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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be surprised that a woman I met's daughter was talking at 7 months?

69 replies

CruCru · 18/07/2013 21:25

I met a woman today who I'd met briefly when we were both last pregnant. She was saying that her daughter was speaking from 7 months and can now (not quite two) say the alphabet and count to ten in several languages.

I hadn't realised that children could talk as early as seven months (and I still can't say the alphabet in any language other than English).

OP posts:

thatstoast · 18/07/2013 21:27

So have you met this child and seen her do these things?

PaleHousewifeOfCumbriaCounty · 18/07/2013 21:27

My daughter spoke then. Alas it was swings and roundabouts because she was so busy yapping that she forgot to move anywhere til she was 17 months.

yerwan · 18/07/2013 21:27

Making sounds like Dada, but I doubt actual words

Judyandherdreamofhorses · 18/07/2013 21:28

One of DD's classmates was talking at 8 months (according to her mum, who I have no reason to doubt). She is selectively mute now. I'm not implying the two are linked, of course, just that early talking is not necessarily an indicator of...well, of anything really.

Chaoscarriesonagain · 18/07/2013 21:28

Hi cru. I was talking at 84 days , well , said my first word! I could string sentences and make sense in conversation at a 6 month check up with dr, it's on my records. It is most unusual I suppose - I've also always had plenty to say for myself!!

Couldn't walk till I was almost 3 though!

MalcolmTuckersMum · 18/07/2013 21:28

What's the AIBU here?

TalkativeJim · 18/07/2013 21:30

Speaking as someone with highly developed language skills, may I be the first to say bolleaux.

Dollydowser · 18/07/2013 21:31

My dd said good girl at 7 months. I was really shocked, looked at my friend who said to me 'did she just say good girl?!', and then my dd said it again! She did carry on from there, was talking well by a year. She is now 9, just average at school, so not a sign of super intelligence or G&T. Funnily enough, she is very shy and school says she hardly speaks a word in class.

BoysAreLikeDogs · 18/07/2013 21:31

Malcolm you are totes channelling mintyy! Quite right too.

OP what is the AIBU?

kelda · 18/07/2013 21:33

Some children do say words very early, just like others walk very early.

Knowing the alphabet and numbers at the age of less then two is usually just repetition - she might not understand the actual concepts until a bit later.

Bazoo23 · 18/07/2013 21:34

hahaha at talking at 84 days!!!
Two and a half months and talking?!

TalkativeJim · 18/07/2013 21:35

Ooooof looks like I'm wrong - but how Hunbelievable

onlyfortonight · 18/07/2013 21:38

I talked early...but have struggled ever since with dyslexia! Development milestones are just the average point at which the average child will develop a skill. Some will be early, some will be late...but no child is 'average'!

LunaticFringe · 18/07/2013 21:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

CruCru · 18/07/2013 21:46

The AIBU is AIBU to be surprised that a 7 mo was talking?

I have no reason to doubt her, I just hadn't realised that children could talk that early. She did say she was a very late walker.

OP posts:

Bazoo23 · 18/07/2013 21:46

My daughter is 8 months and says "dada" "hiya" and "yeah" but randomly and out of context so I wouldnt class her as actually talking yet.

SarahAndFuck · 18/07/2013 21:49

DS said his first word at 7 months.

TalkativeJim · 18/07/2013 21:50

'Mother, as per the guidelines, I suggest you commence weaning me forthwith.'

Primrose123 · 18/07/2013 21:52

My DD, when very young, maybe just a few weeks, hiccuped, and it came out very clearly as 'help'!

I don't think that counts though.

blueberryupsidedown · 18/07/2013 21:53

I know a child who could say a few words at 8 months old and now (I'm her childminder) she can have a meaningful conversation with me at 18 months old. She is lovely and can express herself very well but I always have doubts about parents who mention in passing that their child is so advanced for their age and can say the aphabet etc it sounds a bit desperate to me. I once looked after a little girl who could say words like helicopter and dinosaur by the time she was 12 months old.

In contrast, my own son didn't speak before he was 3 years old and now at 6 he has As in every subject at school, is on a special program for gifted and talented for maths, can read Roald Dahl books and writes beautiful poems.

MrsDeVere · 18/07/2013 21:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MalcolmTuckersMum · 18/07/2013 21:55

Boys - - I think I might have been!

Doobiedoobedoobie · 18/07/2013 21:55

DD1 was started talking at about 8 months (so a bit later) and could say quite a bit by a year. Could repeat the alphabet/ count up to 10/ sing dozens of nursery rhymes and hold full blown adult conversations by 18 months, but as a PP said the counting/ alphabet song was definitely repetition... That is, if we said '1....' She would count to ten but didn't have any concept of actually counting objects if that makes sense? She was quite an early walker too actually and took her first steps at 9 months. At 4 years old and about to start school I can assure you she's very definitely average intelligence wise, I think she was just old before her time!

DD2 is a lot more 'bang on' with her milestones which I have to remind myself about as its easy to think 'S was doing x y z at this age' without remembering that she was the odd one out rather than DD2 being slow iyswim.

2.5 months though? Really?!

ShowOfHands · 18/07/2013 21:59

Single words at 7 months isn't unusual is it? Both of mine started talking at 7 months which is normal I think. By started I mean first words onwards. DS had about 10 words at 8 months for example but is by no means remarkable.

Counting to 10 and alphabets at 2 isn't impressive at all unless it's something they actually 'understand'. Most stuff at that age is rote memory. Same as they can sing along to nursery rhymes and anticipate the ends of stories. DS can count to 10 (he's 22 months) but he hasn't a clue what '6' actually means, he just knows it comes between 5 and 7. It's the noise we make sometimes, same as 'climbed up the water spout' follows 'incy wincy spider'. You can teach small children all sorts of party tricks but a lot of them are test of memory (v good at this age), not cognition.

Doobiedoobedoobie · 18/07/2013 22:00

I think as well that as young children the 2 main things that people pick up on are walking and talking as that's pretty much all they can do! So at a year old everyone was commenting on how 'advanced' DD1 was, but actually she still couldn't hold a pencil properly till she was over 3. And still struggles now with the most basic 8 piece puzzles, literally. Her hand eye co ordination is quite poor which we're trying to encourage with lots of bead threading/ colouring etc but my point is that as she's still quite verbal and comes out with very unusual words and sentence construction in relation to other pre schoolers, in many other ways she's really quite far behind.

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