Talking at 6 months - is this even possible?

[alandimi]

My exP's mother swears exP was talking (actual words not dada, mama etc) at 6 months old and that by 1 year he was managing sentences and having conversations. Is this even possible? I don't think I've ever come across a baby that could hold a conversation at 1. And so now when we go round to see her she asks if my dd will be talking soon - she's 4 and a half months!!

[AMumInScotlandsAMumForAThat]

As I understand it, up till 6 months at least, their wind-pipe is just not shaped right to be able to make the full range of sounds. I think it has to do with making it harder for them to choke / easier to drink and breathe at the same time. In tiny babies it sort of "sticks up" from their gullet (think of a short snorkle!), but that restricts the sounds they can make. Most animals are also more like that, making choking less of a risk. We only have a "risky" windpipe design to allow us to talk.

[Sycamoretree]

I thought my DD was EXCEPTIONAL (smug emoticon) when she said her first word at 9 months (I have it written down, so it must be true!). I remember it very clearly and it wasn't mama or dada. She then very swiftly moved on to two word "sentences" like "in there" when putting her toys in her toy box. She learned to say "ta" at the same time, when she was given a big of fruit or whatever. I'd say by 1 yr old I could "talk" to her. By 18 months, we could have a conversation of some sorts.

Now I am getting my swift slap back to earth with DS (17 months) who basically has Dadda, Star and NO! (a la George Pig) and that is IT!

[ZipadiSoozi]

My ds1 was 6months for 'mama' & 'dada' and at 9months 'tea' but - he was a slow talker putting sentences together, he was 5yo by the time he spoke ok, whereas my twins could talk sentences when they were 2yo, I take the general fact though that they all learn at different times and that like somebody else said, by the time they start school, children can speak well.

[cbtrue]

My ds started talking at 7-8 months and could join two or three words together by 1 year. I wrote down all the words she could say when she was about 15 months, after about 3o mins I gave up as there were so many. She has continued in the same way. She is a non-stop talker, has a huge vocabulary and soaks words up like a sponge. At 5y6m she is learning spannish (at school) and picking up french from somewhere. She also has her own "language" which is highly amusing. The downside is that she has become very pedantic (i.e. you have to be very precise about time and asking her to do something as she tend to take everything literally) and does not always know when to stop speaking.

[lljkk]

About what muminScotland said, I thought the throat changes occurred at 4 months old (but I don't know for sure). Before then they can drink and breathe at same time. This is why the vocalisations start to change around 4 months old, because of the thingamabob moving down the throat.

Don't know where I read that, somewhere that seemed authoritative.

[keevamum]

I honestly can not say when my DD1's first word was. She seemed like she was born talking....at 4months she was making the mumum dadad sounds but I thought she can't be speaking it's too early at 6 months there were much more sounds like bubu for baby and push and doll. At 10 months she was putting 2 words together. We went on holiday to France and I have such vivid memories of her saying 'shoes on' 'that's enough!', 'more milk' as well as clearly saying 'bonjour' to the french people. She was speaking in short 3 word sentences at a year and almost fluently with a wide vocabulary by 18 months. I think she is still bright but not noticeably so at age 8. It was such a shock when DD2 did everything at a much more normal pace and didn't start speaking in sentences until nearly 2!!

[mumsobusy]

my ds could say mama dada at around 6 months also at 5-6 months we would say oh dear have you got a cough and he would cough around 11 months he started to say just single words 15-16 two or three words together and now at 3 he is a chatterbox he is able to have a conversation in two languages even translate the words he knows

[nickschick]

ds1 did notspeak til he was 4
ds2 had a dreadful lisp and you had to listen hard at what he said.
ds3 was definitely talking at 6 months and full convos at a year--- and hes never stopped talking since!!!!

[troutpout]

ds said his first words at 6 months...he was speaking in full sentences by a year. He spoke as if he had learned it from a manual.
He also has special needs

[Miggsie]

My MIL says all her childreen were reading before they went to school, which is patent nonsense as DH was sent to a special unit when he was 7 becuase his reading was so poor and he distinctly remembers being labelled "stupid"

[ninedragons]

DD (12 months) very distinctly said "oh bugger" the other day in front of my mother and me, so we are all resolutely pretending that she still hasn't started talking yet.

[keevamum]

Nine dragons my dd used to say that too at about 10-12 months. It was so embarrasing as we obviously hadn't expected her to be talking so early and so we weren't watching our p's and q's. She particularly loved shouting it at the top of her voice in the supermarket we always used to cover it up by saying yes you are in your buggy you clever girl!!! Don't think we fooled anyone!

