Not babbling - worried

[MumofHennHals]

NOT BABBLING…

My little boy is nearly 10 months old, but was born early so we have to go by his corrected age for milestones which is his due date which makes him 8.5months old.

We noticed he used to say DADADADA a lot, recently it’s turned to ‘Bbbbbb’ and raspberries and not even often, he’s quite quiet.

He’s suddenly decided to climb things & pull himself up to furniture, can it literally be a matter off ‘walking before talking’.

He has good eye contact, responds to name, smiles in response to our smiles, high fives and loves playing peekaboo.

He just wants to crawl away at any opportunity when we try and sit him down to talk to him 😂

I’m really worried and trying everything, when I get him to imitate me, he finds it funny and laughs

Any positive similar stories would be great xx

He sounds fine and great fun
relax and enjoy him

He sounds like a little cutie. He's doing good. Relax

It might be that he has glue ear. My son had glue wear and was non-verbal. He had surgery to fix it and literally the next morning he started babbling.

You can test for glue ear by asking the child to point to the source of a noise, if he is able to understand. Like in an older child if you say "can you hear the bird" and they say "yes" then you can say "can you point to the bird?" and children with glue ear will have no idea whatsoever which direction to point, and will often point in the opposite to the correct direction.

The GP would know how to get his hearing properly tested, or you can google for private audiologists in your area.

My DD didn’t babble at all. She cried, laughed or was silent. She started talking at 1 and is completely normal.

I second the glue ear check.

Start with animal noises. Any pets, animals in picture books, toys and puppets. Make it fun.
He’ll soon be copying moos and wuffs and quacks.
If you don’t get anywhere, no harm in a hearing check though.

Hi OP, if you are worried go to your GP, or health visitor. It’s so so hard for anyone to give any meaningful advice online. 😊 I had concerns on and off regarding my son, and put them to the bd k of my mind many times. He’s now a wonderful autistic 11 yr old with great relationships and fantastic humour. But as a mum, I know the niggling feeling well. Best wishes

Hey OP - please don't worry at this point. You should get a questionnaire from the health visitor service at some point between now and a year with some really detailed progress questions, including on communication. I think my DDd's came through at about 11 months (10 months corrected).and she really wasn't very vocal at all. The HV called me up with some reassurance and said she'd check back in in a few months. Roll on to 18 months and her speech has exploded, with nursery saying she's very ahead with her language. So much can change in just a few months. All the best 💐

Keep chatting to him at every opportunity. Sing nursery rhymes and use bathtime as a good opportunity to do things like counting 'one, two, three....splash!' He's still little and you will probably find that his speech will develop between 12 to 18 months. His understanding sounds good and that is usually a precursor to speech development.