Baby doesn't go "babababa" is this worrying? Am I being daft again?

[jinglesticks]

Hi, this sounds really daft, but HV and books etc all say that by 8 months babies should be babbling and chatting saying things like "bababa" and my baby doesn't! She makes cheerful singsong noises and blows lots of raspberries but doesn't really chatter. Do any other mums have same experience? Does anyone know how/what speed babies should learn to make chatting noises? Am I being very daft and PFBish worrying about every little thing?

I remember being worried about this. My DS didn't start babbling properly until 9/10 months and only recently (12 months) has he being saying mamamama, da and na with any regularity!

Your baby might be concentrating on something else so don't worry!

My DD didn't babble at 8 months but she said her first word at 10 months (embarrassingly it was "ketchup") and she hasn't shut up since. I'm sure its Okay as she is making noises but if you're really worried speak to your health visitor and she can reassure you.

I think as long as she responds to you, smiles and makes eye contact, and seems to be able to hear you, I would just keep talking to her, singing to her etc.

(The worst thing you can do is keep the radio/TV on all the time - that has been shown to delay speech development because the baby can't distinguish easily between the back ground noise and your "interactive noise" IYSWIM)

I do chat to her all the time and never have TV on. I've only just found out that radio is a bad idea (always thought radio 4 was a good, wholesome thing) so I'm turning that off too.

Thanks for the feedback

Mine doesnt really do that and he is 14 months. I'm not remotely worried. He'll talk when he's ready.

My DS didn't babble that much. We pretty much just had vowel sounds and the odd 'da' (never 'mama' ) until after a year. When he did finally start talking it all seemed to happen at once. It was incredible!

Some babies seem to learn words as they say in the books; slowly and gradually, while others are late starting but catch up quick. Now that DS is talking, he won't ever shut up! It's lovely, but sometimes frustrating