11 month old not babbling...should I be worried?

[theLoneFeeder]

My 11 month old is very communicative in terms of pointing and grunting for things. He also says 'mmmm' when he wants my attention, which I assume is him trying to say 'Mama' or suchlike. However, he has never babbled at all. No b's or d's etc etc. He will be 1 in 2 weeks time and is almost walking, pulling himself up, cruising etc. I'm worried there may be something wrong...should I be?

not really. all babies develop differently at different time spans. my 5 year old son and his near 5 year old cousin are totally different. my son was forming his first word at 6 months, was walking up stairs by 18 months, is now very agile and confident in running and other sporty type exercise. my niece though is totally different. she is 3 months younger but can write quite a few words quite neatly, is very arty and can draw fantastically well. she is very socialably adept (not like my son who is very awkward like that). my son can just about write his name but in large letters only and he has only just started to draw pictures whereas my niece has been doing this for ages. she is not confident running or other things like that though and she did not say her first word till 18 months and even now, you can have trouble understanding what she says sometimes whereas my son is extremely articulate (not like me!!)
don't worry about this, I doubt there is anything wrong, he is just concentrating on developing in other ways first.

(ps I do have research that suggests that a fathers interaction at this age is critical and that children often develop speech and thought far better/quicker with father, maybe your sons father can spend more time speaking to your son and having more unstructured play with him as this seems to be the important factor??????)