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Original poster

16-month-old's speech. MIL has me worried, again.

33 replies

Kiki92 · 30/08/2019 08:35

Hey!

MIL has informed me that my DS, (16 months) has delayed speech. She literally said those words to me... I'm not panicking, because she said the same about his mobility and he's walking confidently now. Yet I still have a niggling feeling in the back of my head. So, yeah, some clarification would be nice please, fellow mummas!

DS can say "mumma", "Dadda", "yes", "baby", "dog", "good girl", my parent's dog's name, and my dad's first name. His understanding is good too. If I ask him where a certain toy is he'll go and find it, and when I say 'bye' he'll wave.

Is that normal a normal amount of speech for a 16-month old? It seems a reasonable amount to me, or am I delusional?

I talk to him constantly. I basically narrate everything I do around the house. I read to him every night. Could I be doing more?

OP posts:

CuteOrangeElephant · 30/08/2019 08:38

Don't listen to your MIL. That sounds fine.

Popsicales · 30/08/2019 08:38

I think that’s a great amount of speech for a16 month old, sounds like he has a great understanding too!

My DD is 15 months and she says: mama, dada, peppa, ta, dog, quack quack.

My DS is 2.4 and when he was this age he said absolutely nothing. His first word was around 22 months and now he’s starting on sentences.

I think parents with grown up children forget the age their own children were talking.

PotteringAlong · 30/08/2019 08:39

He’s fine. Ignore her.

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elizzza · 30/08/2019 08:41

Sounds totally normal to me - my son was at about the same stage at 16 months. Now 2 years 5 months he basically talks in paragraphs.

This is just a secondhand anecdote, but my friend was concerned about her son’s speech development and tried to get her GP to refer her to a speech and language therapist - she was told they don’t do referrals under the age of 3 because kids develop at such different speeds in those early years and in all likelihood “slower” speakers will catch up.

Iamnotacerealkiller · 30/08/2019 08:42

Er.. he sounds perfect to me. We were told they expect an average of 6-10 words by 18months and you look bang on or even in advance of that. My nearly 19month old has no words yet other then mama dada and every professional I have spoken to has shrugged and said he seems fine. Apparently most babies will have an explosion of speak between 18-24 months so waiting for that myself.

Tell your mil not to be so pessimistic or it will be like this at ever stage!

BrokenLink · 30/08/2019 08:42

He sounds completely normal and the most important thing is his understanding, rather than how many words he has.

CrazyOldBagLady · 30/08/2019 08:43

At this age its understanding that is an indicator of how well they are doing. There's a very wide variation of what's normal. From memory I think they are only expected to speak about 20 words at 18 months but it doesn't mean of they only have 10 or 15 they are delayed. It sounds as though your son is right on track. I know kids who are older than your son who don't say as much as that, there's nothing wrong with any of them.

Youvegotafriendinme · 30/08/2019 08:47

Sounds perfectly fine to me. My DN is 18 months and has 2 words. My DN is now 3.5 but has only very recently started speaking well and over night seems to have started speaking in full sentences. Every child’s different and I think your LOs speech is perfect for their age. Ignore you MIL

PotolBabu · 30/08/2019 08:47

My son was under consultant care and in general they look for 8-10 words by 18 months.

Caterina99 · 30/08/2019 08:48

Our peadiatrician (we’re in the US) told us that they look for 10 words, including mama and dada at 18m. Sounds like your DS is right on track

Original poster

Kiki92 · 30/08/2019 09:05

Fabulous!! That's what I thought.

Thank you, everyone!

OP posts:

LisaSimpsonsbff · 30/08/2019 15:28

I think parents with grown up children forget the age their own children were talking.

This. Either my generation were very advanced, the current generation of babies/toddlers were very advanced, or my parents, my PIL and all their friends have forgotten exactly when their children did things and have done some 'rounding down' (e.g. the age they first took a step becomes the age at which they were running round the house, the age at which they were saying 'dada' becomes the age at which they were talking in sentences). My money is on the latter.

