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.

My friends DS was saying loads at 16 months including sentences like "and me" in context which is crazily advanced. I imagine he would have had 100 nouns well before getting words like "and" and "me", so I think it is possible.

My DD didn't say a clear word until 17 months and wasn't making a huge amount of sounds before then either. It was stressful noticing the difference, but by 2 ¹/² my DD was saying 8 word sentences and was therefore way past the speech milestones for her age.

Kids do things in their own time.

My 13 month old knows mummy, dog, car, again and yum he's also only just started walking by himself this week and still can't get up without holding onto something.

If you look at the ages and stages questionnaire for that age you'll see that a 13 month old does not need to know anything more than about 3 words for there to be no concerns at all about development.

I think it's entirely possible. I had one like that. The others were much more 'normal', though. One of my NCT friends had a DC who didn't say a word until he was about four. He then started speaking in full sentences.
They are all different. What's odd and annoying is telling other parents how brilliant and special your own child is, when they all know that their child is more brilliant and special than anyone else's, regardless of how many words they can say.

TBH my eldest probably did that and more as she was talking in full sentences by that age—-however, she was completely immobile! She shuffled on her bum but never got far! She never learned to crawl and didn’t walk till probably 18months or so. What I’m trying to say is that there are all sorts of developments children make at all sorts of times. I’m a strong believer that when they are that little they put all their effort into one thing at a time! I think it’s something to do with cognitive overload.
Boasting though is never attractive and unfortunately you’ll get this for years. I used to worry if my kids weren’t doing as well as others-I with I knew then what I know now as I wouldn’t have been such a panicky stressed mess! Comparisons wear you down. Celebrate the good stuff-they all get there in the end and all have their skills and special gifts.

I think that's hilarious

I remember clearly my eldest child said "ca(t)" and "ye(s)" at about a year and we thought she was a bloody genius!

My youngest child said "hiya" at around a year.

Two middle children I can't remember first words or when they spoke

They could all speak fine by the time they started nursery at 3 though!

One of the boys in my NCT group had full sentences at about that age but he didn't walk till he was 2.

Yes, but can they read them?

Mine wasn't far off that. He signed like mad from 6 months and started talking at 9 months (and hasn't drawn breath since!), and as an anxious first-time mum I kept a list because I'd read somewhere that the health visitor would want to know at his developmental check. I remember her asking if he had many words yet and me producing a printed list He was a very slow walker, though, so I figured it balanced out!

Wish not with

"Ohy gosh, that's awesome. You must film it so we can see and I can show my baby what she's meant to be doing!!". The existence of proof will say it all

I like your style!

I would very definitely be waiting for her next "humblebrag" that little wordychild is now learning mandarin, grade 8 violin etc and her feigned surprise that your kids basically are banging a bottle with pasta in and still talking in toddlerspeak.

There will be this type of mum in groups you join relating to your children at every stage of their life (and you will see them on MN education boards too ).

You are doing a kind thing by reassuring the younger single mum that her child is the normal one and that boastymum either has an exceptional child or is in fact bonkers. I know which I would assume!!

Just keep on as you are with the mum who is worrying and use a "that's nice dear" approach with boastymum.

Please...your baby is only 13 months...don’t start the comparisons already! If she thinks that her baby says 106 words leave her to get on with it!!

One of my children was able to do that. Early speaker, had many single words at that age. Certainly exceeded 100. One of my children was the complete opposite, could barely say any words until age three, had lots of speech therapy, and one day just started talking. Not much difference between either of them now they're older. Best to just concentrate of your child's own milestones. Comparison is the thief of all joy.

Dd wouldn't have been far off this. Very early talker. Still talks a lot.
We had other issues. Non crawler till one. Non walker till 17months.
It was difficult watching other peoples mobile toddlers.

Looking at other posters it seems the old adage rings true. Either a talker or walker.

