When did your little boy start talking?

[AllyBama]

Look, I know we shouldn’t compare but sometimes it’s hard isn’t it. My friends kids who are exactly the same age as DS (2 years and 2 months) are saying colours, counting to 10... and mine well... not so much. Not even close actually. Now I know he clearly comprehends us. He’s extremely happy, bubbly and bright. Interactive, playful. Does as we ask, gets his shoes when asked, correctly finds his hat and puts it on when asked. Points at things he wants.

He has maybe 20 words which I know is not quite where he should be at this age. But the thing is he never shuts up! There is a constant stream of conversational style babble with the odd word thrown in (mummy, daddy, yes, no etc). So there’s a part of me that’s just like meh he’ll talk when he talks, he clearly has comprehension. I’m absolutely sure there’s nothing wrong with his hearing so don’t worry. But then of course there’s a part of me that is worried a wondering if I should be doing something about it.

Just wondering if anyone has anyone advice or reassuring experience of late talkers?

He sounds fine to me, it's really hard not to compare but it really doesn't help.

The fact that he's listening and following directions shows that his understanding of the words is already there. If he can communicate effectively enough by pointing, then he may not be inclined to try to sound things out. Have you considered trying a bit of speech therapy at home? (Not that you need to)

Thanks for replying. He’s just started one day a week a day care (nursery) so I was going to see if that improved things at all then if we got to the 2.5year mark and things hadn’t improved then definitely will look at some speech therapy

It is always worth getting hearing checked.
Sometimes people can 'hear' things but not hear at certain pitches. So, within context he can hear what you say, but might not be hearing certain letter sounds, hence not being able to hear how words ought to be being said.
I don't know what the situation is during the pandemic, but I would ALWAYS advise getting a child's hearing checked as the first thing to do if their speech isn't where it ought to be.

Sounds completely normal to me, both mine were the same as yours at that age so I wouldn't worry. See what your nursery think, they'll have seen it all before and should be able to give you some idea how he's doing in relation to others his age.

You could have been describing my little boy at that age. All his friends were chatting away & he wouldn't even say mumma or dadda. I also tried not to compare but it was impossible not to notice how far behind his speech was.
Like you've said about your son, he definitely understood, he'd point to objects in books, follow instructions as asked but he just refused to say anything or even make any attempt to copy what we said.
I was starting to get a bit worried about him so contact the advice line we have in my county & spoke to a speech therapist who said he sounded fine but to just keep talking to him, narrate everything & what you're doing. They said to call back if by 2 1/2 we still had concerns. Probably 2 years 4 months he just suddenly ramped up the words in a matter of days. His vocabulary went from nothing to same as his friends within a couple of months max.

He's just turned 4 & now he literally NEVER stops 🙄

My little girl is the exact opposite, total chatterbox before she was 2.

He sounds just fine from what you've described 😊, as far as I understand it, if he appeared to have no real comprehension as well as not speaking that may be a cause for concern.

My ds didn't really get going with talking until about 2. Once he got going he was fine and quickly developed to have a great vocab for his age. I wouldn't worry.

My boy is 25m and while he can point out lots of things when asked in his books, he just doesn't talk. He used to say "nigh nigh" at bedtime, but has stopped. Now all we really get is "No" and this week lots of "meow" when we say cat. He mutters away to himself but no real words.

He was a late crawler and walker too so I'm not overly worried, especially as his understanding has come on great past few months. When we say let's go brush your teeth he touches his mouth and goes to bathroom and when we ask if he wants milk he rushes to the fridge. I'm fairly confident the words will just suddenly come.

That's one good thing about lockdown, not seeing other kids to compare and feel awful!!

I could have written this. My boy is a similar age and like yours is constantly babbling with the odd word thrown in. I do worry at times and compare him to my daughter who at the same age was having full blown conversations! It’s hard not to make comparisons and worry but I think they all just do things when they are ready.

Thanks guy, I know that I’m probably overthinking and I just need to let him run his own race. He’s such a bright little boy and I think because he developed physically quite early (he’s very tall for his age with a really thick full head of curly hair and is often mistaken for being older) this often skews people’s expectations of where he should be developmentally and sometimes I need to remind myself of that too. I do feel better hearing peoples stories!

Ds1 - 2yrs 4months. (Literally didn't say a thing until then) started then a d still hasn't paused for breath 3 years later.
Ds2 - started with mamma, and had loads of words very very young. Could hold a reasonable conversation by 18months. Hasnt stopped since.

3! Hes 6 now and still can pronounce his l's but otherwise chats away merrilynandbhas a good vocabulary.

I did so much worrying! I could tell his understanding was pretty good but still... 3!

My girls were two and then the second girl (our third) was chattingbaeay in sentences by 20 months. They're all different. It's common for boys to be late

Excuse typos

Our lb was very tall too funny enough

Thanks for your insights 😊