11 month old milestones

[GoodnightAdeline]

The milestone pages on here suggest by 12 months a baby should have a few words and be walking without support.

DS will be 1 in a few weeks and isn’t saying any words with meaning but babbles a lot, dadadada and that sort of thing. He understands if I say ‘where is the ball/bird/book’ and will look at the object or bring it to me. Sometimes he points with his whole hand but not one finger.

He isn’t walking unaided but cruises around the furniture and crawls.

His playing is usually putting small items in and out of his stacking cups, flipping pages in books, and bashing things together. He isn’t building towers of blocks or anything like the page suggests. He brings me toys and bits of rubbish (not literal rubbish but things like pieces of paper) to drop in my lap or give to me.

Does this all sound right for his age? He was born a few weeks early via induction.

Thank you.

They're all different!
My eldest crawled at 7 months, pulled herself up at 9 months and was an established walker by her birthday. She said a few words early but is now 3.5 with a mild speech delay.

My youngest rolled both ways at 3 months, crawled at 4 months, pulled himself up to stand at 7 months and started walking at 13 months. Conversely, he started to babble at about 10 months and he has over 30 words at 14 months, which is advanced.

They all get there 😊.

Your baby is doing perfectly well.

Normal age to walk unaided IIRC is 8-18 months. Boys are often a little later.

If he regresses (unless for an obvious reason like not being well), keep an eye on things and maybe contact the health visitor. If he's progressing, he's fine.

If you can't keep yourself away from lists of milestones, you could use them as ideas for play. So spend a few minutes a day building block towers with him. But know that you don't need to do this!

If you can spend any time with mothers of older children or lots of children, you might find the relaxed attitude catching. I'm one of life's worriers, and that strategy really helped me.

And spend lots of time outside with your baby if you can. There's so much evidence that this is good for children's health as well as adults.

It sounds like your baby is thriving.

Yeah would second they all get there. My first barely said a word until he was 2, preferred doing baby sign. He walked at 13 months and was on a scooter doing tricks at 16 months. Was quite the whirlwind. My second was spouting full sentences just after her 1st birthday, walked at 10 months and still won't scoot more than about 10 metres. He likes veg and fruit, she likes meat and carbs, he's early to bed early to rise, she's a night owl. There's no comparing two individuals. They're unique!

Sounds exactly like my DD at that age, please don't worry. She's now just turned 2 and the difference from 16mo to now is leaps and bounds! She's talking basically non-stop (you'll wish for the days he doesn't sometimes). My DD also didn't start walking independently until around 15mo but now you can't stop her. I think some children do things gradual and others do everything all at once. Please don't worry and let a tick system get you down you DS will do things when he's ready xx

My DD is 13 months and is in exactly the same position as yours. I'm not worried at all! She seems to be developing really quickly even if she's not saying words or walking independently yet, her understanding is great and she does makaton too which has been helpful.

My daughter first word was fssh (fish) which she thought meant pointing. Any sounds that are with purpose is about right for 11 months.
She was cruising furniture at 9 months but didn't walk until 14 months and ran the next day. She had 3 words at 10 months and still had 3 words at 20 months but different words. She started talking properly at 26 months and went straight in at 2 and 3 word sentences.

She is definitely in the group of kids that doesn't show you she can do something until she has fully mastered it!

@Superscientist agree completely with this! And then you're amazed by how quickly they seem to have picked stuff up but it probably because they've been keeping it in until they 100% know they can do it! X

My DD will sing a song (of course not all the words) but in a whisper and when she's got it it's then screamed out load 100x 🤣

@Gabby10 that's my daughter too she probably spoke and sang more than we realised it was just not at an audible volume!

I've just had a look at the 12 month Ages & Stages and it doesn't seem that walking unaided is a 12 month milestone? I thought it was a bit early

Have a look at the link because the communication section says that they should have 3 words at 12 months but it's not necessarily words we'd use, like "Mother, pass me the salt"

If you're worried about his speech at all you could always do [[https://progress-checker.speechandlanguage.org.uk/question/attention-and-listening/1 this simple SLT progress checker.

Sorry for the epic link fail. The progress checker is here.

Thanks the tracker thing says he is doing ok. He understands a lot - I think about 15 objects (various toys, his sister’s name, his dad’s name, animals) and can follow a couple of commands like ‘clap your hands’ and ‘come here’. He did say dada when his dad walked into the room earlier but it’s hard to know if it’s deliberate as dadadada is his most babbled phrase, he says it a lot even to himself.

To watch him he’s perfectly happy and engaged but I think I have a touch of milestone paranoia because I know how important it seems to tick the ‘proper pointing’ and ‘speech’ boxes. Fingers crossed they’ll come soon!

He sounds like he's doing very well.

Some babies point by 12 months, and I think most do between 12-15 months, but it's not considered late until 18 months – which is absolutely ages in baby development.

Similarly, when words (sounds-with-meaning at this age, including animal sounds) emerge is hugely variable, even more so than pointing. Quite a few do have a couple words at 12 months, but a great many do not – that's why 'three words' appears on the 12 month questionnaire, but it's perfectly possible to reach the 'development appears on track' score without three words or pointing.

Hi @GoodnightAdeline hows your little one come on now?