One of mine could probably do that - I didn’t count her words, but she was putting 2-3 words together at that stage, and was talking in full sentences at 18 months. Another of my children started speech therapy at 3 because he wasn’t saying any words at all, just grunting and pointing. The others fell somewhere in between. They are all adult or nearly so now - can you tell any difference in their speech? No. Children develop at different paces, and it doesn’t mean that there will be something ‘wrong’. Don’t worry, and ignore any competitive boasting, it just highlights their insecurities about their own parenting.

We never kept count but I am fairly certain dS1 could, by 16/17 months he was speaking in very clear full sentences so 106 words at 14 months definitely possible, he was very unusual with his literacy skills though in general. DS2 absolutely no where close to that, probably not half of that.

Why would she lie? I mean, I never counted how many different words my daughter used but she's been talking just about non-stop since she was 6 months old, by 13 months old she was already arguing with me!! People have always been impressed with her vocabulary, her brother on the other hand barely spoke a word until he was 2 and even now at 7 his speech isn't very clear and he has nowhere near the vocab his sister had from a much younger age. Their pre-school teacher once told me its quite common that girls tend to have better speech than boys in the early years, not sure how much truth there is to that!

In my experience they all do things at different times, one of mine walked early, big baby so thought as height and weight were off the chart he would probably walk late but he was walking confidently at 9 months, one was behind with most physical skills but could read at 2 (don't know how, no one taught her) and the other two hit most milestones at the right time.

The one who walked early learned to read late, funnily enough he is the one who did A level English and loves books, the one who read early reads much less and rather less high brown literature than the one who read late.

It is horrible if people make new mums anxious but on the other hand I suppose she is just proud of her little one and maybe just doesn't think how it might come across.

"She's understandably completely freaking out"

No, it's not understandable for her to "completely freak out". Some mums boast and make things up about their PFB. After a pregnancy and 13 months of rearing her child this woman should know that.

Non-issue

@Rowgtfc72

Dd wouldn't have been far off this. Very early talker. Still talks a lot. We had other issues. Non crawler till one. Non walker till 17months. It was difficult watching other peoples mobile toddlers.

Looking at other posters it seems the old adage rings true. Either a talker or walker.

I've never heard that but it definitely fits with mine.

Comparing babies’ achievements is a recipe for heartache. They all get there in the end. Enjoy your babies they grow up too quickly.

I work in child development please don't say this. They don't "all get there in the end." 10% of children will have some SEN. Children do much better if this is picked up early rather than hoping for the best. A nonverbal 2.5 yr old should be investigated and referred for assesment. Also the screening tools such as SOGS or ASQ are just that, the suggested levels are minimums not averages.

Whether or not that baby can say 106 words (I'm guessing not but I suppose its in the realms of possibility), I really hope you can reassure the other mother that her baby is perfectly fine with 8 words at 13 months, that is very much in the normal range.

My 13 month old just signs for milk and that's it 😬

She sometimes SAYS miiiiii which I think means milk too.

She'll sometimes say words that sound like mama or mummy... but again, I think only when she wants milk 😂

She can point out different things (toys, animals in books, my dogs) when I ask her though. So she knows words, just can't say them.

She carries out small tasks too. Like if I ask her to fetch something. So again, must understand a few words.

😬

My DD had lots of words at that stage, more than average. But guess what, she struggled to put them into sentences as she got older and at 6 she’s still doing speech therapy. Early acquisition of words doesn’t mean anything and I know it’s hard not to worry, but as long as kids are hitting their developmental milestones they’ll learn to speak in their own time. At 6 now you’d hardly know my DD had speech problems when younger and didn’t walk until she was 23 months.

All the people I know who said their child had lots of words at age 12m interpreted a handful of one & two syllable quite indistinct sounds (ma, ba, da, cuh, pah etc) as meaning a huge range of things.

Yes its clearly an attempt at communication, but given that they would send me videos and it would be quite clearly indistinct & inconsistent, I learned to ignore.

DD is nearly 16m corrected and "says" about 25 words, of which maybe half are clear and intelligible to people outside immediate family and it's the same ones as all the kids in my family seem to have managed at this age (mama, dada, cat, cup, shoe, yes, no, up, go, book, baby, duck, woof)