When did your child talk?

[BibbidiBobbidi]

DD is 1 tomorrow and yesterday we had her 12 month check.

The health visitor that came out seemed a little concerned that she wasn't using words yet.
She can say "mama" "dada" and "nana" but she doesn't know what they mean and doesn't associate them with people so at the moment they are just sounds.

Her gross motor and fine motor skills she got top marks in so is just lacking in communication.

When did your children start to use words with their meanings?

Not until 13/14 months at least. And he had a very limited vocabulary consisting of mainly animals and animal noises until he was 18 months+ Even just under 2 he was behind his peers. Now 2.5 and much much better, talking constantly - although we still don't understand everything he says. Your DD will get there!

It's because the ages and stages questionnaire that they use is very prescriptive. Here it is www.southernhealth.nhs.uk/EasysiteWeb/getresource.axd?AssetID=99650&type=Full&servicetype=Attachment

Thank you!

I'm glad to know she's not the only one!

I didn't think anything was wrong until the health visitor said about it.

I'll start reading to her to see if that helps.

Ah yes that's the one I filled in super, she said everything else she got top marks in because she's walking and can pick things up and put them back. It's just the communication she's behind in.
Made me feel guilty, like I hadn't taught her properly

Well I have five children and have the full range of when they could speak. Ds2 was ridiculously early and have memories of doctors coming to see "the talking baby" when he was 8 months old He was putting two words together then and by fifteen months he could speak like a 4 year old.
Ds3 has autism and was 7 before he could speak well and three before he said a word (triangle)
Ds1 and dd1 spoke early but nothing like ds2 but by eighteen months they were able to speak in short sentences and dd2 has autism so although she spoke at the usual time it was mostly echoing and she was three before she was speaking her own words.

17 months. By the time he was three he was speaking in long complex sentences.

My last born was 15-16 months old before he walked, talked or even got a tooth!
Don't worry about it. They all have their own schedules. He's in school now and perfectly fine.

As long as you are talking to her a lot, (and not sticking her infront of the TV all day, or pushing her around in a pushchair with no interaction), it will probably come.

Mine is just one OP and we are under a developmental paed due to him having a small stroke and being in NICU. Last check up with her was a few weeks ago and I found it a lot less prescriptive than the HV questionnaire based one (ours is at 10 months). She didn't even ask me about words. He has a few sort of words so mama and dada occasionally in right context, 'buh' for book, hiya and occasionally bye. His similarly aged friends don't seem to have any/ a lot of proper words either. Paed said he was doing great and everything she'd expect him to so lack of words didn't seem to be a concern at all. Hope that is slightly reassuring??

My son is 14 months and says dada. Occasionally mumumumum. That's it.
I think he's trying to say dog, bye bye, baby and yes. Though they are not clear and sound pretty much the same. I wanted to talk the health visitor this morning, but the drip in session was not on when I got there for some reason!

My son turned two in Feb and is only just starting to put two words together. He still struggles with 2 syllable words

He didn't really talk at all until Christmas (22 months).

He has been referred to Speech And Language Therapy but we haven't received an appointment yet.

He appears to have a delay rather than any disorder.

He has worn glasses since 16 months and I do wonder if not having them before that is what has 'held him back'. He's a +8 in both eyes

My DS has just turned one. He says dada and mama but not always in the right context, so sounds similar to your situation (although DS is not quite walking yet). The HV said she would come back in 3 months to review but that the spectrum of 'normal' is quite wide so she wasn't overly concerned.

My DS turned one in March and doesn't say anything at all, not at all. It wasn't even mentioned at his one year check and I didn't even think to worry. I have an older DD (nearly 4) and I remember worrying about EVERYTHING when she was a baby. I'm pretty sure she wasn't talking at 1 or even 18 months much at all and now she has pretty advanced speech and vocabulary I think (uses words like 'gigantic' 'alternatively' etc) I really wouldn't worry just yet.

