Babbling less is this normal ? Anxious!!

[Alice4417]

My boy is 10.5 months old. 3.5 weeks early if that makes a difference. He used to babble a lot..dada, baba, yaya,vava etc. He would also mimic you if you said baba/dada (not all the time but sometimes) in the last 2/3 weeks the copying has stopped and we are only getting the dada now but mostly dddd and ahhhh and a lot of screeching ! I'm worried that he's not progressing with his babbling and actually it's got worse and not mimicking like he used to.

He understands certain things such as 'where is the dog' 'where is mummy' 'where is the cat' 'where is Daddy' (he will look towards these things) he's trying to start to point although with a closed fist and it's not regular. He responds to his name 95 percent of the time. Has great eye contact. Knows when people leave to wave goodbye without even seeing people wave first, just if you say wave bye bye he waves.
He's been crawling since 8 months and very confidently pulling himself up on furniture and cruising. Can now also stand on his own without holding onto furniture for a few seconds.

Does this all sound concerning or am I being an over worrying first time mum ?

It doesn't sound concerning in the least. DS1 went through a horrific stage of screeching once he learned how to do it (we called it being a dinosaur, and obviously he discovered this fantastic skill at a very quiet coffee shop). DS2 thankfully didn't go through the same stage with as much enthusiasm.

Have you had the 9-12 month development check? Maybe speaking to the health visitor will make you feel better?

Oh gosh the screeching phase 😩 once my DD discovered the racket she could make screeching she stopped making pretty much any other noise for awhile. In time, it passed, and she was an early talker, so I wouldn't worry.

If he's doing all that cruising already he's probably just more focused on getting around. They don't really have the brain span to learn walking and talking at the same time. Once he's mastered his walking you'll probably see him start to try talking more😊

The screeching stage is also combined with a lot of ahhh ahhh ahhh at everything. I think I'm more worried he isn't copying sounds yet. Yes had his review. She didn't actually ask about his speech. I mentioned he didn't really copy us (sounds )and her response was he's only 10 months ... X

DS1 was an early talker, but his language exploded at 15 months and he was quickly onto sentences - at 10 months he wasn't copying noises. I think development is very rarely as linear as would be comforting!

They tend to focus on other walking or talking and it sounds like he's focussing on walking right now. Both my kids were the same - making lots of speech sounds and then seemingly regressing. DS(6) didn't start talking properly until he was 2.4 and DD is 17 months and is only just starting to pick up one syllable words but runs around like a loon and is well into climbing absolutely anything

Fingers crossed ! He's also decided he doesn't want to be walked around by our hands and wants to do it independently with his walker !

When you say seemingly regressing do you mean babbling and then when they were learning to do something else stopping for a while? Thanks for replying to my thread :)

When do you think they started copying noises and sounds ? X

Honestly he didn't really seem to. One day he just pointed at a horse and went "neigh" and I said "horse" and he said "horse" and then pretty much he was off. Physically he was behind, so it felt like language was his main focus. DS2 is 17 months now and I wouldn't say he was copying. Babbles like crazy, and has some words, but if I said something to him I'd have no expectation of him saying it back. He's a lot more physically capable than DS1 was at the same age though.