To ask what age your child started talking?

[SharronNeedles]

Probably worrying unnecessarily but what age did your DC start talking?
My son is 15 months and we've only had "mama" and "dada" but not used correctly or to either of us specifically.
He'll shout "mama" or "dada" quite randomly.
He doesn't use any other words but does babble quite a lot.
I've read to him since birth and he loves books but just isn't using language.
First child so I have no idea how old they are usually when they start to develop language but I know a few other mums who's little ones are saying around 5 words at this stage and using them correctly ("car", "Hiya" etc) so I'm just wondering.

My ds said the word "bubble" at 11 months old.

And then: nothing. I think he was about 18 months old before he said anything else. He didn't really take off with his speaking and vocabulary until he went to a childminder in the school holidays before he started school. Although he went to nursery he was only with his peers there, whereas at the childminder he was with older children and I think that made all the difference.

I didn't talk until I was 2.5 and my mum said I then started speaking in complete sentences - like the OP above, I waited until I could talk properly before I did! She said she wasn't worried because she knew I understood her and she had nothing to compare me with anyway.

We used a bit of sign language, it is quite helpful if a child is too lazy to talk which I suspect was the case with my ds.

My DS was only saying a few words at 2. He's now 3.5 and speaks very well.
Don't worry, every child develops at their own rate, the same as we would learn things at different rates as adults, it will come. 😊

Please don't worry at this age. Also, don't correct - just play and talk with him. Make lots of noises eg playing with farm animals - make the noises of the animals and label them
'Cow says moo' etc.

@AnElderlyLadyofMediumHeight

It's pretty old now, but I found 'Listen to Your Child' by David Crystal

There's an updated version of it just been published, last year. Great recommendation, thank you!

I literally cannot remember when my dd (3) started talking. In a year or so it really won't matter to you when they started!

I do remember that at around 2 she was talking enough to get her point across but not at all fluently. By 2 and a half she could say pretty much anything and in sentences. They can make so much progress so quickly.

DS2 was saying very few words by 2.5 years old. Put him in a nursery for a couple of mornings a week, and he's never shut up since (now7)!

About 9 months. It was "door" (safety gate), quickly followed by "shut a door!" every time DH left it open! 😂