How much does your 16 month old say?

[DizzyCow63]

As per the title really. Got one of those bounty emails on development which said by 15 months, babies should have at least 10 words. DS is 16 months and doesn't really say anything. He used to say Mummum and ta ta but stopped around the time he started walking.

A friend brought her DD, ten days younger than DS, round this week and she can say alot! Both her brothers relatively hard to pronounce names, and a few other words.

I talk to DS alot, as does my aunt who minds him whilst I'm working, but I'm really starting to worry.

Don't worry. Firstly, he's male. They are slower than girls on the talk front. Secondly, he's under 2. Both those things mean he's unlikely to require intervention at this stage, unless he has an existing condition which slows development or he's displaying other symptoms which would need investigaton. My ds2 didn't really talk til he was 2.5 and even now (nearly four) he's not overly verbose. But we work on him in terms of nightly reading with Ladybird books, picture books and our own made up stories (he has to tell one after I've told one for eg). I felt he wasn't as fast speaking as his older sibling so I just trusted my feeling and have put a lot of work into him. Now he's doing great. If YOU feel he could be more chatty, then start now with the reading etc but more than likely he'll be fine. Some intensive one to one time with him could help, where you say everything you're doing (you may feel like a tit but they love it!) like "now mummy is peeling a carrot, what colour is it" bla bla.

Mine doesn't say anything! Well, with the exception of one animal noise (which he does at least use appropriately). He babbles constantly (we get lots of "mama" and "dada" but i'm not convinced that that they are in context), points, waves etc. I'm not worried. He is so engaged, and will come over to "tell" me things all the time - babbling away and seemingly thinking he is talking - he looks delighted wIth himself. His big brother said a bit more at this age, but not much, and by 2 seemed really quite advanced with his speech. In my experience the books re quite optimistic about how many words babies will have, I've known plenty of children who have said very little until much nearer 2. I'd suggest looking at the bigger picture in terms of how he communicates rather than counting words.

Sorry to hijack, but I always wonder when they say "say", do they mean "have a good crack at, perhaps with some prompting", or actually be able to say a word unprompted in an appropriate situation and be completely comprehensible by a 3rd party?

Because we have two very different lists.

I know what you mean, Basket. Mine will (sort of) repeat back to me quite a few words if he's in the mood and I really push him. But unprompted.... no proper speech at all.

I think 'they' mean the words have to be intelligible to a third party without needing translation, as such. Most children should be capable of this by 3 years old.

I don't think things need to be discernible by a 3rd party at this stage. It is about what counts as a word for your child.

DS2 is 17 months, and he has probably 20 'words'. To DH and I they are pretty clear, and to DS1 (4) even more so - the two of them chatter away and DS1 translates for us

My parents, who we see regularly and who are almost as excited about the boys developmental milestones as we are, can recognise 5-10 words. I wouldn't expect anyone outside of that to understand more than Mummy, Daddy, me, again.

DD said virtually no 'words' when she was 16mo.

Some non-verbal communication, pointing/gesturing and 'uh'-ing, so I got the point. And could do plenty of animal noises, such as they were. If I counted the animal noises in with her 'words', I could make it up to 14 or 15. Without, more like 5 or 6, so I think perhaps UBW has a point.

Don't worry though, it will come eventually. Keep on talking to him, and narrating everything in adult words - it will sink in and suddenly he'll be 2.3, chattering non-stop and you'll find it hard to believe your little motormouth was ever stuck for words.

I started a thread about dd2s speech earlier.

She is 20mo and all of a sudden she won't shut up!

Up until about 2-3 weeks ago she would just babble and say mum, dad and siblings names etc.

Enjoy the peace while you can OP!

How is his hearing? Does he still 'babble' and communicate in other ways?

Was just wondering exactly the same thing about dd ages 15.5m her words come and go but she chats nonstop!

Agree with what everyone else has said. When DD was 18 months we were having proper sentence conversations with her. DS is nowhere near that!

He can copy pronunciation of most things if he can be bothered but only tends to use functional words like 'eat', 'water', 'outside' etc and mummy, daddy, DD oh and 'no' of course!
What I've noticed about the differences in their development is that he makes more sounds - so sings along with things and babbles but doesn't form the words properly - but DD used to work on individual words, using them until she'd perfected them.
What's your DS's understanding like? The other thing I've noticed is DS understands much more than DD did - you can talk to him in full sentences, give him massively complex instructions like 'take your socks off then go into the kitchen and give them to daddy and bring back an apple' and he does it again, if he can be bothered otherwise we get a 'no'!
Try not to worry about all this milestone stuff - I know it's hard but children really do develop at their own pace.

The only benefit there was to DD talking earlier was her getting less frustrated about expressing herself, you'd never know that she started talking a lot before her friends now they're all 3 as they're all incessant now!

Am on my phone, so sorry for not replying to individual posters. His hearing seems fine, and he follows instructions very well, when he feels like it!

He also doesn't make any animal noises, which is something else I've noticed his peers do and I do make the appropriate noises when we see animals or he plays with his animal figures.

Sorry, should have said he does babble but will not copy what we say. He does use Dada or more often Daddeeeee appropriately, and baba everytime he sees a baby.

DS isn't bothered about animal noises either. He says woof when one particular dog gets on the train in the morning and miaow when picking up a specific cat cuddly toy but is just not interested otherwise. Amusingly, one of the only words he will say whenever he sees it is 'kitty' for hello kitty as his sister loves it!
It's only been a recent development that he's copied us within the last couple of months. I bet you'll be surprised how much he comes on in the next 2-6 months. :)

Funny, I was scouring Mumsnet last night trying to find out what a 16mo should say. My DD says practically nothing, though is clearly not struggling in other areas (she can walk, climb up and down stairs, dribble a football etc).

