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.

DD is 18 months old today. Has said Dada, Daddeee for ages. Has also said brumm for car and moo for cow and no. Just this past couple of weeks she has added, Mama, bye, up, eye, there, this, birdie, ta, more, no more, up and stop. Birdie and stop were just today. She parroted stop and birdie was unprompted and with pointing.

She has had good comphrension and has made herself well understood with gestures - but I was starting to worry. Apparently all of my friend's have genius children who talked in sentances at 12 months and are now on to writing their first novel...

PFB - it is hard not to worry.

I have 3 kids. My boys said nothing at 16m while my daughter spoke sentences.

Agree with BasicallySFB totally ignore those bounty emails!

My DS2 has speech therapy and said nothing till he turned 2yrs, it then took 6mnths for a referral. Hes now 3yrs and talks a lot but some of it is still unclear to others. DS3 is now 19mnths old and says very little other than Mum, Dad and 'm' for milk. The speech therapist said not to worry about DS3 and to wait a while longer before seeking help for him.

According to my GP (who looked it up on the net lol) there's no need to seek help unless your child has no words at 18mnths old, so I'd hang on till then and they very rarely do anything before the age of 2 anyway. Your LO will probably be chatting away before you know it, but it doesn't hurt to tell your GP or HV your worries (especially as if you do need help in the future it takes ages to get a referral).

I always try to chill out about this by remembering that Einstein said nothing till the age of three.

I'm not sure it's all 'PFB'. With first borns, we're doing it all for the first time. So rely a bit too much on those developmental lists. I do it myself, know it's fruitless but get worried anyway. I live in a relatively isolated place so not many other babies to compare with either.

My nearly 18mo can only make sounds like nana, mama, dada and has weird vibrating gnn noises, or driiii and dunnn sounds (as well as animals and car noises). He uses mama to mean mummy, camera, camel (?wtf) and hammer. Nana means nanny and dinner. Gnn means green (sometimes). I think he's been using duunn to mean down. He understands a lot so I've decided his brain/mouth can't make the words very accurately yet, that's why mama is used for lots of words. Very recently I've also noticed he DOES make an effort to repeat things, they just don't sound to me very much like the word. For example, he loves the shower and points to it - I say 'shower' and he makes a noise. He then repeats the same noise. I think he's trying very hard to repeat the word. Perhaps the real issue is us: if only we could understand baby-speak!!!

My 17-month-old said practically nothing a month ago. Since then we've had a massive burst and now there's loads of words on the list I haven't really been making, honest!

I have no idea how accurate this is, but someone on Yahoo answers said her paediatrician said (yes, I know!) that anything verbal which denotes recognisable meaning counts, even if it's only said once or twice. So animal/vehicle noises, e-ant for elephant etc all count.

moel - DS doesn't say mum or any variation either, but I'm not worried as I guess he doesn't need to when he's with me. He's only said dadda when DH has come home. He does know his own name, but as it's George and he's a huge Peppa fan, it's always followed by a snort. I worry that he thinks he's a pig .

DS is almost 19 months and doesn't have any proper words yet. He says brummmmm for car and makes some animal noises, but other than that he says mama for a lot of things and points to everything a lot. He loves music and makes a sign for this, so I know when to start singing to him.

I am worried some days, some others I tell myself this is normal. He is bilingual, doesn't get frustrated at all at his lack of language as he can make himself understood very well, he is very sociable, makes eye contact and tries to play peekaboo with everyone. He also follows complicated instructions, and his understanding is very good in both languages.

I am mostly concerned after meeting a friend whose 17 months DD can put 2 words together, tries to sing even, or points to everything around the house and names everything she sees. Mostly though, he seems so happy and healthy, and we seem to communicate non-verbally a lot, so I am trying not to worry. I would try to get a SALT referral though if he was 2 and still not saying much.

My DM says I hardly spoke until the age of 2, and then never shut up. My 16mo DD said mama and dada at 10 months although not as much once she started walking. She had also said words (tiger and e-i-funt) twice and then never again. We get 'bath' and 'snack' (the important things clearly) and the occasional 'doggy'. I'm not a great believer in looking at what she 'should' be doing. She understands a lot and seems switched on. I'm sure she will talk when she is ready.