Babbling

[Charliecat88]

Hi all,

I am a FTM of a lovely 9 month old girl and I have some concerns over her language development. Basically she doesn't seem to do a "traditional" babble, in as much as she does not say, "mamama", "dadada", "gagaga", or "bababa."

She does makes sounds, but they are squeals, throat noises, raspberries, growls, nasal sounds and almost twittery noises.

She has certain sounds for certain things, such as the cats. She makes the same sound every time she sees them. She looks when her name is called, she is playful (claps for if you're happy and you know it, likes to play peek-a-boo), she laughs, smiles when smiled at, she lets us know when she's hungry/tired/bored, she puts her arms up when she wants to be held, she knows to wave when we say "hello" or "bye-bye" and she's crawling and cruising around the furniture.

It's the lack of traditional babbling that's concerning me, so many children similar age to her that we know are saying Mama and Dada.

In normal circumstances I'd bring this up with the HV at a well baby clinic when she was being weighed but currently they are not running.

Any feedback, advice or suggestions gratefully received!!

My little one didn't really babble at all I don't think until nearly a year old (she was adopted at 9MO) She would only shout and coo a bit and say 'aboooo' when she got upset then just before a year old she started to say 'gagaga' but it sounded strange like she was underwater and interestingly her first word 'ohoh' also came at 11MO. Then the next few weeks after that some other sounds and words came. She was always very social and initiated peepo at 7MO and was waving, pointing whole handed and clapping by 9MO and her receptive language I'd say has always been at the high end of normal but her talking did take a while to get going. I too was worried about the lack of babbling but she's 2 now and talking lots. I'd say she still isn't massively clear with her speech and my own theory is that she maybe had a bad bowt of glue ear at an important stage which set her back a bit. The important thing is she's catching up quickly though and most babies do! There's a website called www.teachmetotalk.com from an excellent speech therapist. If you watch her podcasts then you may find some useful games etc that you can play with your LO to get her speech going. I think she's too young to be too worried though tbh. They don't all do things by the book whatever people tell you and most turn out just fine. I would definitely get her hearing checked unless there's a big change in the next few weeks (mine has had numerous hearing tests with congestion but apparently satisfactory hearing). If she still isn't babbling or saying a first word by 12MO then I'd push the HV or GP for further considerations. Good luck. Chances are she's fine but just stay vigilant and push for help if you think she needs it xx