DD last week learned the word 'ice'. She discovered ice cubes and that prompted that, I'm sure. She's also very occasionally said 'fish', 'book' and 'bus', though with much prompting and quickly forgotten again afterwards. I think the fact she's in a German/English family is probably confusing her at the moment - all the things she's interested in have similar sounds, eg:

Ice (Eis in German, pr. the same)
Eyes (Augen)
Heiss (hot in German)
Ei (egg in German)

She must feel that everything is called Ice.

Of the other words, I'm thinking it can't be a coincidence that these ones sound fairly alike in both languages - a kind of double confirmation for her?

Something that does worry me is that she doesn't know I am Mama or that Papa is Papa. Nor her own name. Though she's known the dog's name since 8 months - not to say but to point at the dog when we ask where she is. We emphasise who we are and who she is all day long but it draws a blank.

Anyone else?

Hi op. I worried so much with my ds1 I've read lots about this. He said nothing til he was two and then within the space of a week was talking in full sentences. I took him to the gp at sixteen months who told me basically to go away. Try and look at overall communication. Does he make eye contact? Does he seem to understand simple things you say? Does he smile and laugh? If he does then I would really try not to worry and just keep talking to him. I read about "scaffolding".which is when you talk to them one step ahead of where their own skills are. So if your ds can't say single words, you say a lot of single words to him, like cat, dog etc. when he starts to say single words to you you repeat back two words, so if he says cat you repeat back: yes ... Black cat. Then fuller sentences, black cat running. Not sure if that makes sense but although i sounded like an idiot it helped to start noticing that although my ds1 wasn't talking at all he did understand and eventually I realised he could point correctly at all sorts of things in books and understood loads.

My ds1 never made animal noises, never babbled and never tried to copy. But even now he never tries anything he can't do..... Then one day he'll just start doing whatever it is perfectly. Seems he gets major performance anxiety!

Oh and he never said mumma or dadda or even tried to til he was two and suddenly started speaking. But could at some point (not sure what age he was) point to us and others if we said where is mummy?etc.

Hi... I really hope this helps put you at ease.... My second daughter was 2 in June and she is probably just now starting to say lots of words ( maybe 70 to 100) ( some not very clearly) and only just putting a few two words together. I was really worried but she had her development check recently and I was told she is fine. The girl before her, born in the same month was speaking in full sentences, clearly, with a very good vocabulary which goes to show just how different children are. Apparently as she is spoken to by my in laws in another language this may be slowing her down a bit in the short term (but longer term will really help her ).

I think as ktef says, if your child isn't giving you eye contact or even attempting to make a noise then I would prob be more concerned

Also, my little one used to say mama and dada and then stopped when she started walking too. Physically however she can do a lot more than others at her age and is already potty trained etc etc.... Perhaps that's how your child will be ?

However, I'm not a specialist and there is a lot to say about motherly instinct so maybe just take your little one to your local health clinic.

Can I join with my babbling 20 month old? We have 'yeah', mama, dada, about 12 animal and transport noises, nana, cat, car, 'that?'.... And that's it!

Comprehension great for up to three instructions in one go (i.e. 'bring mummy your cup, then pick up ted ted and sit on the sofa')

Points lots, very social and smiley, and can use knife/fork really well. Can throw / catch a ball and is very active - which apparently is why he's not talking as he's concentrating on developing gross motor skills?

But starting to get anxious as no new words for ages!

Nursery say not to worry til 2 and even THEN he'd only have gearing test til 2.5.

We're trying:

• instead of alway naming the objects he (endlessly!) points to, saying 'I don't know, what is it?' and trying to get him to sound before we say.
• lots of nursery rhymes (he loves the actions...!)
• talking all the time (we've always done this but bit more pronounced and obvious now IYSWIM)
• reading lots of books
• running commentary on what we're doing
• no dummy (only ever had a bed time)

So... Would love any other tips and OP - don't panic

He's also our PFB which can delay things as all his needs are (instantly) met, and he doesn't get frustrated at all about not saying anything.

Finally, ignore Bounty emails - anything developmental - as I find they either make me glow with pride at my Clever Little Boy or plunge into the depths of anxiety about Why He's Not On Target!

Think we're figuring that he IS developing new skills, and he'll get there with talking (which then makes me panic we're leaving it too late...!)

Sorry dd1 woke up as I was finishing off my initial response... I meant to say take to health advisor just for your own peace of mind....not because I think u should be concerned

" talking all the time (we've always done this but bit more pronounced and obvious now IYSWIM) "

Oh god, I've been doing loud parenting haven't I?!

I'm the world's WORST - I cringe at myself....!

DD is 15mo and can say Mama, Papa, and the Dog's name (sort of). She babbles a lot and can follow instructions and do some animal noises since last week, but no other words yet. Lots of pointing and uh uh. DH is Spanish and we live in Spain so she has 2 languages to cope with and DS at thsi age had no words, or only mama...can't remember. His first word was No! at 16 mo and then by 2.5 he only had about 50 words, mostly in English. He went to nursery at 2.5 and the Spanish quickl took over the English and his first sentence was around 3 yo (in Spanish). At 4.5 he now speaks Spanglish and never shuts up. OP, I think your child sounds well within the normal range.