18 mth old - speech

[fermerswife]

As a first time parent I am aware of all these "milestones" which are set by HV's and the likes. My gut says they are generally helpful but in some ways too much emphasis is placed on them.

Anyway I'd like to hear from other "real life" parents about what level of speech their children had at 18 months? Currently my little boy has maybe 10-15 words including things like shoes, animal sounds, and things like all done when he's finished his meals. In the last week or so I have noticed him immitating more and more things we're saying. He isn't particularly clear but I certainly understand it, for example instead of oh dear he says oh de or instead of poop (for a dirty nappy) he says something more along the lines of pop.

In the last few weeks though I've noticed children a similar age to him in nursery saying a lot more and things I look at online (for example a thread on AIBU where a lady plays I spy with her 20 month old!) make me think perhaps he is a little bit delayed in this area.

Obviously being a first time parent I've nothing to compare him with and I'm not really worried about it as he is making an effort to speak and is a bright wee thing, more just curious!

thanks

My daughter had 50 words at 18m, my friends some had 2. By the age of 2.5yrs you wouldn't know as there was no difference in their speech.

DS1 had about 15 words at 18mo. His comprehension was always good though, and he did babble a fair bit. His speech had a massive leap at about 2.5yo, and now hes 3.3 he does not stop talking. Ever. While I am pleased hes doing well, I sometimes look wistfully back on the days when he didn't speak, and how few headaches I seemed to have

18 months is too early to worry about this. DS had a speech delay but alongside HVs we only started dealing with it when he was 2.5. He's now nearly 4 and pretty much completely in line with his peers and I'm confident that by the time he starts school there will be no difference. He has better vocab and clearer speech than many of his little friends but less good sentence structure and "conversational" abilities.

At 18 months however, you'd have thought he was ahead of his peers. He had a lot of words and spoke regularly. So really, it is too soon to tell. Just keep talking to him, encouraging him and if you continue to be concerned, discuss it with your health visitor at the 27 month check.

also, the I spy lady has been laughed at repeatedly for her smugness and most people agree that 20 months is way too early for i spy.

It varies sooo much from child to child I'm sure you know.

Nannying my 14mo niece I remember she could use short phrases. She was from a bilingual home.

I nannied an 18 mo boy who was also bilingual and had about 30 odd single words in the language I was using with him.

I know another friend who's 18 mo bilingual boy has a solitary word.

My DS was a super early talker and has mainly one language. So he was doing proper sentences with prepositions and articles etc at 20 months.

Most of his little male friends have only had a few words before two and now are using more and more and putting words together since their 2nd birthdays. People I know who work in child care say this is quite common with little boys.

I know a lot of people who have been given a hard time about their sons' speech by the Health Visitor at the 2 yr review. And then the boy has soon started talking.

I think so long as you talk to them plenty they will be fine. Providing their hearing is ok of course. The longer they wait to start talking the quicker their pace will probably be.

My 19mo has about 30 words, but they have come in bursts. We notice her upping her babble, and shortly after a handful of new words will appear. The most important thing at this stage imo is that they make themselves understood and feel like they are conversing even if it's all hand gestures and half-words.

My 18 month old had 50 words. Her friend hardly any.
Now at age 4/5 I wish they would BOTH shuddup (little gossips that they are)

Op you are focused on the wrong thing.
It's not the number of words that matters but the type. Really really don't swear in front of them

Oh yes and stuff the milestones! He's doing fine.

my 18 month old son does not say a word, but he babbles alot. It can be frustrating as he gets frustrated with himself.

DD had just under 100 words at 18 months. She didn't babble until very late on and I remember being worried so it just shows that you shouldn't worry too much about milestones.

They are all so different. I know a child the same age who doesn't even have one word now at 19 months.

Thanks everyone for your replies. As I say I'm not particularly worried just curious.

Oh and ninetynineonehundred I'm afraid I've already made that mistake...on sunday I was trying to put up a stair gate single handedly while watching toddler...it fell and I muttered oh sh1t which was met with a chorus of oh shiz oh shiz, I'm not at every opportunity doing very exagerated "oh dears" lol

He never stops babbling away so I'm sure in a few months I'll be in the "stop talking for 5 mins" camp!