nearly 6 month baby - very quiet....any reassurance?

[speeder1]

so - my lovely baby will be 24 weeks in a couple of days.

she is a very quiet baby - she does coo and make lovely singing noises sometimes but not often - but none of the "ah goo" stuff I remember DD1 saying much much earlier.... she is very content - will happily play with her toys and amuse herself and not "fuss" easily.

she is generally not that "quick" - only occasionally has rolled over, miles away from sitting unsupported but is getting there and can pick up toys, put stuff in her mouth - she can reach for her spoon and put it in her moth.

DD1 was very very quick with everything so I don't want to make comparisons...(and is definitely not chilled out either). I don't say this from a smug competitve perspective - just scratching my head a bit about it all.

am I just being neurotic and have just been blessed with a completely different character? I get plenty of lovely smiles, laughs, giggles - she is a very responsive little soul even if quieter. don't think it's her hearing as she turns to my voice etc...

spoke to health visitor this morning who was useless.

thanks for any advice

If everything else is OK then I think you probably have a quiet little soul

My DD is 23 weeks and nowhere near sitting upright on her own either. She can roll tummy to back when she remebers that she knows how, but isn't good at doing the other way around.

I really wouldn't worry about the quietness. She may just be a quiet, content little baby. My DD squarks a LOT and I worry about that - is it because she needs something - and after an hour of "Eeeeeek, ahhhhhh, laaaaaaaa" I am practically searching for earplugs. Mind you, it takes her a while to get into her noises, but once there she'll twitter for an hour non-stop.

Mind, you get the smiles. While DD smiles, she has a VERY serious resting face. I feel bad for the old nannas that peer into her pram to coo at her and she just stares them out.

thanks both....

sometimes I wish I didn't read baby books - wasn't at all worried till I glanced at the What to Expect book last night - had just thought DD2 was happy but quieter argh

Gnocci - I think squarking is OK - that is what DD1 did a lot - she is only 2.5 and talks constantly now. Does your little one say much more than "ahhhh" and "ooh" as that is the bit I'm worried about!

I do love it when old ladies peer into prams and don't get what they are expecting. DD1 still has a dummy when sleeping (that's another story) and there are looks of horror at that! I guess DD1 is proof that dummies don't delay speech....although DD2 doesn't use one.

My DC3 is 27 weeks and sounds very much like your DD too. However, only yesterday he tried sitting up for a few seconds and tried rolling over too. I think some babies are just inherently relaxed in personality and aren't in a hurry to move on. He is also very serious in expression and saves his smiles only for very special people (me, obviously!).

I like "inherently relaxed" rather than "lazy" which is what I think DD is

OP, she says "mamamamammamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" when she wants milk. I FF, so I think its her asking for milk, not for me

I think you're right there Pippinella about some babies being so relaxed (not a trait I share myself, and I wish I did..) They seem to be saying "what is the rush, I am happy to go slow".

I'm used to a baby fighting to do everything all the time, who has turned into a toddler just the same!

We just seem to have little quiet souls to cherish - no less of course

My youngest (now a year) was very similar. At 5 months we wondered if she was really just content, too ignored (due to being the youngest of 3), or was there something worrying going on. . . was she too passive? Then I started to read on the internet . . . .

She sat at 6.5 months and then slowly started to be more responsive. At about 8/9 months she started to babble slowly and then babble and babble and babble. By10 months we weren't so worried. In fact, now we have to shut doors because she is so loud - she screams and shouts, claps, waves, throws balls, grabs at anything and everything - and I love it!

They are so small at 6 months - when I look at 6 month old babies now I want to kick myself. I think you will be in a much better position to gage the situation at 10 months.

I had a wonderful HV who said look at the guidelines on the NHS website and use those.

I think my youngest was a very very content baby, she fed well, slept well so there really wasn't any need for her to cry much.

However, we did have her hearing checked at 10 months (although we thought it was fine) and were stunned to see she had extremely bad glue ear - which probably did affect her babbling.

I hope my post is reassuring?

thanks....your post is reassuring!

nhs website is good - and reassuring too - just talks about "making repetitive noises" by 6 months - I guess singing is fairly repetitive as is the very cute "aaah" noise. why couldn't my health visitor have suggested that?! (she is rubbish - the few times I've asked her stuff she just fobs me off each time)

Your comment about wanting to kick yourself now stopped me in my tracks - in many ways its sound advice as I had my own set of worries with DD1 all of which were unfounded. I remember DD1 wouldn't make any eye contact with me for 2 days at about 6 months - I was really worried about it and in hindsight she was probably just totally fed up with me constantly stimulating her!

I wonder if second and third children are quieter generally? makes me worried as our house is so flipping noisy.

@speeder1 hi. May I ask how is your daughter doing? Thanks