Nearly 8 month old doesn't babble

[Flatwhite32]

Hi everyone! I'm a first time mum, so could be worrying unnecessarily here, but I'm not sure. My DD will be 8 months old soon, and she still doesn't babble. She makes noises and squeals, but she doesn't say any consonant sounds (eg bababa dadada etc). Should I be worried? She can sit up, laugh when being made to laugh, smile (although her smiling has decreased quite a bit in the last ten days, but she seems more tired which I am pretty sure explains this, as she is always more smiley after a nap. She will not smile at strangers at all anymore, but that could be because she really knows now who is familiar and who isn't. She is happy to be held by others though and isn't bothered if I leave the room). She responds to her name some of the time (not when really distracted) and loves baby classes (shows a lot of interest in what's going on, other children etc). Her eye contact is pretty good, although she is so interested her environment she looks at other things quite a bit (eg during feeds). She plays with different toys well. She can't crawl or cruise yet, but can get everywhere by rolling! So, as you can see, her development is pretty much on track (I think!) but with a distinct lack of babbling! Any other mums out there with any useful advice? Thank you! X

She sounds fab and right on track! Babbling with consonants isn’t considered delayed until after 10 months so still plenty of time :) My DS started babbling with consonants literally over night so can happen that suddenly.

The decrease in smiling at new people is likely the start of stranger anxiety which is a good thing :)

My DS started babbling with consonants (ra ra ra, ga ga ga) last Saturday! Again it just happened overnight- possibly sparked off by spending a day with his very very chatty 2yo cousin. He is 9 months, nearly 10.

You aren't wrong to question your instincts on this. It may well all turn out that there is nothing to worry about, but keep monitoring the situation. Meanwhile try and play games that involve the mouth moving eg a suitable whistle, blowing a ping pong ball along, mimic a movement you can make such as la la la with your tongue. Obviously supervise appropriately with something like the ping pong ball. It is all relevant for development of motor skills relating to the mouth and hopefully your daughter will start to babble and talk at appropriate times and you can relax a bit. If she doesn't then you can push via the health visitor for further assessment.

My DD1 was like this, she did and does have a problem (now 14yrs) but the fact we did early intervention with her means her speech is better than it might well have been. I believe in instinct so don't be scared to push professionals further down the line if you feel it is necessary.

Thank you everyone. It is making me a bit anxious, I'll admit. Her 9 month review questionnaire arrived the other day, and while she obviously isn't 9 months yet, she can't do any of the skills listed. She makes plenty of noises and can do a few vowel sounds and the occasional ggggg but no babbling listed on the 9 month review form.

@beautifulgirls if you don't mind me asking, when did you notice your DD had a speech delay?

She was around 12 months when I first started pushing the health visitor about her speech but was fobbed off at that point. As she approached 2yr and problems continued (and we got a new health visitor who actually listened) then she was referred for speech and hearing assessments. She failed both... hearing was temporary with glue ear that she later had grommets for, the speech issue actually was a smaller part of bigger issues for her. With the speech concerns I don't think you are likely to get a referral until she is older anyway as there are relatively few things they can do at this stage. The oral motor skills games will not be wasted though so at least you can feel proactive from here for her despite her young age.

Ah the nine month review...

We had our appointment made on 9 months, 0 days. I was crying at the health visitor because I was so upset my DD wasn't doing many of the things listed. We ended up mostly in the grey/black zone of her marking criteria chart and I was so disappointed for my DD and got quite worried. And before all this I felt so pleased with how we were all doing! It really knocked my and dh's confidence.

That was two weeks ago.

Now it's a completely different kettle of fish. Babies change so fast. It's silly, really, to compare the development and behaviour of a baby at the beginning of 9 months to one who is nearly 10 months. Already we are ticking activities off confidently, whereas beforehand it seemed so unlikely.

You're doing an amazing job. Keep enjoying your beautiful baby and don't worry about these 'checklists' which, to me, seem like they come from a different era and totally go against everything you hear about each baby developing differently.