or 10

They do even out in the end - and whether the younger children don't do things because they have siblings to interpret for or simply serve them, or whether having the older siblings spurs them on to do things more quickly perhaps is personality. My youngest is 9. He cannot work the tv remote control, at all. Mostly because he's never been allowed to but also because he just pesters and pesters until one of his siblings does it for him.

I think my younger kids started talking later because they were so inundated with the older kids talking non-stop. But, once they started talking, they were almost talking in sentences straight away. I think they all started walking around the same time.

My 3rd walked the earliest but wasn’t the quickest at talking. My DS2 was the fastest talker.

Dc3 walked at 18 months, and talked at nearly 4. Impressive .

In fairness, she was potty trained at 21 months.

@Matilda did she bottom shuffle by any chance?

Nope - she just sat there. She did enjoy eating, but didn’t do a lot else. She was the third child in under three years, so I was pretty tired.

Once she started walking everything just came together - for example, she could dribble a balll round the house within a couple of weeks of finding her feet.

And the delayed speech is a family trait. Dc1 was over 3, and dc4 (a summer birthday) couldn’t actually talk when she started school. Dc2 (the only boy), on the other hand, was described by nursery at 2.5 as one of their best talkers.

Every kid is different, but I do think birth order has an impact. My third was on her feet & cruising at 6mo, talked at 10mo and now at 20mo never shuts up - you can have a whole conversation with her no problem. BUT my eldest was very similar - I think they just have the same sort of personality; they both want to do everything yesterday my middle didn’t really talk til he was coming up to 2.5, but he understood perfectly well. He’s just way more chilled and lazy, plus his big sis did all his talking for him! It’s possible that had he been born first, he’d have been more motivated to speak up for himself a bit earlier - we’ll never know!