When should a toddler start saying "I"?

[BabCNesbitt]

DD (just turned 2) is pretty articulate (as far as I can tell!) - eg she can usually make all her wishes known abundantly clearly ("Daddy, come down stairs right now!"). The only thing is that when she talks about herself, she still refers to herself in the third person: "[X] having bath now", "[X] want cup of milk" etc. She's never said "I", and I wouldn't have thought much of that except that her cousin, who's a couple of weeks younger, uses that in his sentences all the time.

I'm aware that I tend to speak about myself in the third person to her ("Mummy's just going to... "), but I've been trying to change that so that I also say "I'm doing this" to her. She doesn't go to a nursery or hang out with other kids of her own age on a regular basis, and so I'm wondering if this talking about herself by her name is actually a problem at this age, and if it's because I'm not letting her spend enough time with other kids?

DD2 does that too, same age. She doesn't even say her name, really, she says "mine". "Mine do it!" is the most-used sentence in our house. It's totally standard. Her cousin is clearly just an overachiever and should be ignored.

I promise that not going to nursery etc is not an issue at this age.

My ds is 3 and still doesn't say I
Yh hes got speech and language delays by a tiny bit. He
Will do the same as your daughter

Sorry its not an answer but my DD is exactly the same. Massive vocab but very rarely says "I". I too realise I refer to myself in the third person most of the time so going to try and stop doing that - when I remember. But generally, hoping its pretty normal at this stage. DD is 26mo

That's really interesting. My DD is 21 months, and says I, ("I felled over!" in an aggrieved voice being a recent example), but never uses her name, although she knows it and recognises it written down.

DD used her name so much that DH called her Hodor after the guy in GoT. She is using I now at almost 3 but it took her a while.

DD was 2 last month and says 'I need a biscuit' (note the NEED a biscuit rather than WANT a biscuit!!!) and 'that's yours and that's mine' when sharing out her cards or buttons or whatever we're playing with. She's only being saying it in the last month or so though. And I don't know if she really understands the concept who just hears me refer to yours, mine, me etc.

DS is 3 in January and has only just started using I/Mine/My although its not all the time and he uses it interchangeably with his name

A game you can play to help is sorting washing. 'Whise trousers are these! '
'Mine!' - touch your chest.
'Whose dress is this?'
(Look expectantly as its dd dress)
Wait.
If she doesn't get it, place her hand on her chest and whisper 'mine!' - she repeats.
Keep doing it with her clothes and yours/ daddy's.
Remember to wait and fade out your vocal prompt by just putting her hand on her chest and waiting for her to say 'mine!'
After a bit you can mix it up - hold up her pants and ask...
'Are these my pants?'
'No! Mine!/my pants! ' (dd)
If she looks confused, verbal prompt with placing her hand on her own chest. Say 'mi...my...' Hoping she will complete it and say 'mine!' (And grab her pants off you)

Can also be played with toys, food etc but clothes are easiest.

It takes a while. DS is nearly 3 and still has pronoun confusion. He has delays (mild ASD) but lots of his typical 2-3 friends are similarly confused.

My DS just started today, funnily enough. He's 27 months. He's also gone from mostly two-word sentences to five-word sentences in about a week. At two, honestly, my son's language was extremely hard to even understand, but it seems he's quickly catching up.

I think it sepends on how hard their name is to say

Totally unscientific, but I've noticed that those with difficult name (eg Alexander) seem much more likely to say I from the start. Those with easy names (eg Hannah) use their name for longer.

Two of mine struggled with saying their name, and always said I, me, my etc. The other had a very easy name and used their name until over 2yo.

It is a difficult concept for them to understand and quite common for them to still be using their name at her age - there's no need to worry :)

I/mine/yours are all just 'words' and it doesn't make any sense to them that 'Sarah' is always her, but I/me can be anyone, that it is also 'her'.

We have some seriously hilarious conversations trying to get it all 'right' but eventually the penny just drops and it's not worth losing any sleep over :)

My dd 2.8 says 'my' instead of I mostly. 'No, my do it mummy' is her most used sentence I think.

DS1 is 2.5 and still mixes it up. Sometimes he uses I, sometimes mine ("Mine do it"), sometimes his name. I can definitely see progress though. I'd say at just turned 2 that's totally normal (DS only had single words at that age!)

My son is nearly 4 and says 'me' instead of 'I'

So 'I fell over' is 'me fell over'

My daughter (age 2yrs 1month) either uses her name or mine eg: 'mine want one of those pwease'. It hasn't even occurred to me to worry at all. She is bright and articulate and can talk for England! Every toddler I know talks like this. It will click in the end. I don't intend to try and teach her at the moment as I believe that she will learn in her own time, so I don't feel the need to 'push' this.

Thanks for all the replies and reassurances! I don't usually get so wound up about development stuff - I know rationally that there aren't many people in their teens who still speak like this - but I'm feeling a bit guilty about her lack of social life and it's making me fixate on stuff like this at the moment. I'll try the laundry sorting thing, especially if it means getting a hand unloading the dryer

Dd was 4! I realised a little too late that I had constantly referred to myself in the 3rd person. She also misheard 'I'm' as 'my' so said 'my do it' and 'my am coming' for ages. I worried about it a lot but dh and I both started modelling 'I' more often and she gradually started saying it.
She still says putted instead of put and all sorts of other incorrect things at 5 1/2 but her teacher says it's pretty normal.

dd 22 months has just started saying I.... But it was before I was expecting it tbh and I was really surprised. At just turned 2 I would have thought completely normal.

My DS is 23 months and never refers to himself in the third person. We are getting a lot of "ME!" now though.

DD was well over 2 when she got it right, I remember because we moved to the UK when she was just about to turn 2. For ages she used to say 'I' when she meant 'you' and vv (so eg 'you do it' when she wanted to do it herself), she must have been going on 3 before she had it sorted.

I found it quite sad when she lost the last of the funny verbal quirks (she said 'I aren't' instead of 'I'm not' for years, well into primary).