Are children esp boys more likely to talk later if they have a very chatty older sibling?

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We know a few people with with a dd first child followed by a ds where the ds is slower with verbal development than their sisters but also with first born sons of same age. Lots are not talking at all at two. I know this is within developmental norms but interested/curious to know if it's a trend i.e. Is there any relationship between having an older (female?) very verbal sibling and later development in speech for little brothers?

Ds2 was slower than ds1, ds3 is slower than ds2 ... will be interesting to see how the new baby will fare when she makes an appearance . Ds3 communicates more than effectively, just not with words.

I've heard lots of people who this has been the case for as people have often been suprised at my situation which is the other way round.

I have two ds, one is 3.8 and the other 1.11. The older one only had about 20 words at 2, was still pretty difficult to understand at 2.5 and didn't speak in sentences until 3 by which time his little brother was beginning to utter his first words himself and now at almost two is putting lots of 2 word phrases together and can name all the children in his nursery group which ds1 couldn't do till about 3. So I wonder if in our case the slowness of a first sibling mean't the second one was speedier. I also was a lot more aware of the second one learning to speak so I made a lot more effort to point things out and repeat back two word phrases so I don't know if that made any difference either.

That's really interesting. Anyone else?

This is interesting, I have 2 ds's one is 2.4 and one is 8 months, ds1 has always been very chatty and can have a full blown conversation now - although sometimes complete nonsense! Can sing nursery rhymes etc and is I think quite advanced especiall for a boy, however ds2 only manages ma, ma, ma, or aahh, and is mostly quiet, I often wonder if this is because ds1 is so chatty and noisy, or maybe it's because I talk more to my ds1 because he demands it! Not sure how they will turn out, but I have my suspicions that ds2 will be a late talker.

DD started talking at 10mo and hasn't stopped since! She's now 3.1 and has been pretty fluent for ages.

DS is 18mo and has a few words but not many - and those he has aren't recognisable to anyone but his proud parents.

So that's how it's been for us - backs your theory up nicely

Dd2 has only recently started talking at 2.5 and when dd1 is home rarely talks at all.

Dd1 otoh was born talking and hasn't stopped for breath since.

When dd1 is around, dd2 has no need to speak as dd1 does it for her.

DD(8), DS1(6) and DS2(2.6) all spoke early but DS2 also has fantastic grammar for his age as a result of having 2 older chatty siblings who keep him right .

DS1 has great language and could speak 10 word sentences by the time he was about 2.2 (when his brother was born). DS2 is now almost 21 months and has great comprehension, but not very many spoken words although he can sign and certainly lets us know what he wants! The words are now coming though for instance he generally reminds me that I need my walking stick (I don't walk very well) when we get out of the car, by pointing at where it lives and saying an approximation of 'stick'.

Although how he'll get a word in edgewise with his brother I have no idea!

So, in answer to your question - I don't know! I don't know whether DS1 was more forward or DS2 is slightly slower!

DD is very chatty (but didn't really get going until around 13m) and 17m older than DS. DS is an eloquent, precocious 2 year old little chatterbox who started telling us things in whole sentences (often in the middle of a lot of babbling) from about 11m.

So he is an exception (I think in his case he speaks well because there's always someone chatting on his level (DD).) FWIW I talked after my younger sister (same age gap).