Active discussions

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Original poster

How many words could your child say at 1?

55 replies

lovescake83 · 15/12/2011 11:01

My son can say :

Mum (rarely, he mostly calls me Dad)
Dad (which he says alot [resentment smiley])
Hello (Haaa-oooh)
Hi ya
Uh oh
Dog/Duck (same word)
He understands phone/wave/clap/etc

All my friends are telling me their children are really advanced in the language stakes and frankly, Im taking it as a slight against my boy because he does clam up around other people. Im fed up of the pitying looks, because thats not behind at all is it? or is it...

Please reassure me Xmas Smile x

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
ObviouslyLovesTinsel · 15/12/2011 11:04

My DS is nearly 11 months and has most of those, so I'd expect him to be at the same level in a months time IYSWIM. So sounds ok to me!

StitchingMoss · 15/12/2011 11:06

Do you mean he's just one or about to turn two? There's a big development in these months so it will make a difference!

DS1 was saying all that at about 18 mths but not much more - now at 3 1/2 you can't stop him talking! DS2 was talking in full sentences at 18mths which goes to show how different they all Smile.

Try and ignore the competitive parents - you will get them throughout your DS's childhood, they are v tedious and it will wear you down if you listen to them.

Em3978 · 15/12/2011 11:06

My DS had no words at 1, no words at 18 months, 3 words at 22 months... Then someone found the 'on' switch and he was using 3 word sentences within a week! Don't worry about all the others, they all get it in their own time :)

Akiram · 15/12/2011 11:08

My DS (18months) can grunt and can say mum if the grunting doesn't work. He is DC3 and he will speak when he is ready and when his siblings stop speaking for him and when he does then God help us all if he is anything like DD who barely said a word till her 2nd birthday - she is now 6 and does not shut up.
Seriously don't worry. Take most things other parents say with a pinch of salt and enjoy the peace while you have it.

Besom · 15/12/2011 11:10

It is one of those things that is very variable at that age, but yours sounds about normal really.

Original poster
lovescake83 · 15/12/2011 11:10

Oh thank you all. He's just turned 1. In my head Im thinking its fine, but when you are surrounded by such "high achiever's" it can be hard to judge. Xmas Wink

OP posts:
ChunkyPickle · 15/12/2011 11:13

ROFL - he's doing amazingly compared to mine who says Hiya and Yeeehaaaaa, but other wise communicates with points and grunts (although I'm pretty proud of the new patting tummy gesture which sometimes means he's hungry)

DeWe · 15/12/2011 11:20

All mine had about that at age 1.
By 15 months (approx) dd1 could say 75 words, dd2 could say 150, ds (who has hearing problems) had 50.

They were all in 3-4 word sentences by 18 months. Ds's language improved dramatically in the month after he had grommets put in at 20 months.

At a year they looked nothing special at language. By 15 months they got a lot of comments, at 18 months both my dd's were asked by random strangers if they were off to school soon on the basis of the conversations they had.

Original poster
lovescake83 · 15/12/2011 11:24

Really DeWe? How did you chat with them? I don't use baby words with him at all. Im just not very good at all that. I wonder if that makes a difference later on?

OP posts:
GrimmaTheNome · 15/12/2011 11:24

IIRC - none.

I started to worry at about 15 months when DD didn't even babble much and her NCT cohort were starting to say things comprehensible by someone other than their mums.

At 18 months she started saying words. A couple of months thereafter a stranger I got chatting with who had one of a similar age earnestly mentioned she 'had' about 20 words ... and I bit my tongue and refrained from telling her that my DD could now name about 20 different birds for starters Grin

It Is Not A Race !

(and we all know that Einstein supposedly didn't say anything coherent till he was 4)

GrimmaTheNome · 15/12/2011 11:28

I don't think its essential to use 'baby words' -but do try to say 'Mummy' rather than 'I' , 'Daddy' rather than him or he, and his name rather than 'you'. Little ones get confused with 'I' and 'you' meaning different people according to context.

The other important thing is never correct what they attempt to say, just say it back correctly.

chocablock · 15/12/2011 11:33

According to my mother I was saying a lot of words at one. I didn't believe her until we found an old tape recording of me saying thats an aeroplane and other such short phrases. It is no indicator of intelligence as I didn't grow up a genius :) but I do talk A LOT! My DD is 8 months and can only say Dada at present. they all talk in their own time. I read somewhere that Einstein didn't speak much at all until he was 6!!

hardboiledpossum · 15/12/2011 12:06

DS is 10 months and only says mum, I'm a bit worried now!

tanfastic · 15/12/2011 12:08

None. He only starting talking when he turned two.

