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Original poster

Did your baby babble early, if so were they an early talker?

28 replies

Wallace · 14/04/2011 06:39

Just asking in an interested way, not an "Is my baby a genius?" way.

Dc4 has been babbling since 3.5 months. Started doing it when he was grumpy and now (almost 5 months) babbles a lot (adadadadada, mumumumum, anananan, blah blah blah, etc) and is generally very shouty vocal.

Just wondering if your early babbler was an early talker, and do you think being the youngest of many children encourages noise a more talkative baby?

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jubilee10 · 14/04/2011 07:48

My three children were all early babblers and very vocal - loud giggling, laughing etc. but all spoke at different times. One thing that has always been commented on by teachers and friends is their huge vocabularies but I think that might come from lots of reading. The youngest (4.9 yrs) certainly talks the most - constantly - It does my head in can be quite tiring.

That said, my sisters children didn't babble. They are similar ages to mine and it was she who noticed the difference. But her daughter could speak in sentences at 18 months. I will never forget her sitting in her baby car seat (she was really tiny) and coming out with "oh look Mummy, a statue."

seeker · 14/04/2011 07:51

Dd, who was a freakishly early talker hardly babbled at all - she went straight to proper word sounds and then proper words.

Ds babbled for ages - then went straight to talking at the earier end of normal.

But yes, Ithink generally early babbl means early talker. Good luck - get the ear plugs ready!

HoolaHooper · 14/04/2011 07:58

My little girl babbled very early on and doesn't stop but at 14m really doesn't speak many words - the odd mama and dada but we're never quite sure it's directed at us. i'm sure she'll start making a bit more sense at some point though.

Original poster
Wallace · 14/04/2011 09:23

That is interesting - very varied!

My other three were all fairly early talkers - large vocab and sentences before the age of two.

ds1 (PFB...) babbled at 5.5 months, but no idea about the others but was prob around six months.

OP posts:
CharlotteBronteSaurus · 14/04/2011 09:24

yup - dd1 babbled at 4mo
spoke first words at 9mo
sentences by 18mo.

Original poster
Wallace · 14/04/2011 20:38

Thanks. My house is so noisy anyway. Dc4 started at 5am and hasn't really stopped since - aargh!

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cheapFlower · 14/04/2011 20:51

DD1 has been babbling and making all sort of sounds (also blowing raspberries) very early on. much earlier than her friends. now at 3 she has been diagnosed with severe speech and language delay and can't even combine 2 words together... she also started saying "mama" very clearly at 9 month. so IME I wouldn't overrate early babbling ;-)

BluddyMoFo · 14/04/2011 20:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

haudyerwheesht · 14/04/2011 20:59

Ds didn't babble until about 10m but was talking not long after and now never shuts up is a good talker at 4.

Dd only occasionally babbles at 6m. She does shout and squeal and laugh more than ds ever did though.

I would like some silence!

CoteDAzur · 14/04/2011 21:00

DD was an early babbler but she babbled for a very long time and didn't get to talking until after she was 2.

DS didn't babble at all and started talking at 14 months.

(Both had three languages to sort through, to be fair)

Original poster
Wallace · 14/04/2011 21:21

I think my scientific research must conclude that there is no link whatsoever between early babbling and early speech!

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neversaydie · 14/04/2011 21:25

DS started babbling at 12 weeks, and hasn't shut up since - he is 11.5 now.

He started talking early, gramatically and still has a stunning vocabulary. I can remember him opening a second birthday present and handing it to me saying 'It needs batteries, I think'.

I always put it down to the fact that the little so and so just didn't do sleep as a baby, and therefore got talked to a lot.

fit2drop · 14/04/2011 21:35

DD1 babbled early and continued to babble even after her sister was born when she was 17 months old. Her sister babbled but at 15 months could chatter, DD1 still babbled . I was concerned obviously but almost overnight when she was 3 she could speak proper sentences ,with a very large vocabulary. It was quite bizarre.

DD3 came along and her first word at 8 months was OCTUPUS pronounced OC-CHEW-PUST. Her second word was the name of my health visitorGrin She said mummy and daddy long after that but could speak quite fluently by the time she was 2.

