Did anyone's baby not coo/stop cooing for over a month & everything be ok?

[Kmxxx14]

I posted about my DD and how she stopped cooing at 10 weeks. Everyone reassured me it was normal she was just learning something new.

She's 16 weeks on Monday & still no cooing. Did this happen to anyone else?

Thought I'd do a quick update as I searched for updates whilst I was worried and rarely found them.

She's now 6 months. She's came on so so so much in the last month.

Responds and knows her name.
Saying bababa.
Great eye contact.
Sitting independently.
Lifting hands to be lifted up.

She's still a shy baby but I think that's her personality. Everything that I read about possible red flags for autism she has achieved for her age.

She's started weaning and is loving food. She had such a strong gag reflex a month or two ago and I worried myself that this could be yet another sign. I thought she'd hate food and refuse textures which I had read online could be a sign. She's the opposite. Doing so well.

Obviously anything can happen but I cannot believe what a change has happened in the space of weeks. If someone told me how much she would progress I would never have believed them.

I convinced myself she'd still be silent at 6 months and have no consonants at 9/10 months.

It's such a refreshing and lovely time again as I put myself through hell. Not eating or sleeping and if this helps ease some other parents concerns then it'll be worth it :)

Yay!

Aw! Thankyou for the update and it's lovely to hear how well she us doing. I'm quite an anxious person and I'm actually a tiny bit glad that the internet and all the knowledge it brings was not around when my 3 were babies. I don't remember any if them cooing, dd2 didn't speak till she was 3 and dd1 constantly flapped her arms. She is 24 now and still does it - she is a teacher and only discovered during training that it was something to look out for. I had no idea. She isn't autistic, it's just something she does.

They grow up so fast - enjoy it - she will be starting school before you know it.

So pleased for the update :-)

Hi Kmxxx14

Hoping you’re still available on this thread? Wondering how your daughter is doing? My daughter turns 4 months this week and I am experiencing the exact same thing! Going out of my mind! She stopped making sounds a month ago. Before that, her sounds weren’t really cooing. More playful yells and screeches...

@Kmxxx14I am so relieved to read your last update. I'm going through the same thing with my 20 week old right now. She was non-stop shouting and cooing from 15-16 weeks, then slowly regressed. She's been pretty silent over the past few weeks now, hardly smiles too. It's very sad, I feel depressed nearly every day. I really related to one of your posts about looking back and reminiscing over videos of her cooing. I'm so tired of over-analyzing her, I just want to enjoy her again. It's exhausting and harrowing. I'm so happy to see that your baby began expressing herself again around 6 months. That gives me great reassurance. May I ask how she's doing nowadays? Thanks!

Hi there,

She’s 3.5 now and has absolutely no issues at all. She started talking early and now she’s very clear and I would say advanced compared to my friends children.

Socially she is great. She goes to preschool and runs in and interacts with teachers and children well. She has never cried at drop off, considering she was a baby who was terrified of everyone and anything, you would never know.

I’d say you baby is absolutely fine, it’s such a worry but trust me I was CONVINCED she was delayed or would turn out to have autism. I wish I’d just relaxed but there was no other option in my mind.

I just read through this whole thing and cried reading your update. My boy stopped all of his ahhh ohh and baby sounds at 4 1/2-5 months and is now 7 months and still only makes an uhhh sound when he’s irritated or tired and he does laugh. I have been convinced it’s a regression and he probably has autism so reading your update made me feel so much better. I really hope my baby starts making his baby noises or babbling soon. How long in all did your baby stop cooing?

@ladybug825 can I get an update on your baby?

@Kmxxx14 are you still available? I can’t begin to tell you that my son is showing every single sign that your daughter showed. Lack of cooing, not following sounds, I’m struggling to bond with him due to him not responding, eye contact is hit snd miss, so miserable when sat on my lap - only difference is he’ll go to anyone! He’s 3.5 months! I’m so so worried! Any wise words?!

Hi I have PMd you, I have name changed.

@ladybug825 please may I ask how your daughter’s situation evolved? We are in a similar situation. Our baby started cooing right before she turnt 4 months, just some ‘ah’ and ‘oh’ sounds. then she stopped completely for 2-3 weeks and started cooing again but very infrequently (once every 3-4 days) and only at her toys, not to us anymore. She’s just turned 5 months. She’s also smiling a bit less and also seems to have lost interest in trying to roll which she was attempting earlier in the month.She’s quite silent, doesn’t seem to care too much when we leave the room and i’m constantly worried that we can’t communicate with her or help her in any way. I’d be grateful for an update, thank you

@nadinu21 Happy to give you an update on our girl, who is now 23 months and saying about 20 or so words, to date. She's a very happy girl with lots of huge smiles and loves her toys and people. From about 6 months on is when our girl started using her vocal cords again, lots of coos and babbling and fun screeching. By the time she was 11 months, we decided to start telecall sessions with a Speech Therapist, since she wasn't using any other consonants, except for Ma ma ma. She gave us lots of tactics that are used with children who have Speech Apraxia, primarily from the Prompt program, which entails lots of touching of the mouth to "prompt" a child to produce sounds. Within one or two sessions, our girl was saying "Da Da Da" and "Ba Ba Ba". We finally found an in-person therapist, who is specialized in Prompt training a well, and since we started working with her about 6 weeks ago, our girl's speech has taken off exponentially! It's amazing... Every child is different (in fact, a family friend of mine was just saying that their child hadn't said more than 4 words until 3 years old, and all is fine!) but it never hurts to get an expert opinion. Perhaps look into Speech Therapy, and possibly Occupational Therapy to see what might help instigate more interest in your child's environments. More sensory input, etc. Good luck!

