15 months old - zero words

[EllaWt]

Our 15 months old daughter has zero words.
She says ma ma ma, pa pa pa , da da da
Etc but she doesn't really mean anything when she says that. Sometimes dad is mama and I am papa for example. She goes to english nursery but we don't speak english at home.
Is this normal? I wonder how we can encourage her to say words
Thank you

I'd say it's too soon to worry, especially if she's being brought up bilingual. Mine (English speaking family, childminder etc) had about 20 words at 18 months.

I'd also say no words at 15 months is quite common – many children have a few words at that age, but many don't. What I'd look at more at this age is her understanding of what you say, and her non-verbal communication.

Does she understand a few simple things you say quite often? Things like 'time for lunch', 'bathtime', 'where is your teddy?', 'wave bye-bye'? Does she use gestures like pointing, waving, nodding or shaking her head and facial expressions to communicate with you? If both of those are coming along, I wouldn't worry about the lack of words at this age, and just keep talking (leaving time for her to 'answer'), reading, and singing with her to encourage the words to come.

Hi my son is coming up to 22 months and I was so worried as he had no words , nothing not even animal noises, but lots of babbling. The last 2 weeks he's come out with at least 25 different words and if you ask him what an animal does he makes the right noise .

My DD is 20 months, says about 10 words clearly. I understand how worrying it can be, but it really is true that every child is different.