My DGD was 18 months old when dd took her to the clinic, the HV asked if DGD1 could say a couple of word sentences, DGD1 quite indignant piped up
"Of course I can speak sentences, I am a big girl now " But she is a kid that did everything early...she walked at 10 months...her sister however was an ankle grabbing non walker till she was 18 months old and the only difference in her vocabulary was the decibels she screamed at .Grin

theotherhand · 14/04/2011 21:50

Can I ask, as a first time mum - my 4.5 week DS has always done lots of baby bablanguage; last few days he's got realllllllllly noisy. Like he's found out he can shout. Within that are "words", sometimes, and sometimes it just sounds like noise. Is this normal? And is babble always babababa or ddadadadad ie. repetitive sounds?

Sorry, I probably sound really thick Grin

theotherhand · 14/04/2011 21:50

Whooooops - 4.5 MONTH not WEEK!!!

DeWe · 15/04/2011 13:23

My best babbler was ds. He used to have real little conversations, waiting for you to answer before babbling on when he was really tiny, only a couple of months. He was my worst talker, probably due to glue ear as grommets at 20 months made a huge difference.
Dd1 and dd2 never really babbled much and both were in sentences at 18 months. They both had over 500 words before they were 2yo.
By 3yo ds had caught up, although his pronunciation isn't as good, again probably due to glue ear.

working9while5 · 16/04/2011 21:07

Erm, I don't believe a lot of you - sorry! I know the OP didn't want the "my child is a genius" thread but there's a lot of people on this thread reporting full blown adult grammatical conversations with multiple clauses etc at 18 months. Well done to you, but please do get in touch with some of the leading world authorities on speech and language development because there's clearly important data they are missing out on in their accounts of first language acquisition Wink

For anyone who's interested, there is a really good book on this called "First Language Acquisition" by Eva V Clark,

catwhiskers10 · 20/04/2011 14:39

My DD was saying mama, baba, dada at 5 months and said her first word (cat) at 9 months, she is now 13.5 months and only says 4 words regularly and they are pretty unintelligible to anyone except me and DH.
I've heard her say other things once then she never says them again but generally she prefers to scream and point at what she wants or refer to everything as "ba!"

itsabiggywhatdoidonow · 20/04/2011 15:06

Erm, I don't believe a lot of you - sorry! I know the OP didn't want the "my child is a genius" thread but there's a lot of people on this thread reporting full blown adult grammatical conversations with multiple clauses etc at 18 months. Well done to you, but please do get in touch with some of the leading world authorities on speech and language development because there's clearly important data they are missing out on in their accounts of first language acquisition

i disagree WORKING....my dd could string 3 to 4 words just bfore 1 year very clearly however my dn is 17 months and no audible words yet.

dd is no geniouse but has a wider vocabulary and understanding of words, writes and spells a good few stages beyond her class mates.

Original poster
Wallace · 21/04/2011 21:29

theotherhand - I use babbling to mean baby noises with consonants (not just oohs and aahs, or even a-goos)

I do love the random words sometimes produced Grin

working - I might look at that book, sounds interesting.

OP posts:
Original poster
Wallace · 21/04/2011 21:34

I am not saying this applies to anyone here but I wonder sometimes if by sentences some people mean a phrase. I did some research on you tube...

OP posts:
TotalChaos · 21/04/2011 21:34

my Ds babbled at 5 months, didn't stop him having language delay and not speaking in sentences till he was coming up to 4.

Original poster
Wallace · 21/04/2011 21:43
OP posts:
Original poster
Wallace · 21/04/2011 21:44

ANd why was she so desperate for her to kick the ball?!

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itsabiggywhatdoidonow · 21/04/2011 21:58

no my dd realy spoke in 2 3 4 words with meaningfull content,

want drink mummy

no want milk

bots no cup

oh no fall down

look it cat/dog/ other

wheres noddy

look its noddy

its a light

nite nite go to bed

oh no daddy gone, wheres daddy, booo.

more language skills than the children in those clips.