At what age should babies say their first words?

[amiandlils]

My dd is 18 months old and I am a tiny bit concerned that her speech development seems to be slow.

She can say "cat" and "mama" quite clearly and very nearly say "book" and "ball". I hadn't really noticed anything until my sister mentioned it the other day. We then went to meet up with my antenatal group yesterday and pretty much all of the other babies seem to be much more advanced than she is.

Don't get me wrong I am so not a competitive mum and don't care that she's behind the others, but just want to make sure that I'm not missing an underlying problem.

Her hearing seems fine. The only thing niggling away at me is that my HV once told me that dummies slow down their speech. She only has it in bed not all day, but I'm sure if I ask my HV that's what she'll say!

At 18 months a few emergent words is fine.Is she babbling well?
If you are concerned there is a great book By Dr Sally Ward called Baby Talk which gives you a good clear indication of the range of babies speech development as well as games and activities to help naturally provake speech.
Whatever else you do don't say " say ball, say daddy". It is really not helpful.
And buy your HV a dummy.

A dummy won't affect her speech if she has it in only when she's in bed. It's when they live with them in their mouths all day every day that it causes a prob (quite hard to talk round a dummy).

Speech development is really variable at this age, and she sounds pretty much on par with several of the children of that age at my mums and toddlers group.

Try and relax - she'll probably come on leaps and bounds over the next 6 months and even 2 years olds with not much speach are not uncommon.

Thanks for all teh happy ending folks.
Hunker I am just coming out of the most mental phase now I think - ds2 really is a dream, good sleeper, easy to settle and good natured. ds1 is a massive help and dd is one girl baby entertainment system.

Mum just rung back
Oh I wonder if it's twins then...
Oh she is a one honestly
Then she mentioned Aunty Sheila.
Yes she had 4 daughters and tried one last time for a boy... got twin girls

sorry wrong thread

Dd2 is 22 months and does'nt talk, she does'nt babble much either (until dd1 goes to bed)

dd is 21mths and has only just started talking in more than baby language!! i was just starting to get to the worried stage about 6 weeks ago....spoke to my dh about it and nursery nurses at the toddler groups i go to and they said give her till she's 2 and then talk to HV about it if still worried....a week later she started saying 'mummy' 'dec-dec' (for brother declan) 'dada' 'cat' etc...all our cats names and ball etc...she is now talking loads!!

i'd give you the same advice!! wait a little longer and i'm sure she'll just come out with it all!!

(though my dd does have a little deformality to her lips and gums- the inside of her lip attaches straight onto her join between her 2 top front teeth....we thought that was delaying her speach, but obviously its not!!)

and she also has a big brother of 3yo who does all the speaking for her!!- she cant get a word in while he's around!!

please calm down about this

DD said nothing until she was over 2 .. I reckon about 2 and 2 months

and when I say nothing I mean nothing

but she understood and was able to communicate well .. she just didn't want to speak

when she did speak it came very quickly

(she was very different from DS who said his first word at 11 months and was speaking in sentences by 18 months)

different patterns

twiglett my son was the same...he said 'dada' at 7.5mths!! but then said more words from about 12mths, and was having full conversations by dd's age now!!

Oooh I was wondering too!! Is it okay then? My 21 month old says nothing except 'brrrrrrrrrrr' for everything. I think he thinks we understand his 'car' language. I'm thinking of asking the HV but think other Mums here know better to be honest. Other people say 'doesn't he even say Mama?? ' but no, he really doesn't..........SHould I just wait till he's two? I've heard that referrals to speech therpy can take months and he's already frustrated at times, has big tantrums.....His big brother was talking in sentences by now.

snottyshoulders, he'll have his next review at 2.3yo so they will have a certain level he should be at as a minimum...so i'd wait till then to be honest!!

Thanks Glaskham, I'm getting a bit twitchy, was going to start my own thread but wasn't brave enough! He seems fine and very bright in all other ways and understands things, but has mega tantrums and headbutts the floor . He's getting more frustrated but even when I give him a choice of say 'milk or juice' he just says 'brrrrr' He had a traumatic birth, so I'm a bit paranoid!
I thought the hv might say why didn't you tell me earlier theres a 6 month waiting list for a speech therapist.
Sorry Amian, high jacked your thread

I think the investigate vs 'don't stress about it' debate is very interesting.
My instincts are that as much as possible we should relax and be comfortable thatthese things come in their own time.
the flip side however is that children that have speech delay benefit from the earliest possible intervention.

