DS 8 months not babbling?

[Pinkstuffs]

Looking for experiences on the above.

DS 8. 1/2 months doesn’t babble at all, he coos and shrieks but doesn’t make any consonant sounds. He started blowing raspberries at 5 months and would copy me if I did it but stopped doing that a while ago.

Physically he’s ahead; he crawled a day after he turned 6 months and has been pulling up and cruising since 7 months.

Should I mention to the health visitor or give him more time?

i would mention but not be concerned all children are different.I would however talk to them about everything i would telling them about my day i would act like i am having a conversation with them and i will be telling them everything that comes into my head.I would not shut up until they talk back

It’s swings and roundabouts I think. My daughter is 7months. She babbles all the time but not crawling and certainly not pulling herself up.

Sounds like my daughter. People always mentioned how she seemed ahead for physical stuff.

she never really babbled or copied either. She did say mama at about 9 months I think. By 1 she said about 5 words and could sign some as well.

I was worried when she got to 18 months and wasn’t say any more words. But then all of a sudden she just picked stuff up. She is now 2 years and 3 months and is say small sentences and singing and talking.

It is hard to not worry but I’d try not to. I would mention it in the 1 year check up if you are still worried.

My health visitor said she was probably too busy learning the other stuff to concentrate of talking. She had understanding so wasn’t worried about it.

I think there’s a section in the red book re speech/language and communication development, maybe check against that and mention to the health visitor if outside of range. Has he had ear infections/glue ear that you know of? Tugging on ears etc?

@2025ishere yes he does pull on his ear a lot and they often have yellow gunk in them. He doesn’t seem to be in pain though. Doctors have looked in them a few times fairly recently as he’s had a couple of other problems (tonsillitis and chicken pox) and they haven’t commented. I thought the ear pulling might be teething.

That’s good they have been checked, but maybe discuss with health visitor or GP together with concerns re language development. Might be nothing and ear infections glue ear are really common and come and go but can affect language learning at a key stage. Maybe do lots of talking face to face in case his hearing is a bit down sometimes.

How does he score on the 8 month Ages & Stages?

@Pinkstuffs - hey OP, did your LO end up babbling ? And if so, when pls? X

Don't worry at all. Babbling is both hard to identify and can sound very different in different babies, and not something it is worrying for an 8 month old not to do. My eldest rarely babbled but at 2.5 years has the talking age of a 4 year old.

Don’t worry, my DD didn’t babble, from around 1 she started to say more words and now at 20 months can say most words

Check his hearing.
Does he turn to you banging something behind him?

thank you all - @RestartingForNY @andanotherproblem @cestlavielife appreciate your responses.. just so worried because I keep seeing “my 6m old is saying dadadaadada” etc and I’m just here with my 9m old who only growls and grunts :(

hearing is fine (also turns to loud noises etc)

Babbling - syllables - just turned on one evening for my baby around 7.5-8 months, after a day of Rhyme Time and hearing the neighbour's three year old talking. Baby was legit obsessed with that toddler. Then we had the first word around a year, scored grey on the 12 month ASQ for communication; and now at 20 months, my toddler is either average for words or slightly ahead. The 18 month language explosion is in full flow right now. Recent gems "Daddy do a wee wee" (said very loudly to visitors...).

While it's good to be proactive in keeping an eye on the language development, right now you are well within normal range. No words or babbling at 12 months would be fine even - although your health visitor might start checking in on progress (if you wanted them too) more often then.

Basically babbling can literally start overnight. I thought it would be gradual but actually my baby just cracked something and by tea time started to make noises they couldn't make at breakfast!

Similar experience here @OtterMummy2024 - DS wasn't really babbling at all. Then overnight the bababa, googoo sounds started and he was babbling all the time. I think it was about 8.5 months. He's been very good with language since.