@ladybug825 Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. Great to hear your little one is doing so well and really helpful to know what options are available to help them and encourage their speech development. We have now been referred by our GP to see a pediatrician so hopefully they are going to investigate this further. At the same time our daughter has started making a few very reluctant sounds again (after a month and a half of complete silence other than crying) so this is giving me hope!

Hi I’m going through the exact same thing with my daughter who is 14 weeks. Im having major anxiety something is wrong and your post gave me hope. How is your daughter now?

Hi I came across your post since the same thing is happening to my daughter right now. Any updates would be so helpful.

thank you

@nadinu21 hi I came across your post since I’m going through the same thing with my daughter. Any updates would be very helpful.

thank you in advance

@sammy1988 hi how is your son now? My daughter is going through the same thing and I’m worried sick.

Hi there! I hope this works, I haven’t use this since I commented on this post.

My son is 18 months now, he has around 30 words, plus around 7 animal sounds. He can say the likes of mama dada nana but sometimes will call me Ma and his dad Da and his Nana Na, and he misses off some end sounds of words, for example he says “do” for dog, “bir” for bird etc, but you know what he’s saying. He communicates well, he waves to everyone, claps when he’s done something well and points to everything of interest or if I ask him where things are.

he very very rarely coo’d as a baby, he started babbling dada and gaga at 6 months, and then went quiet again until 10 months. I got the HV out and the day she came he started chatting and babbling again and never stopped. He said his first one quite late at around 12 months, and in the last 6 months has built on that, but since turning 18 months (3ish weeks ago) his speech has come on a lot. More end sounds are appearing and he’s picking up words really well.

he still has some “quirks” that worries me a lot but he communicates well, gives good eye contact so holding onto that.

feel free to ask any other questions xx

@sammy1988 thank you so much for replying. My daughter makes nearly no sounds anymore at 14 weeks. I am so worried about her but hope she’s just going through a leap. It’s been 2 weeks like this

My little one rarely coo’d or made any sounds until he started babbling with the gaga’s and Dada’s at 6 months. I think sometimes it comes down to temperament. They also say if they are focusing on other things, such as rolling? My little one did everything physically very early. He rolled at 3.5 months front to back, rolled at 4.5 months back to front, army crawled at 5.5 months, crawled at 6.5 months, walked at 9.5 months and now at 18 months he’s running and almost jumping. He definitely focused more on physical development rather than communication.

im sure it’s just a phase/leap with your little one. It seems they go through these phases especially when learning something different. There’s also the 4 month sleep regression which happens between 3-4 months so that could be playing a part x

@Mona313 sorry to hear you're going through this which I know can be very stressful.

My daughter is 14 months now and I'd say she is doing really well. She generally cooed significantly less than other babies and had gone completely silent from 4 months till about 5.5 months. The doctors weren't worried. She then started making sounds and babbling more consistently from around 6 months and she's been saying 'mama' and 'baba' since she turned 13 months although I am not sure it is always with intent. She hasn't got any other proper words yet but I can tell she understands because she will reach out to the right things if I name them and she communicates her needs pretty well by pointing at the stuff she wants. I would say she is generally a bit reserved particularly with strangers but she's a happy baby and quite interactive with us.

One thing which seemed to help both her and me was attending baby classes from around 5-6 months. While she was generally quiet at home she would make happy squeaks and babble a bit more when in sensory and music classes or when she was being around other people and babies. It also helped me leaving the house more and not obsessing as much over trying to get her to 'make sounds' and interact with me. What also helped us a lot was doing talking therapies through a specialist parents and baby psychology service. I would attend these with my baby and talk through my worries while she was also with us in the room playing.

I'd say you should seek views from professionals if you're worried but at the same time please try not to worry too much and to spend time with friends and family if you can as much as possible. I feel that spending a lot of time just with the baby in the flat during maternity led to me overanalysing her behaviour and what she was or was not doing and looking back I lost some precious bonding time with my daughter. I know it's difficult not to worry but at least try to also do things which keep you mind off the negative thoughts.

Best of luck and feel free to reach out if you have any more questions.

@LCL1981 hi I’m experiencing the same thing with my daughter. How is your daughter now?

@Longjohn33 hi how is your LO now? I’m experiencing the same thing and I am worried sick.

hi how is your LO now? I’m experiencing the same thing and I am worried sick. @Jblay05