19 month old only says a few words - and only when pushed

[Beastycat2]

Hi all,
Hoping someone can offer reassurance or advice...
My daughter was born six weeks early at only 3 lb 7. She is now 18.5 months corrected. Despite our concerns about delays, her development has been spot on so far, but we are getting very worried as all her peers have started speaking - and even putting words together - while she is still very quiet. She will only say dada, mama (occasionally) baba, cat, owl, wawa ( for water) hi, oh no. And hardly any of these words will she say without being prompted "whats that?"...etc. She babbles constantly, a lot of na na but other sounds too - but no intelligible words. She says "da" as bye, but pitched in the tone one would expect when saying bye, if you know what i mean.
Should I be seeking help from a SALT? What can i do to help? I think perhaps I am guilty of pushing her too hard - i sit her down several times a day with word books and am constantly asking her to repeat words, and it seems she is less and less likely to do it.
I would love to hear your thoughts if you have been in a similar situation, or know anything about it!

Stalking. DS is soon to be 2 and although he says a lot of words, there has only been a couple of sentences. I try not to worry as I think he was a walker rather than a talker but I'm not sure if he's in the normal scope.

FWIW at 19 months, he had very few words. He preferred to drag us to whatever he wanted. EG he'd go and get his bowl out of the cupboard. He still does this but will often ask for toast instead.

Sounds totally normal for 19 months. Speak to your HV if you are worried but I doubt SALT would be interested in an 18 month old who has 10 words and babbles lots.

I'd really stop pushing and stressing too!

Crikey, DS had no sentences at 2, and a very small vocabulary at that. He's now 2.6, and picking up words left right and centre even the odd 'fuck' oops

I'd wait a lot longer before getting worried, to be honest.There are plenty if children, male and female, who speak more than DS, and plenty who speak less. Don't try and 'coach' or coax, just let them get on with it.

Sounds totally normal. My DD is a week off 18 months, and is exactly the same. I think DD1 had a few more words at this age , but can't really remember - and certainly nothing major.

My DS was born 10 weeks early at 2 lb 6. He started saying the odd word, similar to your DD, at around 18 months corrected age and from there it just exploded - he's now 21 months corrected and has a vocab of several hundred words and adding several new ones every day.

I really don't think you have any reason to worry, especially if she is babbling lots - she wants to talk and it will click into place soon enough. How is her receptive language - does she understand a lot of words, even if she can't say them? At 18 months, that is far more important than expressive language.

There are a lot of children who don't speak at 2yo and seem to be really slow but pick up quickly at 2.5yo. I'd start getting worried after 2.5yo.

19 months who has 10 words already is doing great.

I have a 19 month old who shouts at me ALL day long but her vocabulary is limited. I also have a 4 year old who spoke at the same rate and now never ever ever ever draws breath. So I see number 2 as being totally where she should be. There will be some who speak more or less but to be honest I barely notice.

I am very thankful that I only come across sentence forming 18 month old on Mumsnet.

My DS said his first word a week before his second birthday. All the other children were talking, making sentences, and my DS nothing.

Now, he has just turned 4 and talks non stop, in two languages!

Don't worry, your DC is perfectly within the normal variation.

My twins are 20 months and were also born 6 weeks early. Twin 1 has 70 words and is using these words more and more everyday. Her sister has just 14 words and very rarely uses them. They were brought up exactly the same way at exactly the same time.

All children are different, try not to worry :)

19 months is too young to be worrying about this, especially as you've listed loads of words and ways she communicates! Don't compare her to other children too much. The 2.5 year check will pick up on problems.

Please don't push your dd what she is doing is completey normal for her age. I'm a preschool slt and also have a ds the same age who is at a similar level.

Give here lots of space to talk by herself, repeat back after her (words and sounds she makes), label lots of words for her to hear as you go about your day to day life. Try not to ask her to copy words or name things as this is counter productive. Instead give choices like is it a car or a bus? If she doesn't respond after a few seconds then you can comment 'it's a bus'.

These are lovely gentle ways to encourage talking without putting any pressure on. Children at this age have a huge range of normal some have feq words others speak in long sentences.

Scuse the typos I'm on my phone in the dark!

Ladies...thank you all so much for taking the time to reply. I am very reassured...Sounds like we were freaking out a bit too soon. I guess weve always been waiting for the delays since we had all the problems in pregnancy but its really not helpful for anyone!
Thanks all so much again. @marmitemonkey will try those strategies you suggest.

I didn't speak at all bar mummy and daddy until I was 2 and half. Mum was waiting for a salt appointment when I came out with a whole sentence!

I wouldn't worry too much. I'm fine now and I'm sure your DD will be too :)

You might be interested to know that my paediatrician only refers toddlers for speech issues if there is still only babbling and no understandable words at age 3. Until then she considers the only "worry" is if they aren't babbling. (I was worried like you when DD1 was 18mo and had no words but babbled).

Don't worry. If she's anything like my DD she will be storing it up and will surprise you one day at how quickly she starts talking.