LisaSimpsonsbff · 30/08/2019 15:29

Sorry, that should say: 'Either my generation were very advanced, the current generation of babies/toddlers are very delayed'

SinkGirl · 30/08/2019 15:31

My twins have ASD and are 3 next month. They can’t do any of those things. Not one. Your child does not have a delay, I guarantee it. I have friends who have children (no diagnosis, just a bit behind with speech) who are 2.5 and only at that level now.

hormonesorDHbeingadick · 30/08/2019 15:39

I have a 3 year old and I can’t remember

MeadowHay · 30/08/2019 21:16

I agree with parents of adult children not remembering. My DM is open and usually says "can't remember" to any question about our early development but my DF comes out with the most ridiculous assertions about our early development, claims I could do all sorts and asks why DD can't do it yet, and DM is like I really don't think she could do it that early...

Anyway your DC sounds great speech wise. My DD is 14.5 months and all she can say so far is "ahhhhh" (when she sees an animal or she comes for a cuddle or cuddles a teddy etc), "uh oh!" (when she drops something), "iya" (altho not super clear sound wise) and "mama". She says "dada" but not totally sure if she says it specifically yet or not. The specific "mama" has literally only started in the last few days too.

Incidentally she has started doing a fake cough as well, does anyone else's do this?! If she coughs she will then repeat the coughing noise, or if somebody coughs or sneezes she does it, or sometimes just randomly lol.

Smurf123 · 30/08/2019 21:28

My son is almost 18 months and can say
Mum (rarely), far (dad in Danish) ta, goey (granny) shark, baby shark, plane, say pease (please) and can make some animal noises so I think your son has more words than mine but I'm not worried.. I work in special needs as a teacher but we have speech and language therapists on site daily and recently I was talking to one and she was saying it was their understanding they would look at at this age..she said to say bath time and see what he does... I tried it.. He shouted "splish splish" and ran to the stair gate at the bottom of the stairs so he certainly understood.

Smurf123 · 30/08/2019 21:29

We have the fake coughing here too .. 😂

Rubyduby26 · 31/08/2019 13:25

My Ds is 17 months and he sounds exactly like your Ds! He says mama, dada, good girl, football, Alexa, nose, car, stairs, 'mmm' for food, hello, ta for thanks, ta-ta for bye, no (his new favourite word). He doesn't say all of these words how we say them but I know what he is saying, he can't actually say Alexa but I know what he means when he says it 😂 your son sounds right on track to me, he will just pick new words up weekly

My MIL also had a son who was having conversations and talking in sentences at 13 months so I know how you feel lol!

neverornow · 31/08/2019 13:39

That sounds great for a 16 month old. My 19 month old cant say that much yet.

MarshaBradyo · 31/08/2019 13:41

Normal

SoyDora · 31/08/2019 13:46

I think parents with grown up children forget the age their own children were talking

I agree with this. MIL is adamant that DH and SIL were talking in full sentences before 12 months. The example she gave was ‘mummy, please may I have a drink of milk?’. She was convinced my extremely eloquent 5 year old had a speech delay when she ‘only’ had around 30 words at 18 months.

sue51 · 31/08/2019 13:58

Ignore your mil from now on, at least when it comes to your children's development. She is clearly wrong.

funmummy48 · 31/08/2019 14:05

Sounds fine to me too. My eldest had speech therapy and was saying nothing intelligible at the age of 3 so your little one is doing really well.

Zakana · 31/08/2019 14:12

Sounds fine to me, as usual the MIL can’t help but chip in with their usual unhelpful advice. My DS who is now 20, in a good job in multi media marketing and who is very bright and could have gone to uni (if he wasn’t so lazy and feckless lol) did not speak until he was 2 years old and no-one batted an eyelid. Mind you, my MIL lives 2000 miles away and shows no interest whatsoever in my kids, and has never done so. I think my DS didn’t bother speaking until he was 2 because he’s lazy and couldn’t be bothered! 😂😂😂 no change now fast forward 18 years!

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