15 Month Old not Speaking!!

[anxietymum0]

My son was born Jam 2023 and he is now 15.5 months old and doesn’t speak at all. He says a weird word (somewhere between is it and shit) and babbles away and sometimes says nanana mamama dadada but no actual words and he is SO ignorant at times. My friend has a girl 2 weeks younger than him who says yes no hiya among other stuff which worries me since every other milestone they hit around the same time.

i hate my health visitor since shes a old lady who shamed me for how he eats (a whole other issue he has) so shes a no go and go keeps directing me to her

Similar situation here. My son is 14 months and doesn’t say anything. I spoke to my health visitor a month or so ago about other things and mentioned his speech as he doesn’t make any attempt to talk, but she said to wait a couple of months (so around 15months) and if no words then to contact them again.
She also said to have a look at the BBC Tiny Happy People resources and try some of their stuff.
Do you think he might have problems with his hearing? Is your son quite physical I.E. did he walk ‘early’? My son walked at 9 months and my HV also said some babies that develop early physically can take longer with communication as they are just more focused on active stuff.

Push to speak to a different health visitor (put in a complaint if needs must) and ask your GP for a referral for a hearing test. If they need support then speech and language don't always accept referalls until they're a little older 18-24 months generally so it may take some pushing/time before you get anywhere with them but don't give up.
In the meantime speech and language UK, is a charity that will be able to give you a good starting point with activities you can do, they also offer a free call with a speech therapist to discuss your concerns.

he walked just after his first birthday so not really “early” per say but also not “late” he had an issue with a ruptured ear drum due to ear infections and he also has really bad ear wax so I reckon that hasn’t helped at all. He’s been walking 3 months now but he literally runs everywhere and climbs all over deffo very physical.

do you think the GP will do a hearing test if I ask? He has these absence episodes but also if ignorant and has had seizures before (starting at 9 months) so we are unsure if he has absent seizures or if he is just ignorant when watching ms rachel

Thankyou!! Deffo going to use all the free resources i can. He is quite ignorant but also has a seizure history so he may also have absent seizures but not too sure as we have no diagnosis. Im going to push for a hearing test 100% since he previously had a abscess on ear drum which caused a hole

Is he under the ENT section of the Hospital for his poorly ear?

Can you tell us a bit more about his eating? I know you said you felt Shane from what the HV said but not speaking and being exceptionally fussy with food can be a sign of ASD.

Did the HV do his 12 month check and did she use the Ages & Stages?

So they referred us but nhs is bit long for waiting etc so we haven’t heard anything at all.

with his eating he was amazing at eating and just before Christmas he had a sickness bug where he couldnt even keep water down for a couple days and I think he’s traumatised a bit from that. He eats potato in any form, mcdonalds nuggets, cucumber and fruit etc, yoghurt, porridge, rice cakes, biscuits and all sorts of “baby” snacks. He has a strange thing about bread in any form but hes getting good with eating toast & he eats cereal dry. Loves noodles but not pasta unless its tuna mayo pasta. Once he recognises the food wont “hurt him” since he doesn’t have good communication then he scoffs it down.

he had his 12 month check at 9 months so at the time he was an amazing eater. She was shaming me for giving him a baby meal every so often and cause at the time he was on about 4 bottles a day, then said hes overweight (98th weight percentile and 50th height percentile).

So they referred us but nhs is bit long for waiting etc so we haven’t heard anything at all.

I think it's worth giving them a ring to see that they have the referral and where you are in the queue. It sounds as though he's really suffered with his ears.

at the time he was on about 4 bottles a day, then said hes overweight (98th weight percentile and 50th height percentile).

Have you had him weighed and measured again, do they run a local baby weighing clinic. I think I'd go along just to check he's on track.

They're not normally bothered if the baby is towards the top of bottom of the chart, just as long as they are pretty much in proportion. Perhaps the HV was a bit blunt but this is probably why she was a bit concerned? Did she give you any tips like dropping the bottles one by one?

There's a good guide on how much they should be eating and how much milk they should be having heree*. It even gives sample menus and suggested portion sizes, which is usually quite hard to find.

If he were mine I'd go along to the Baby Weighing Clinic with my red book and get them to plot both his weight and his height so you can see if you need to make any adjustments

As for his speech, how does he do on this simple progress checkerr*?

I did the progress tracker and it says hes on track! Ive weighed him and done his height and he is on still on 50th for height and 98th for weight but he also started on a low percentile for weight.

I wish I could add photos of him as he is on the skinner side and deffo isnt chunky or chubby in any way. Getting him to eat loads of verity of food is hard but he is a “fruit fly” as my mum says. He is none stop eating fruit and cucumber.

he is obsessed with his ears like constantly poking them etc so im going to push with the gp for some more testing doing but theyre quite good at shutting me down

It's great that he's in track but I'd definitely chase up that appointment if he's always messing with his ears