To think a 13 month old cannot say 106 words?

[TinyChatterbox]

Just over a year ago I had my first child and like many did an antenatal group. As lockdown commenced several of us managed to track each other down on Facebook and we started a group chat. There are now 5 of us who were in the original antenatal group in this chat and its been lovely to catch up albeit virtually every now and again.

All 5 of us are first time parents and one of the group boastfully posted yesterday evening that her daughter (who is 13 and 1/2 months) can now say 106 words. Now I'm not disputing she may think her child says that many words but she's talking utter bullshit isn't she. There is absolutely no way her 14 month old actually says 106 words which could be understood by anyone.

It's really pissed me off and I'd love some clarification because one of the mums in the group, who is quite a young mother, has responded in a blind panic that her child who is also 13 months only says 8 words. She's understandably completely freaking out and has messaged the health visitor as there is clearly something wrong with her daughter.

YANBU - The mum is deluded to think her child says 106 words.

YABu - It's perfectly possible a 13 month old can say 106 words.

It may be rare but I think it is possible (may not 106 but not far off).

(yes I did think 106 was more words than some English born footballers such as Wayne Rooney can manage!)

Its possible but not likely

Who the hell keeps count? That's madness.

Does she mean full words ? That's impressive. My 12 month old doesn't say full words. Just the beginning of words - like ' bah ' for banana. She maybe knows 10. Not sure how she can learn another 100 by next month. OMG stressing me out too!

That would certainly be the most advanced 13 month old I ever knew! Wouldn't say it's impossible, but if true it's so far along the bell curve that I'd tell your panicking friend comparisons are meaningless.

As an aside, who counts up to 106 words?! I lost track after the first half dozen

I'm a Speech Therapist. That would be VERY unusual. Plus at 13m the words are usually indistinct e.g. ma for mum, milk, more. So are they counting them pointing at something and saying a random sound? Or maybe copying the parent but not really understanding what they are saying. They either have a genius or are exaggerating somewhat!

We say on average first words 12-15m, 20 words at 18m, but any words at 18m is ok. It's annoying when someone's boasting stresses others out.

[Post edited by MNHQ at poster's request]

My DD had five understandable words at her TWO year check. Other kids talk in sentences before they walk.
Normal is a very wide scope in child development.

Understood by anyone? Probably not. I doubt any 13 month old can enunciate that clearly. But 106 recognisable words? It's a little at the high end, but I would think possible. Both of mine talked early, and had picked up loads of words by 1y. They didn't walk until 16 and 18 months though. Swings and roundabouts.

Ha who cares.
Some people track everything and so each sound that resembled a word could have been charted I suppose.
Tell her to enrol the kid in online school/mensa.

So long as she's not making out that everyone else's baby is abnormal then leave her to the madness.

DD1 was a very chatty baby and probably did have about 100 words at 13 months. She was talking in sentences at 18 months and using adjectives by two. Shes now a very happy very average adult. Still loves talking.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Who the hell keeps count? That's madness.

This was actually the first response I sent to the poor mother in a separate message. I have absolutely no idea how many words my child can say it literally never occurred to me to keep count.

The childs mum is adamant they are full words understood by others e.g banana instead of saying bah and mum knowing she wants a banana. Apparently she can also string 2-3 words together in a coherent sentence at times.

Definitely 106 and not 107? Who would keep a tally?

Probably. It doesn’t matter much though, lots of children use more words than you think, but most of them not understood. If someone is doting enough to d SF pens all their time concentrating hard, and counting, its perfectly possible. Most mums have too many other things to do

@TinyChatterbox I would need to see evidence ! Haha no jokes aside. This needs to be witnessed as this sounds like a genius child !

My 13 month old has no words at all

Rare but possible....
My neice for example was not far off that, my sister counted 80 words at just over 1

Wasnt helpful to keep hearing tho as my son who is 2 months older said like 2 words at that time😅

Unusual but not impossible.

My oldest said that many words by that age. She started talking at 10 months and hasn't stopped since. She signed from 7/8 months too.

But she was late with crawling and walking etc.

She's now 8 though and although very bright with reading/writing every other baby caught up with her just fine. And she still won't ride a bike.

Also she has ADHD which causes her to think and talk very fast (and cause her severe anxiety) so that may have played a part with the early communication, I don't know.

They all have their strengths/weaknesses.

So long as she's not making out that everyone else's baby is abnormal then leave her to the madness.

The trouble is that's exactly how her message is coming across. It's only prompted me to post so I can send this thread to the other mum and help reduce her anxiety. Boastful mum has really annoyed me because she's basically implied everyone elses child is subpar and delayed by not being anywhere close to saying that many words.

My eldest could say that many words easily at that age, a combo of English and Italian.

My second didn’t speak properly until she was almost 3, and no Italian.

My third was around 2.

Very possible.

Both my dds were early talkers and could put 2-3 words together and probably used over 100 words in total at around 13 months and you could have a proper conversation with them by 18 months. Its also perfectly normal to have no proper words at 13 months. It’s nothing to worry about.

My friends boy and dd2 are the same age. Dd2 could chat away from a very early age, my friends boy was nearly 3 before he could speak in a full sentence. They are now 13 and her boy is the more academically able of the two. There’s a huge range of normal at that age and early speech isn’t really an indicator of future brilliance.

It can happen but its rare, one of my friends DD was ridiculously early with her words and we were all gobsmacked by it. Saying that, this mum sounds like she's a bit of a boaster and she shouldn't be taken any notice of. Some mums don't think about how it makes others feel (I know another mum who would say her DS would sleep through at 3 weeks old whilst another was saying she was in despair that her DD wouldn't sleep). I would just keep supporting the young mum and try to put her mind at ease and not take too much notice of the other one.

Mine is 14 months. Can sign for milk, all gone, story and can say more. That is apparently all she feels is necessary for life right now (plus some screams when I dont react fast enough to the above). She's busy figuring out how to walk and build towers so I'm assuming she'll work a bit more on the talking when she's done with that!

I randomly saw this thread in the Active Discussion section. My kids are now 8 and 11 (years not months!) but this competitive bullshitting parent nonsense happens all the time ... you have to learn to ignore it. There's always the mums in the school playground who insists her LO reads Tolkien, sat a maths GCSE paper for fun and got some kind of amazing percent etc. Its never true.

I have absolutely no idea how many words my kids said at 13 months but they now never shut up :)

Yes, I've seen a baby with what must have been about that level of language at that age. Nobody in their right mind would actually count the words, tho

Unfortunately some people are just annoying like this. It's best just to eye roll and move on.

My son is 2 and non verbal, I've had a year now of being told all the amazing sentences all my friend's kids say. It's tough but I don't want to be comparing my son so just need to let it go.

Maybe her baby is a genius.... Or maybe she's full of rubbish 🤷‍♀️