Babbling? When do they? Nothing at 8 months . SHOULD I WORRY?

[kalo12]

my ds does lots of aaah throat sounds but no consonants. He doesn't imitate facial expressions and only responds to his name after about 10 repetions. I don't think hearing is an issue. He hates other babies crying.

other than this he is smiley and likes being cuddled.

I just see that babbling is a milestone to look out for.

So when did yours start?

DS never babbled. He didn't make any noises and didn't talk till over 18 months and straight into sentances.

Not all babies do it so I wouldn't worry too much.

what about imitating? or understanding nouns like teddy and cup?

bump

any more babbling stories please?

Hard to remember exactly but imitating definitely came later than 8 months. But I do remember lieing to the health visitor at her 8 months check and saying she said 'babababa' and 'mamama' (when she didn't). She never really did, but it all seemed to happen at once and now she has lots more words than friends of a similar age. Don't worry this is another 'milestone' for Mum's to agonise over and sometimes babies just take a slightly different route to the same destination.

thanks. i suppose i'm getting myself worked up but there's a number of things going on.

my 9 mo DD doesn't exactly babble - lots of different noises, the only consonant she has is "d", which sometimes morphs into "n" but she doesn't babble away to her toys etc. and some days she is quieter than others

talking to her a lot seems to make her more vocal - so while i'm dressing her i talk away about what i'm doing. feels stupid while i'm doing it, but at least noone's watching

she does recognise her name and understands "no", but i think that's as much to do with tone as anything

i've always thought complete silence is the worry, rather than necessarily which sounds they're making?

Hi Kalo,

Has he had a hearing test recently?

I realise you say he can hear other babies crying but he could possibly have some low frequency hearing loss.?
In itself,lack of babble is not a problem,but if you are concerned and feeling that something is wrong one of the first things a paed would look at would be hearing.

My dd has only recently started proper babble but she is quite severely delayed.However she did pass her newborn screen but after paed referral for all her other probs she did see an audiologist and was found to have glue ear and some low frequency loss.An audiology test is quick and non invasive too.It might be worth flagging with your HV as a first port of call if you are really worried xx

8 months is very young for responding to name consistently - you would expect that more like aroun 12 months. speak to HV about your concerns and take it from there. re:imitation - would he copy you if you stuck your tongue out, say, or some other physical movement?

thanks everybody. its not just the babbling - thats something that i know is looked at at about this age.

LeonieD can you help me - tell me what you think.

ds flaps and tenses his arms with legs stretched out and trying to stomach crunch all the time. he does hand twirling too.

He doesn't respond to his own name, not crawling, turns over but by kicking his legs and lifting his neck rather than corkscrew,
poor sleeper, refuses solids, dairy allergic.

but smiley, likes being cuddled, eye contact ok I think.

Does this sound like your dc? Does it sound like autism?

My friend was given loads of grief at her DD's 8 mth check, as she wasn't babbling ( the DD that is, not my friend!!)

Now at 22 months, she's talking in full sentences and is pretty advanced for her age - much more so than my DS of the same age who babbled at the 'right' time but is no where near my friends DD now.

There are exceptions always but most babies babble by 8 months. I would talk it over with the HV if I were you, maybe push for a hearing test to be scheduled (he'll be a lot older by the time the test date actually arrives0.

Hi Kalo, I'm sorry you're so worried. Both of mine babbled from a very early age - about 5 months or so I think, possibly even sooner. But - DS1 has gone on to have a language disorder or possible high functioning autism, DS2 is 13 months, seems to be developing more "typically" and talks lots already. Babbling for me was no indicator either way. However, the way that DS2 shares attention with me, pointing to an object while looking at me, bringing me things to look at etc is very different from the way DS1 was. Both are very happy, smiley, affectionate children.

8 months is very very young to be thinking of autism. Key signs at a later age would be - poor eye contact (though this isn't always the case), failure to develop gestures such as pointing, waving, clapping between 9-18 months of age, failure to respond to name, lack of shared attention, wanting to bring you objects, play with you etc.

You obviously feel that something isn't right so I'd make some notes and contact your HV to run through them. Hopefully she can give you some reassurance.

Kalo, DD is 8.5ths, she does quite a lot of mamamamama and babababa now but only since a couple of weeks ago. Not sure if she recognises her own name, sometimes seems to but may be coincidence. I think she has just about begun to recognise 'no' but she certainly doesn't know any other nouns and I wouldn't expect her to yet, seems very early to me. I don't think no babbling by 8mths is particularly something to worry about - BIL's children (7 and 2) had hardly any language at all until 2 - nephew can now say mama, dada, choo choo and his sister's name and that's about it. His older sister was the same but is now extremely articulate.

How is baby now?