Gestures by 16 months

[Katieb95]

Hello this is my first post!

My son has only done 12 of 16 gestures and is nearly 17 months old. He can walk, go up the stairs amongst others. We didn’t do baby led wearing for reasons, so we are still feeding him some meals (messy things like beans and things like that).

Do I need to seek doctors help?

Love, a scared mum!

What 16 gestures? I've done a quick google for a list of 16 gestures by 16 months, and the list I found, a lot of them were hugely dependent on what the child sees. My daughter (13 months) is highly unlikely to be doing the peace sign at 16 months – that says nothing about her communication ability, just that she never sees anyone do the peace sign!

12 gestures sounds like a good number. The only specific gesture I'd be looking for is pointing, both to indicate what he wants and to draw your attention to something interesting he's seen (a dog, a bus, whatever). Beyond that, does he say any words, and does he understand some of what you say? Would he understand something like 'snack time' or 'get your teddy' or similarly simple, frequent phrases in his little world?

I think most people are still helping 16 month olds eat, although ideally they are having a go with a spoon themselves as well now (messily!).