To think that an 11 month old does not have 50 words?

[spugzbunny]

I was casually googling 'how many words should my baby speak' yesterday and I came across a thread where numerous people swear blind that their baby can speak 20 odd words, some saying up to 50! Am I right in thinking that's madness? Any more tiny, chatty genius babies out there?

@Danglingmod

My eldest was a very early talker. It shocked me when he moved onto proper two syllable words at 11 months. This was in front of our baby group and I was a bit embarrassed. He is also autistic.

He really was astounding and has a real gift with languages. However he struggled in other areas. My health visitor advised he might.

I wrote down his words for his 18 month check and my mum, sister and I counted over 400 words. We stopped looking at that point.

He read fluently by 3.

Languages are his thing, definitely not mine.

It's not common, but it's possible. I didn't count how many words, but my dd was speaking in full sentences at 12 months and probably did have close to 50 words.(She didn't walk until 19 months.) Later I thought maybe I had imagined it, but recently I ran into a woman with her 12 month old who is speaking in full sentences the way DD had. Sometimes it just happens and it doesn't mean anything really. DD is now an average inarticulate 16 year old whose main vocabulary seems to involve asking for money and whining.

Why would it be boasting?

I guess it might be if you were all in toddler group or something, but this is just women reminiscing on an anonymous forum. My kids are teens now. There's no difference between them in terms of ability, or none that reflect much on early ability to talk anyway (apart from mfl, but even then.its more about good accent, an 'ear' for language)

One spoke early, one was quite late. There it is.

The 50 word thing doesn't mean all 50 words in one sentence!!

I guess it might be if you were all in toddler group or something, but this is just women reminiscing on an anonymous forum.

If you think people don't boast on anonymous forums then you've never looked at a thread on diet and weight on Mumsnet...

I have 4 dc, 2 were late talkers (1 with asd), 1 around average and 1 actually did have close to 50 words by 12 months. It was definitely more than 20 or 30. The range of child development is huge. It’s sad how people would be quick to accept if you said your child was behind what theirs does, but hearing of them being quicker then they just become very patronising and say that you’re lying or don’t understand what talking is - as shown on this thread!
My early talking dd said first words in context at 6 months, started joining 2 words together 13 months, first proper sentence 17 months, and lost track of how many words she had by then as she’d basically say anything. I do get quite a few people looking at her and saying how old is she, she talks really well, probably because she is small for her age as well.
Plenty of people have toddlers who are very sporty or physically able etc and I don’t tell them they are lying just because my dd can’t do the same!
And as for my late talkers they’ve caught up brilliantly anyway so I’m well aware it’s not a competition!

Yes, I have literally never looked at a diet/weight thread on mn. And I have been here 15 years It doesn't sound like I missed much.

My first daughter was a bit embarrassing in that she talked so early. She is very bright and yes would have probably had that many words (I wrote them down once as a relative didn’t believe me). She slept at most for a couple of hours at a time. Constantly on the go. Finally at 3 she slept through the night.
Her younger sister said very little but hummed a lot. When she did start talking, it was in full sentences. She once reminisced and said it was cos she couldn’t get a word above her elder sister. I know preschool did worry about her not speaking and people used to look a bit bemused at her humming but, as she was my second, I suppose I didn’t worry as much. Second Dd is equally as bright but more of a thinker. And she slept fairly well from an early age which was wonderful.

DS2 was taking in sentences just before his first birthday. Sorry!

He couldn't read until Christmas of Y2 and got pretty average Y6 SATs.

He's now 15 and mostly just grunts. His longest sentence consists of six words:"Can I have some money please?"

It’s sad how people would be quick to accept if you said your child was behind what theirs does, but hearing of them being quicker then they just become very patronising and say that you’re lying or don’t understand what talking is - as shown on this thread!

Yes, it's funny how some people insist that you must be exaggerating/making it up. Instead of just accepting that all children develop differently.

It's not even necessarily the case that precocious development is an indicator of intelligence/later success. I don't know why some people are so eager to insist that it cannot be possible.

Bizarre.

It depends on the child. Dd1 said her first word at 6 months (a very clear "mummy"). She was then very quick to pick up more and more words, although they weren't always so clear obviously. By 11 months she knew loads of words, but still couldn't crawl.

She started crawling at about 13 months and walked really late, about 18 months. By the time she started walking she could talk in 3/4 word sentences.

