18 month old strange speech / delayed or not ?

[glasswear]

My 18 month old has very different speech development, when compared to my older child.

I think his understanding and communication is actually good, probably better than my older ones was at that age. But his words are so unclear.

He has quite a few words, but unclear.

A few weeks I started noticing he's actually mumbling sentences, like , ' I wana go there ' or I wana go outside ' and today he was saying ' I wana go home '. Very very unclear. So you almost think you're imagining it. But it's not my imagination, he's saying that.

It's just all mumbled. All his words are mumbled, even when saying a singular word.

He's started saying mummy very clearly. That's the only word he says super clearly.

My older one was saying a lot of words at this age, quite clearly. But actual communication and following instructions is more advanced in my younger one, I would say.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Is he too young to have a speech / language delay ?

Has he had his ears looked at?

I don’t think it sounds like he has a clear delay but the mumbling & unclear speech could be a sign that he isn’t hearing very well. Might be worth getting checked out just to put your mind at rest.

Hi OP, I’d say this is much too young to be worrying about speech delay. My first DC barely said a recognisable word before 18 months. Quite soon after she had a language explosion and was speaking full and complex sentences by two and since that point has always been seen as advanced verbally. If your DC clearly understands language then that is the key thing at this stage. The speech will follow soon enough.

I think much too young to have a view on this yet. You shouldn’t compare him to your other child – all children’s development will be different.

My 18 month old doesnt say any words. Only
Mama and dada. And I'm not ev n sure he knows 😭 hat they mean. H babbles but no actual words...