16 month old not talking

[Nightowl1989]

My DD is 16 months old and can't say anything she sometimes mumbles mama but it isn't aimed at me and if I say for example "shall we go to grandma's?" She might respond with a "ye" but doesn't necessarily mean yes she can get her point across by pointing and making aaaa AAA AAA noises to something she wants. She can also follow quite complex instructions like " right pick your dummy up get your bottle let's go to bed" and she does it all and goes upstairs or tidy your toys away or if we're at someone's house and I say okay let's go now say bye she will say bye and go to the front door. She can also walk and if you ask where's your tummy or your nose she points to them but just no words...is this abnormal? Should I be worried?

When I say she says bye I mean she waves 🤣

I think it's normal at that age. In any case, if you are concerned, see a specialist and he will put your fears to rest or tell you what to do.

I'd say it was totally within the range of normal so please don't worry. The best thing you can do to help her is sing songs and nursery rhymes, read books (especially ones like Julia Donaldson's that have a lot of rhythm and rhyme) and keep talking to her lots.
If she is following instructions well then it is probably not a hearing problem but you can always check this by standing behind her and asking quietly if she would like chocolate/raisins etc.

My 17mth old doesn't talk either, well she has one word (hello).
I'm fed up of hearing her just make whinging noises when she wants something.

I think it's probably normal as the Heath visitor wasn't bothered when I mentioned it. She does understand quite complex things, but seems to have no intention of talking.
At one point she was trying to say 'bear' and 'parrot' but she stopped after a few days.

It's crap listening to my mum tell me about how I was potty trained by 12mths, talking early, etc - and my DD is nowhere near any of these stages.

Ive mentioned it to a few people and all I get is 'once she's talking you'll wish she wasn't' - which isn't helpful at all.

It's the must frustrating thing, fingers crossed it won't be long.
I really do think they used to put so much pressure on babies to be potty trained at a really young age a long time ago because they had to clean nappies.
I'm going to stop worrying and hopefully she will be saying something soon xx

Hi! I have a 15-month old boy who follows instructions, points to things, walks, babbles, etc and in heneral being similar to what you describe aboit your DD. However, he is not saying any words. I read your post which is already 5 months old and i was wondering how is your DD doing now. Has she started saying any words? Many thanks

@Nightowl1989 any update? I would also be interested

hi she will say one syllable words she says step when going up and down stairs days for the dog daisy mam instead of mama hair ear back bum most animal noises i have had SaLT assessment and they said she is about 6 to 9 months behind now she also had a hearing test which shows she has mild low frequency hearing loss but that shouldn't affect her speech she does however appear to be trying to talk more now but cannot put two words together she is now 21months old she also gets very angry and doesn't eat much food as i feel she cant express her likes and dislikes I really recommend speaking to HV they was really helpful with me (my laptop doesn't have a working full stop or comma button so may be hard to understand)

also if i say "can you say she will now nearly always attempt what i have asked often sounds nothing like it though its really frustrating as i have friends with children younger that speak full sentences and my DD cant even say words with more than 2 syllables

You say she doesn't eat a lot, has she had her tonsils/adenoids checked?

DD didn't really speak until after she had her tonsils and adenoids out at 2.5. She did also have grommets fitted but her main issue was her tonsils and adenoids. It also prevented her eating as she couldn't breathe, chew and swallow at the same time.

@Nightowl1989 thanks for the update, really appreciated. Yes, it is really frustrating for me as well as I see younger ones saying simple words while our little one says nothing, not even mama. Have you been advised to take any actions like speech therapy or should you just wait? Our paediatrician is not worried and says to keep talking to him and eventually our little one will start talking, but do not see it so far. Thanks again.

The speech therapist set us tasks to complete but I actually found them quite hard one of them was "point to the object you use to eat your breakfast with" there was a spoon a fork and a cup there and she had to pick spoon then when she picks it I have to hold it up close to my mouth and say "spoon" personally I think that's a hard thing to point out, she also advised that when I play with her say we're playing stacking with rings I hold them to my mouth and get her eyes to follow so she focuses on my mouth and watches my lip movement thru the whole of the ring.

She hasn't had tonsils or anything checked no maybe I could speak to the Dr about it tbh I think it's more behavioural though, she's extremely fussy I can't remember the last time she ate a meal if I'm honest, she will however eat pasta and grated cheese and she will eat chips and sauce, I give in to easy and offer her something else but few months ago my HV told me children will not starve themselves and she needs to know there isn't an alternative so I offered her tea she said no she went to bed with a bottle of milk after I re-offered her tea before bed the next day she ate everything out Infront of her I just feel mean though x

Thanks for the update xx

All of the foods you have stated are things my DD would eat because they were easy to chew, breathe and swallow at the same time. It is something I think is worth getting checked, although getting a referral on NHS for these issues is very difficult.

I also gave in very easy as my DD would starve herself. She went for 75th percentile to under 2nd because she would not eat. In the end I was advised to just feed her whatever she would eat even if it meant pasta three times a day everyday. It has unfortunately left my daughter with a fear of food but slowly we are seeing improvements. She's still 18 months behind with her speech but various speech therapists have advised that she is progressing well and will catch up on her own.