My niece on the other hand, walked at 8 months (bypassed crawling), but didn't say her first word til 11.5. Months.

Different children do different things at different times. But in general they learn one big thing at a time, as their little brains need the space to work on one skill before they can tackle the next.

I’d say that it’s definitely possible for an 11 month old to have 50 words. My twins were very early talkers and they would have had more than 20 words each at 11 months, they were talking in full sentences by 18 months.
However, they were (and still are) not great with physical skills. Neither crawled until over a year old, ds couldn’t even roll over until 11 months which caused me no end of worry. They do very well academically at school but never reach the expected standard in P.E.
Every child is different and have their own strengths and weaknesses.

Better get working on my 9mo. Says "mama" and that's it.

My DS is a walker more than a talker. His only words are Mamama, bababa, dadada and what seems to be no. He is 11 months.

Mines was an early talker. Easily 50 words by a year. More probably.

But didn't crawl until almost a year, walked a few months later. Just sat and chatted. Exhausting really because just never stopped but didn't burn off energy any other way

It's possible but not a sign of extraordinary intelligence according to my paediatrician DSis. Babies just develop at different rates.

Einstein didn't talk till he was 6, so don't worry if your child is a late bloomer (or even just average).

All three of mine were early talkers (slower in other areas so not geniuses) but my 3rd was ridiculously good and I'd say easily knew 50 words by 11 months. She was talking completely fluently in full sentences so you can have a proper conversation with her by about 18mths. It's pointless comparing though, like I said they all had other areas they were slower at, my 1st was nearly 18mths before he could walk. My niece wasn't saying anything at 11mths but just a couple of months on is now a little chatterbox.

By 11 months my eldest could say
Milk
Sausage
Mine
‘Old (which meant ‘hold me’)
Mummy
Daddy
Grandad (gangad)
Ish ginger (fish finger)
Lamb
Quack quack
No
More
Car
Sardine
‘Nana
Could recite part of Incy Wincy
Bear
Sing phrases from Old Macdonald
and many other other simple words.

Was talking in complete sentences by 18m.

And.... so what? Didn’t read faster than average, is academically high achieving at a good uni type level, just like parents.

Just like everything else, all children are different. My eldest didn't have 50 words at 4. My youngest had that many easily before 1. What does it matter. They'll all develop at their own rate. Doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.

My 10 month old can say mama and dada and I'm sure she has also said 'buboe'. As a history teacher this made me very happy indeed.

I remember that the “may even” benchmarks in What To Expect is “use 50 words” at age 18 months. I know because in a PFB moment I did record my PFB’s words up to 18 months and they comfortably outdid it (they have HFA I’d course). A bit precious of me but harmless I’d say and it’s quite a sweet memory of that time with a clock obsessed toddler. To the poster po-facedly saying that she preferred to spend her time singing and playing with her babies: how do you think they learned the words in the first place?

I reckon that my two were good but not exceptional, maybe top 5%, for language development and would have had around 10 words at 11 months, so I can well believe that an exceptional baby would have 50 words. (not necessarily pronounced correctly but used reliably to respond to particular situations like shouting “CA!” whenever the cat comes in).

My eldest was a ridiculously early talker, but like most parents I didn't make a thing out of it - but it was akward when the pushy sorts picked up on it, they'd be all over asking me what I did etc. They honestly do stuff depending on how they are wired. There's a massive range, just as there is for other things.
If it helps in any way now that she's 13. I just want her stop her constant prattle, so pretty average for 13!

As a parent of late talkers, I did find it irritating when parents or grandparents would say "well yes they are an early / good talker, we talk to them all the time you see."

My first had at least 50 words at 18 months and started talking at about 9 months. She didn't walk till nearly 17 months though so she was putting all her effort into talking (and never stopped!)
I know she had at least this many words as I wrote them all down in my PFB bonkers state.

It's interesting actually that a lot of people are saying their early talkers weren't so good at the physical stuff, it's like most children seem to be good at one or the other? I'm sure there are some who were good at both but from the posts here it does seem to be more of one or the other. Still doesn't make a difference, unless there are actually medical issues like hearing problems etc it evens out as they grow. My slow walker is no different to any other 7 year old in that area now and I'm sure children who aren't saying much at 11 mths will be chattering away like everyone else when they start school!

My 15 month old has one word

But he was an early walker etc so I'm just being patient and letting him do it when he's ready