Is this his first word or am I stretching?

[FairyLights2]

I was at the park with DS and he pointed at birds and said 'Birrrr' he has repeated that when looking at pictures of birds in a book we have at home. I was super excited and thought, could this be just first word? But now he'll say 'birrrr' for many other things, so I'm thinking it was a coincidence.

Can people share their experience of when LO said their first word? How did you know? Was it obvious and consistent?

Thanks

It's really hard to tell! That's a common sound for babies to make. How is his receltive language? For a baby to use words, they need to understand their meaning first as well as being physically able to say the sound. Does he consistently point at a bird if you ask him to? If not, it's probably just that he got praise when he made the sound so is making it again (which is fine!)

How old is he?

I don’t think we had a ‘first word’ as such, the babbling (7 ish months) changed to recognisable words (10 ish months) that were used out of context, which were then used more and more in context from maybe 14 months onwards. For ages, Dada, Bus and Clock meant ‘I’m interested in this’ before they solidified to mean the actual things. First word is exciting, but the fact your DS is actively trying to use words to communicate with you, even if they aren’t completely correct, is more exciting!

@FlexibleWorkingDenied

How old is he?

He's 10 months

@AliceW89

I don’t think we had a ‘first word’ as such, the babbling (7 ish months) changed to recognisable words (10 ish months) that were used out of context, which were then used more and more in context from maybe 14 months onwards. For ages, Dada, Bus and Clock meant ‘I’m interested in this’ before they solidified to mean the actual things. First word is exciting, but the fact your DS is actively trying to use words to communicate with you, even if they aren’t completely correct, is more exciting!

This makes so much sense! What was his 'first' word in the end?

Yep. He pointed at a bird. He said birrrrr. He's definitely trying to communicate with you. That sounds like a first word to me. Lovely

@AliceW89 I just read your message again and saw that you said there wasn't a first word as such. Did he just one day start using words in the correct context?

Consistently in the correct context would have either been dada or clock, I can’t say I noticed which one was only used to mean the thing it was describing first. Needless to say mama came much later . He’s 20 months now and has a very big vocabulary, so even though his language didn’t develop ‘typically’ I don’t think it’s done him any harm!

Carrr carrrr carrrr

That was how it was for me! He was about 12 months and bilingual

Same for as Alice, there wasn't really a first word as such. Baby sounds became more and more like words and eventually became words. Same thing for first steps. It's impossible to pinpoint the exact time "not quite a step" became "a step".

Very reasonable to say this is his first word. DS was a similar age but it was “more” for everything, mainly food.

@LimeSegment

Same for as Alice, there wasn't really a first word as such. Baby sounds became more and more like words and eventually became words. Same thing for first steps. It's impossible to pinpoint the exact time "not quite a step" became "a step".

What a great comparison! Thanks for sharing

He was pointing at something and making a sound. That is definitely communicating with you.

They usually say it's a word when they are making a distinct recognised sound for a specific thing. It does sound like your baby is trying to say bird, in context, in which case it's usually classed as an actual word. He may be excited that he can do it and practise it a lot the rest of the time! Was the very first time he said that sound whilst looking and pointing at birds? At about the same age (10/11 months) , my baby (currently 13 months) would point to the Christmas tree and say 'tzee' or 'thee' or 'dee'. He's now getting clearer with which sounds mean which things, as PP have said. He says 'yeah' and 'there (dair)', as well as the usual mama, dada etc. Baba for byebye. Bub for boob.

My other 4 children, at about 12 months said dog, car and weirdly, feather (fevva) clearly as their 1st words (not including mama etc).

Maybe he'll be a great ornithologist when he's big! My sister's first word was 'Woof!' and now she's a vet!

Sorry, that should have said my other 3 children.