17 month old

[beatbo]

Should I be worried about my 17th month old?

Speech/ language - I've been googling a little and talking point website says that unless they have 20 words by 18 months old you should consult your health visitor. Haven't seen her since about 3 months old so not that keen and not sure how reliable that source is if I was to go to the GP?

Weight / height - not sure how long he is - no chance of measuring with any accuracy to be honest as he's far too wriggly but he is def tall. Weight though - we weighed him the other day for a bit of fun at the zoo (see what animals you were the same weight as) and it came out over 14kg! Obviously that includes clothes and nappy but that puts him towards the 99.6th centile.

He's not been walking that long - two months or so- and still has to use the pram a fair bit (otherwise we'd never et anywhere as he wont walk in a specified or guided direction). Is it time to worry he's overweight?

I wouldn't worry about the talking at 17 months unless he struggles to understand you? Can he do things like get his shoes if you ask?

Didn't you have a 12 month check? Might be worth taking him, not because I think there is anything wrong at all based on what you've said, just because it's recommended to have them checked at 3, 6, 12 and 24 months.

20 words at 18 months sounds like an awful lot

A month is a long time in the life of a 17 month old!

I don't think 20 words is the norm at 18 months. Only one of mine had that by 18 months, and I considered him very quick.

my dd has only just seemed to have "got" how to say a whole raft of words recently at 22months.

Before then it was lots of babbling, hiya, bye, oh no, oh dear and duck. I haven't been worried. But she does seem to understand more than can say.

Take him to hv or gp. Look at your red book. And step away from Dr Google.
Or at the very least remember that there is a very wide range of abilities when our babies are growing. A lot of sites quote the earliest on the scale. The red book does say that "your child MIGHT do this by x age"

And try not to compare to other babies.

DS is 20 months. Only walked at 17 and we still take him out in the pram because he won't walk in one direction! He can be let loose in the park etc though.

Speech wise he's probably only got about 20 words (if that) now. He is learning new words and sounds every day now though, but he certainly wasn't three months ago.

I think yours sounds fine. These things are all a scale, my DS is doing 'better' than some of his peers and 'worse' than others which seems about right to me.

I have a 17 month old son too and he doesn't have many words. He can communicate with me so that's all that matters. As op suggested, step away from google!

Is he pointing to things of interest? If he isn't doing that by 18 months it would be worth flagging it with someone. If he is then relax and enjoy - the speech will almost certainly follow.

I wouldn't worry too much about the talking or the weight. Toddlers pick words up very quickly from about 18/19 months. As you say he's tall so will probably weigh more than average and he's only just started walking so his weight will even out as he moves around more. Remember every child is different

Thanks everyone - it's reassuring to hear others wouldn't be concerned at this point. He's my first and I sometimes lose perspective I think.

They don't do 12 month health checks in my area - and no idea about how I would go about requesting one. I work in the weighing slot at my local children's centre and, anyway, I don't remember seeing a baby there much older than 16 weeks.

I was looking at some photos of him just when he started crawling and you forget how "chubby" they do look so hopefully you're right and it will balance itself out by 2 years old. Will check the red book when the next check would be so I can think about maybe requesting it in advance

Sorry I meant I work during the time of the baby weighing clinic