DeWe · 15/12/2011 14:03

I think the main thing I did which I'm told helps is thing like if they say "du" you look and say "yes. There's a duck". You're giving them how to say a sentence, as well as the correct pronunciation of duck. I didn't really plan to do it, just it seemed to come naturally. It was only later that I was told that that was exactly what you should do.

Things like "mummy's watch" rather than "my watch" are helpful too. And you can say things like "let's count the stairs... one... two..." At first they don't say it with you, but they get used to it and will eventually join in. Dd1 used to count in 2s because we used to say every other number going up/down stairs. Sounded impressive but wasn't any more meaningful that that.

We don't have a TV, which some people reckon isn't helpful for speech, but it may or may not have anything to do with their speech. Wink

For what it's worth too, but dd1 had a same age friend who was referred to SALT at 2 for hardly any words. By 4yo you would not have picked out the difference in their language skills.

Also early speech doesn't guarantee no problems. Dd2's speech at 18 months to 2 years was very impressive. But her pronunciation didn't improve until she was about 3.6. Ds has a certain amount of speech therepy due to pronunciation problems probably associated with hearing he struggles with a lot of sounds. His vocabulary is great, but he still (at 4yo) struggles with some sounds he should have got by 2/2.6yo.

rabbitstew · 15/12/2011 14:36

Big yawn at people who count how many words their children can say and then tell everyone about it - it's not as if, most of the time, they are counting words that the vast majority of people would recognise. I'd certainly not understand an adult who called a duck a "du."

If your child makes a good range of different speech noises, can clearly understand a lot of what you say and can communicate his wants and needs to you reasonably effectively, then he's fine. Some children don't like wasting their time parotting single words, anyway, and don't really "talk" much until they can actually talk properly.

I didn't use baby talk on my dss and they don't appear to have suffered as a result... Both could read fluently at age 3 and can talk for England. They were not early talkers, though - preferred to wait until they could also talk "properly." Always referring to myself as Mummy and dh as Daddy has had knock-on effects, though - they have no problems identifying me in other ways, but I have an awful tendency, now, to refer to dh as "Daddy" and myself as "Mummy" even when the children aren't around, it's become such an ingrained habit.

naturalbaby · 15/12/2011 15:30

sounds good to me for 1yr. i know a child who had virtually no words at 3yrs old then suddenly started talking in long sentences.
just keep talking to him, like a running commentry on what he's doing, what you're doing, what's going on etc etc.

all my kids clam up around other people, to me that's normal! at home they are noisy confident chatterboxes but nobody else would have any idea.

BertieBotts · 15/12/2011 15:34

About one word I think? I thought it was quite unusual for them to be able to talk at 12 months.

Wiseoldself · 15/12/2011 15:38

I have never counted the words while DC have grown up but at around one year old they could say more or less the same amount of words you have listed.

DS1 went through a stage of not saying much for a few months, he seemed really self concious but now he's 2.3 and we can't shut him up! Try not to compare to other children - I know it's hard though!

JjandtheBean · 15/12/2011 15:40

Try not to worry, my ds said nothing until he was 3. Now he's 4yrs 4mnths, can say everything clearly, can read independantly and write/spell a lot of words. They all catch up eventually.

iliketea · 15/12/2011 15:41

At about 14 months, my dd could say about 150 words (I wrote them all down Blush. That was more than the other children we knew at that age, but the others were also more advanced in other things than my dd was (e.g more able to climb / run etc).

Now at just over 2, they are mostly all at the sameish level - my dd is still more talkative than the others, but they are catching up, while she is catching up the others with her physical abilities.

They all just develop in their own good time I reckon.

milkyjo · 15/12/2011 15:43

Mumma, Dadda and Nah (doesn't mean no but still unsure of its meaning!) Very vocal singing and chatting but I'm not sure what he's saying.

RockStockAndTwoOpenBottles · 15/12/2011 15:44

One of them - about 2
Another one of them - about 10
Another one of them - about 30
Another one - loads.

Each and every one of my children have done different things at wildly different ages.

YuleingFanjo · 15/12/2011 15:47

Mine can say 'dad' and 'mum' and his own name. just about. He will be one next week. He is walking though.

TadlowDogIncident · 15/12/2011 15:48

Mummum, Dadada and Eh. We've now got "no" to add to that list at 16 months. He's making lots of sounds and clearly understands some words (e.g. I say "would you like breakfast?" and he smiles and says "Ah!" in satisfied tones), so I'm not too worried yet.