[TiggyR]

Hi, my son who is 16 said a lots of words other than just mama and dada at barely more than 6 months and he managed simple sentences at a year. No more that two or three words really, things like 'more pear' and 'no bed!' 'Dada go work' etc, but sentences all the same. We have video of him doing it, and I used to write down all his vocab until he was about 9-10 months and I couldn't keep up any more so I stopped, but i still have it in his baby book, so I know it's not a selective memory/over-imagination thing! He could also identify all the letters of the alphabet by the time of his second birthday, because back then he was the first child and I had the time and inclination to teach him. He also used to memorise word for word all his story books and would 'read' them out loud to himself prompted by the pictures. (around 24 months) He knew all the Thomas, Pingu, and Noddy books off by heart with 100% accuracy. That was some party trick, I can tell you. I thought I had the new Einstein on my hands. Unfortunately he peaked early with his impressive alphabet and memory 'reading' tricks, and then, refusing to show any other signs of giftedness, retired gracefully aged 2 and a half, to become lovely but average.

My second son (nearly 14) on the other hand didn't say much at all until two and a half, and then babbled unintelligable nonsense until he was nearly 4. In fact I still don't understand most of what he says because he mumbles and gabbles and his speech is very lazy, yet he's actually turned out to be the really clever one, and is top in his whole year at English in an independent school where the standards are generally very high. Go figure!

[hellymelly]

My dd1 said her first words at 6m,and dd2 was five months.they both could string words together by 12m.DD2 is now 21m and says things like "this lunch is delicious,thank you Mama".Very funny.Much less noticable in DD1 now she is 4 as her friends have caught up with her,so her speech is sophisticated but not freakishly so.

[Hulababy]

DD said her first words at 6 months - only mummy/daddy, but very clean and aimed at correct people. She could say many words at a year old and put the odd couple together, and by 18m was saying longer sentences. At her 1 year and 2 year checks the HV commented on her speech and it is recorded in her baby books.

DD isn't gifted and talented, but early talking just runs in the female side of my family from what we can gather.

[hellymelly]

yes I remember reading somewhere that it is an inherited trait.Certainly my brother and I both talked at 6m too.I do think my daughters are bright,they both seem pretty clever,but I would not say that either of them is in the gifted+talented bracket.

[scrooged]

ds's first word was 'dirty' , he was 7 months, by his first birthday he used to walk around saying 'numbers and letters', carrying a bus with numbers and letters on it. A few weeks later he could name all the numbers, letters and shapes by sight and out of sequence. I could have six word conversations with him by 14 months, he was an early reader (three and a half) and has always had excellent english skills. I remember taking him on the bus when he was 2 and he was asking questions, the bloke behind was earwigging and asked when ds started at Eton. He was assessed at just over 9 as having the skills of a 16 year old, he was higher, the scale only goes up to 16 so it is possible for children to talk early.
He was laughing at three weeks, I didn't think it was odd, I do now!

[NannyNightmare]

DS's first word was 'duck' at age 7 months. Followed by ball, book, mama, dada, ya-ya (what we call dummies), at age 8 months. True.

[Hulababy]

Yes it is possible. My DD began to talk from 6 months, starting with muma and dada (whlilst aimed at the right person), but quickly adding more and more words and then sentences, etc. It was commented on at her 1y and 2y assessments at the HV. Both my sister and myself were also early talkers. My nana says my mum was too.

[kentmumtj]

im not sure i entirely agree that babies as young as this form words as such it is more sounds that adults intepret as words.

i work with lots of babies and am yet to see a 6 month old who can speak words

even smiling at 3 weeks old again wind i would say if im honest

[coppertop]

Until dd came along I wouldn't have believed it either tbh. My 2 other children have/had speech & language therapy so I personally would have been thrilled if dd had been able to say anything by the age of 2yrs.

Dd was monitored closely by the people working with her brothers in case she had any similar issues. "Did she just say what I thought she just said?" was something I was asked fairly regularly when dd was a baby - so it wasn't just me trying to convince myself that she could talk.

[Ehamlin]

I was talking at 6 months and could say full sentences when I was 1 so it is possible. Even a speech therapist thought I was older but then again I could also eat apple before I had teeth.

[bruffin]

zombie thread

[Aspiemum2]

DDT is 4 months and saying Boob!
She's just trying sounds really but does look rather proud of herself, it goes like this "boobooboo boob" daddy laughs so she giggles!

[jojane]

My ds1 was 2 yrs 3 moths before he uttered a single word, before that it was just pointing and "uh", he is very very intelligent ad advanced for his age at 5 yrs old
On the other had dd was talking very well by 1 year old (abd hasnt hut up since, shes 4 now and talks from the moment she gets up til the moment she goes to sleep!) and although isn't stupid is probably just normal for her age do not sure that early speech is conducive to high intelligence in the same way that mine were all early walkers (confident walkers at 9-10 months but as older children aren't any more physically able than their peers who didn't walk til 18 months