My DS lost all speech at 18 months and then didn't get it back again until he was 4. He will always now have very limited speech.
that isn't meant as a scrae story - the thruth is as common the other way around.
But I thinkif you are concerned post 2 years broadly you should investigate. that is an age at which most kids will have some level of speech.
if you start investigations and your child suddenly starts chattering then no harm done. but investigating takes time and if you wait and see long enough you can have, as i did, a child who was becoming completely out of control because of his massive frustration.

of course these post age 2 kids are almost certainly going to be talking up a storm - but i would personally rather investigate too early than wait too long.
as always it is about instinct.

Oops crossed posts, thats exactly what I was thinking Pagwatch, just not sure whether to wait a bit longer. I keep thinking he'll be talking in a couple of weeks, but just as he gets a 'd d d' sound for example, it doesn't come back. I think he's only 'said' "m m m" and "d d d" ever but not to me or his daddy in any trying to talk type way.

I am convinced my 7 month old said 'Milk' last night in bed. Twice. Ds1 heard it too.

Do we get the prize? Do we?

I posted something similar recently. DS is 17 months and has only occasionally said anything resembling a word.

He's pretty bright in other ways though and after talking to other people I'm not so worried. I'm sure he'll get there in the end, like your DD will! HTH.

yes yes , flightattendant you win
'most smallest talkingest baby and therefore most fantabulous mum and gene pool award'

well done . Some ear plugs for the brave lady !

I personally have 'slowest talking but most snogable in a strictly asexual way' son and therefore 'slightly dumb but good kisser' mum award.
I win a life of embarssment as DS continues to grow and continues to give me huge smackers in publisc and the world assumes I am a sad old pervy woman.

Husband has ' most likely to have passed foul fartage to offspring'.
He wins a life of guilt with just a smidge of weird male pride.

I have to say though that DD never exhibited any frustration because she could always make herself understood .. I think for me, in my limited experience, that would be the difference between getting referrals at under 2

Thanks Twiglett, he has got a few signs that he and I sort of made up, but he gets really angry if, for example, I get him out of the pram before he's ready, maybe just a really stubborn boy!!
flllight- show off, show off, pick your nose and blow off

yes I agree absoloutely.
happy child mooching around and 'communicating' though not talking iwould be pretty calm under two.

Pmsl, Paggy!!

He probably didn't actually say milk, you know...

Little sod

bloody kids.

(ooh i like paggy !)

Re the investigate vs 'don't stress about it' debate - one point worth making is that every parent of an under 2 year old who wasn't saying much put their child down for a referral then the entire system would grind to a halt.

FWIW I don't think its a bit mad to ask for referral before there is evidence of a problem, just in case it turns out there is. Not saying that anyone on this thread is advocating that but have seen several postings on similar threads advocating getting Jocasta referred to the paed at 8 mo as not walking yet 'to get on the waiting list'

Obviously, if a child hasn't met a milestone and the parent/doctor is worried, then a quick referral is spot on (and can be hard to get).

Thanks so much everyone - feel much more reassured now. She certainly babbles loads of differents sounds but just doesn't seem interested in saying many words. Well she probably doesn't need to bother when a grunt and a pointed finger in the right direction gets her what she wants...

Really interesting reading everyone elses experiences x

wb
I do take your point butI wasn't suggesting for any child who 'wasn't saying much'. I was talking about children whose parents are actively concerned about speech development. those two things are not the same at all. IYSWIM.

And if some of the children got reached a little earlier some of them , like my DS may not still need services at age 11

I do see what you mean pag, but there are a lot of parents who become'actively concerned (ie over-anxious)' when there is no need to be. Including me, on several occasions.

I guess the difficulty is seperating us compulsive worriers from those (like yourself) with cause to worry. And, I admit, that's really difficult to do.

I also think the waiting lists for accessing many services are shocking - but that's another matter.