17 month old not walking or talking

[Mizg]

Hi everyone
My 17 month old is not walking independently, he is walking holding furniture, his walker etc. He can crawl incredibly fast can climb stairs. Just won't walk independently.

He babbles (baby talk) says dada, not mama. In general his a very happy smily baby likes to explore. Loves to suck his thumb. Just little worried as kids younger then him are walking talking. I get asked alot why is he not walking or talking yet

He’s very little! I’d probably speak to HV and ask for a referral to speech and language. In the mean time I’d have a Google about things you can do to encourage communication as loads of them are very simple every day things that really do help!

e.g offer choices between two snacks, use short and simple language and label everything simply, so instead of ‘here’s your lovely blue cup!’ Just say ‘cup!’