If your child was an early walker, when did they talk?

[ADuckNamedSplash]

DD took her first supported steps at 7 months and walked independently at 9. She's now 11 months and still not talking, nor close to it (no repeatedly syllable babbling, like "mamamama", etc) - though she can communicate in other ways (we've been doing baby signing and she can do several signs).

I know that babies have their own priorities for development, and that babies who walk early tend to take longer to talk. But I don't know how long 'longer' is! So if you had an early walker, at what age was their first word?

I'd class my DD as an early walker. Her first wobbly steps were 9 months then she was full on running by 1 year! She seemed to put all her energy into walking and exploring and not talking. I was concerned by her 2nd Birthday when she couldn't even say car (she could but only I could understand what she meant) and asked to be referred - I was told she was fine at her 2 year check and to be patient with her (she understood everything I said, just didn't speak!) she caught up in her own time and is now 3.5 and never stops talking!! I'm not sure if early walking had anything to do with it but my DS didn't walk until 1yr 2 months and his speech is amazing - could be coincidence or could be different children developing at different rates

DD was walking independently at 8.5 months [shudders at the memory]

She's just starting to properly talk now at 18 months but that's just single/double words like 'sit down' 'outside' 'biscuit' 'waffle doggy' 'banana' 'bedtime' type stuff and lots of animal noises, but no sentences.

I'd say that's fairly average for talking based on my observations of similar aged children at playgroup. At her 12 month check she was only really saying 'mama' and 'dada'

11 months is really early for talking. My DS has excellent speech, way more than his peers, the HV was even quite shocked by his vocabulary. He barely uttered a single word until he was 2. He's three now. The earlyness of doing things isn't really an indication of future ability in my experience.

My other DS is 16 months, walked at about 13-14 (can't remember) and can say mama. That's it. I'm not worried.

My youngest DD walked at 9 months and also started talking in recognisable words around the same time. She didn't crawl. By the time she was 18 months she could talk the hind leg off a donkey!

Willed my babies to learn to talk. Now will them to stfu once in a while. Anyway, both average-late walkers and aberage-late talkers. DS’s speech came on very quickly once he did start talking. DD has been a bit slower to pick up but well within the normal range.

DD2 not particularly early Walker (but beat her brothers by 3-4 mths). At 11mths. Not 17mths She only says mama consistently, and uses that for everything. She has said up and more in the past but doesn’t anymore and when she feels like it can say hi. Her paed said by 15mths she’d expect 3 words regularly. Will check up at her 18mth shots. DS2 was a late talker and we did get concerned toward 2-2.5 when he was barely taking. He needed speech therapy in the end at 5 as he was borderline when he started school. he has a big vocabulary but is still a bit slurry with words at 7, he does have a slight brain malformation though which may or may not be the cause

My earliest walker was 10 months. She could communicate no problem, taking you to things, showing you things, noises, facial expressions etc but very very few actual words until literally her 2nd birthday. Then she just started talking properly, all the time, and never shut up.

Ds2 Started walking at 10 months, is now 11 months. Can say mama dad cat duck and yes. Started with babbling mamamamama at around 6ish months. He is incredibly determined and strong willed a bloody nightmare so wonder if that has anything to do with it.

Ds1 started walking around 12 months and a part from a brief period of babbling around 6ish months he didn't talk for what seemed like ages! I think it was around 18ish months that we started to get concerned but then he just started talking seemingly overnight. In full sentences. I think he was just lazy!

But regardless I wouldn't worry. I've looked after lots of children and they are all different but usually all catch up with each other in the end. They understand a lot of what you say before they speak so as long as she's showing signs of understanding that's good. If it gets to around 18 months and still nothing I'd speak to the health visitor.

My youngest child was 10 months when she started walking independently. She's now 27 months and only in the last 3-4 weeks has started talking! She's not saying 2 or more words together yet though.

Thanks for the replies. Interesting that some of you say that 11 months would actually be quite early for talking - I didn't think that was the case, because most of the similar-age babies I know have already had their first words, but it seems to hold more true based on the wide range of responses on this thread.

I've already discussed with the HV, as DD scored below average on that section of her 10-12 month review. They referred her for a hearing test (but that didn't throw up any issues) and said they'd give me a call in 3 months to see how she's doing then.

All children develop at different rates and so long as she is within the developmental norms for her age range, then I wouldn’t be overly concerned.

Ex Nursery Manager btw now work other side of the fence.