DS six months and has stopped babbling

[ruty]

my ds is six months now and has gone very quiet. from about three months he was babbling away and talking to us, using consonants from four months. Is this just a phase he is going thru? He listens, just doesn't talk anymore. He has had the most horrendous mucousy nappies for three months now, and the gastro paed isn't doing much about it other than telling me to stop breast feeding ad give him this hypo allerginic formula which he won't eat cos its so foul tasting. Any one else have babes that have gone quiet then started again? Any feedback appreciated...

ruty-my dd didn't babble until she was 7 months.Then at about 11 months she stopped & wouldn't even say any of the words that we knew she could say.A lot of people commented on it & I began to worry.Then I thought about it & realised that she was on the verge of walking was concentrating on that instead.

Sure enough,as soon as she was walking confidently,she started talking again & hasn't stopped since.

Your ds may be doing something similar & be about to crawl/pull up ect.

Sorry,I can't help on the feeding question.Hopefully someone else will be able to advise.
HTH

Sorry i cant help on either question - except to say that i would try not to worry about the lack of noises - I bet in a few years time youll be desparate for a bit of peace and quiet

Re the feeding - why not post in the breast/bottle feeding section - lots of very knowledgable people there

HTH

Has he had a hearing test recently?

I think developmentally babble changes from being automatic anything goes to tuning into local speech sounds (or something like that) around this time- maybe he's making the switch. I thnk they also start to turn take in coversations now (you know wait for you to say something then babble then wait etc) so maybe he's just tuning inot the sound of speech.

Would recommend a hearing test if you have any doubts though.

My "normal" 2 year old babbled late- not till gone 8 months; his autistic brother babbled early (in fact was beginning to talk by 8 months).

As an SLT I'd advise you to have your child's hearing tested. There's probably nothing to worry about, but get it checked out anyway.

ruty, has he stopped making any sounds at all? Or just stopped using sounds he previously used? When my DD1 (now 2yrs 10 ms) stopped using sounds she had previously known (she would not use them for weeks or months) I was told by SLT's that young babies 'file' speech sounds away, then go on to learn a new set. Eventually they return to previously used sounds so that in time, they are all on the go at once. I notice that DD2 (6 m.o. also does this). DD2 has had mucousy (green and whiffy) nappies for some time (since about 2 months), though it has abated a little since I've started weaning her. She is breastfed too. Are you still feeding your DS? I wouldn't have thought mucousy nappies alone would necessitate giving up breastfeeding. Is he well in himself other than this?

Mine babbled up a storm for a while, stopped almost completely at about 6 months, and then ramped slowly back up. At 11 months, she was back to chattering up a storm; it's not the same as her early babbling, being more speech-like.

thanks for all the feedback, sorry for delay in getting back, been battling with babe to take this god awful neocate. levanna he's been having traces of blood in his poo as well as the mucous. can't believe its an allergy to my milk but thats what they say. very worried about allergy induced autism. jimjams, his hearing is ok, he hears and reacts to sounds. just gone very quiet. he used to make consonant sounds, now no longer, just the odd quiet ooh.

ruty are you in NZ by chance? I cant help with the babbling but we are in exactly the same sit with the other stuff. My ds has blood and mucus in his poohs. He was diagnosed with cows mild colitis and soy allergies so I omitted these from my diet, some of his other symptoms inproved but not the nappies, then told that he had reducing sugars in his samples and was unable to digest lactose properly and to put him on Neocate which he hated and basically went on a hunger strike. I am breastfeeding him again and he has probiotics every day to help his gut/bowel. We will be following the low allergenic guide of introducing solids (he is 5mths) and I try not to stress too much about the blood as he is growing well. Would pay to keep a check on babies iron levels if loosing blood in naps.

why are you worried about AiA ruty?

if you are why not get a urine test done at the autism research unit? It should be able to pick up casein derived opiods even this early.

I wouldn't get too hung up on babbling though. Even prfoundly deaf children babble to begin with (think its kind of reflex with langauge derived babbling for want of a better word coming later). DS2 didn't start babbling properly until about 9 months and he\s as NT as they come. DS1 (severely autistic) babbled on time.

I think a more reliable indicator of autism at such an early age is a sign of sensory problems rather than language/social ones.

ruty- I don't think allergy induced autism shows up like that anyway- it's more that they're spaced rather than showing physical sugns of allergy.

thanks jimjams for all the advice, i will look into the urine testing. i actually spoke to the wonderful paul shattock [ got that thru one of your posts] who said i was right to be concerned but not to get too alarmed yet, and to try epsom salts in his bath and to keep him posted! will try.

saacsmum, all my sympathy. i'm in the uk tho, seems very rare this condition doesn't it? sounds like they've done more tests for you, the reducing sugars, i'll ask about that, and i've asked the gp to test his iron levels but she didn't want to. we've struggled on wth the neocate, i haven't stopped breast feeding, but he will now take [tho he spits a lot of it out and still gets upset] about 90ml of it on a spoon [slow process] and i try 3 or 4 times aday. i think it mightbe having a good effect on his nappies as they have been better this week, but too soon to say. what the hell is going on inside our babes?

by the way i'm worried about ds play ability too - noy really very interested in toys. he laughs and has good eye contact, and will hold a toy but just not too bothered.

He's still quite young for playing with toys. I'm glad you spoke to Paul Shattock- he's the man for this sort of stuff. Make sure he doesn't drink the epsom salts!

yes - bit worried about him sucking his fingers after soaking them in the bath, will rinse them!