My twin boys are 1 on Sunday and have been saying mama, dada, gaga and nana for a few months and can associate me with mama but call everyone else dada.
This week they've started saying cat every time one of the cats comes near or if we go to someone else's home and there is a cat there.

All babies are different I wouldn't be worried!

DD1 said her first word at about 10 months and was speaking in short sentences (4-5 words) by 15 months. She always annunciated well and everyone could understand her speech.

DD2 is 18 months and says about 25 words. Some of these are quite clear (mummy, daddy, more, no, yes), but I wouldn't be surprised if most people couldn't make out many of them.

DD2 on the other hand took her first steps just before 1 and is now running about (getting into all sorts of mischief), whereas DD1 only took her first steps at 15 months and then really didn't want to be bothered with walking until at least 18 months!

The point I'm making is that they're all different and get there in their own time. Try not to worry too much - she'll be driving you crazy asking 1000 questions in a few years and you'll wish there was an off button sometimes!

My first son talked and walked at a year, son 2 walked at a year but hardly said a word nothing meaningful anyway but he did eventually.
No3 didn't walk until he was 22 months but could chat away happily then no4 walked at a year and took ages to talk much. I never paid any attention to what the hv thought as I knew it would happen when they were ready and not before.
Boys are now 15, 11, 7 & 5 & all talk and walk fine. Obviously if you think there's something more going on mention it but just let your baby develop at his own rate

It sounds fine, as everyone has said there can be big differences in what one child does compared to another. My oldest dd was two word talking at 12m but had never crawled (literally. She just sat there for a year) and did not walk until 14m so I think she'd just had a lot more listening time!
If you do want any advice about ways to make sure your child is getting good speech opportunities then I would try sitting opposite and doing fun songs and rhymes. Also, talk to her all the time about what you are doing (like a mad woman).

Three children. First never said much before 12 months and then didn't really improve until 2 when it was like a tap being switched on. Second said next to nothing til she was two because she always had a dummy or a bottle wedged between her teeth. Third was speaking in full sentences by 9 months (but didn't walk at all until 16 months). They're all different.

My youngest son has only started talking and he just turned two but has has already formed sentences within this month. My daughter had 20 words plus at one but no sentence's and now at four has a stutter.... So I wouldn't worry I'll admit I was a super smug parent at how adviced my lg was but now we are going to a speech therapist so I really wouldn't worry all kids are different xx

Thank you everyone, you've made me feel a lot more reassured about it!
I try to talk to her all day and I repeat the names of things if I can see she's looking at it, e.g. If she's watching the rabbit run around the garden I'll repeat "rabbit" or if she's watching the Tortoise I'll repeat "Tortoise" I try to keep it to the point and short so instead of saying "look at the Tortoise!" I simply point at him and say "Tortoise" over again. I do that to pretty much everything and I always refer to my self as "mommy" so I don't really know what else to do. I can tell she's listening for a little bit but then she gets bored and moves on to the next thing.
I'll try singing songs to her and nursery rhymes, that's a good idea thank you x

My eldest was using single words at 8 months, combining 3/4 words at 12 months, talking fluently by 17 months. Youngest wasn't combining until nearer 18 months or talking fluently until 2 years.

My 17 month old doesn't say anything really! I mean she babbles ALL day but nothing I can recognise as proper words in context. I'm not worried as she can understand everything we say, to the point where I have started to have to spell certain words like "park" and "chocolate" when discussing them

I've just bought a book called small talk which has been an interesting (and non patronising) read so far. The author recommends other books for children - Thomas' really useful word book etc which I have also bought and my son really likes.

ds2 is 22mo and has about 10 words he doesn't use much. Lots of babbling though.
At 22mo ds1 was talking in full sentences.
I am not too worried - I would just wait. The on,y thing to possibly check out is your dd's hearing.

DS is 20 months and still hasnt said a word... being assessed for autism tho