7mo - not babbling. Anything to worry about?

[QueenKong]

Hi. I posted this in 'behaviour/development' but thought I might get more of a response on here. Apologies if I come across as a panicky FTM, please do tell me to get a grip if appropriate!

My DS is 7mo. He doesn't babble yet. He is noisy - laughs, screeches, shrieks and makes generic vowel sounds. But no 'bababa' etc yet. He also rolled over from back to front very early at 13wo. He did it incessantly for a month or so and now just doesn't. I don't know if this is because he has forgotten or because he doesn't seem to like being on his tummy very much.

Apart from that, he is hitting his milestones - sitting up well, playing with toys, interacts with me and DH, eating well (BLW) etc. His sleeping still isn't great - he is a clingy BF co-sleeping baby, and has been since birth.

The rolling thing (is it regression?) and not babbling have got me worried though. My DH's sister has two children who are quite severe on the Autistic spectrum, which makes me worry in case it is something genetic. Sorry, I've no idea if that is the case with ASD, am just panicking really. He does try to communicate, just with shouting and 'aahing' though.

Does any of this sound like it's anything to worry about in your experiences? I look at him and think I must be going crazy because he looks and behaves like every other 7mo I know. And yet, I've read all this stuff online about speech delay and now I can't get it out of my head. Again, sorry if I sound mad.

My DD didn't babble until about 18mo or so, and she has no special needs of any type. From around 12mo she pointed and said "uh" at everything she was interested in.
Not sure if that helps at all.

I'm a childminder and several of my babies didn't bable much at 7mo, and I had no concerns. I'd hazard a guess that your son isn't rolling as he's decided he much prefers sitting up to play with his toys, especially as he doesn't like being on his tummy. My son (5, ASD) was slow to meet milestones and was markedly behind his peers, I had concerns about him from a young age. I'd keep encouraging him by talking to him, maybe doing baby singing or signing classes, something like that, and if you keep having a niggle of doubt mention it to your hv, nothing like a mother's instinct x

Only ds of my 2 dc babbled, and the other two were in full sentences by 18 months with a vocablary of hundreds of words. Ds otoh had glue ear and is still under SALT at age 4.

Dd1 spent all one evening rolling over when she was about 5 months. She then didn't do it again until she was crawling at 10 months and realised she needed to get to her tummy to crawl.

None of them are on the autism spectrum as far as I know.

First off - don't panic. I did a quick google for you and came up with 5-7 months (wikipedia) and 6-8 months (University of Pennsylvania linguistics 101 course www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Fall_2003/ling001/acquisition.html) as estimates of the average age of syllable babbling (bababa, mamama, dadada, rather than coos and gurgles). There will be a spread round these averages, and I would guess lying within the behaviour of 95% of the population (approx 2 standard deviations, if you're a sad geek like me) probably isn't a matter for concern. So I guess that give or take a couple of months is fine. (For what it's worth, my DS is on the 2nd centile for weight, always has been - not because there's anything wrong with him, it's just that genetically that's where he is. He also didn't sit till he was nearly 9 months, right at the very end of what's thought of as the appropriate developmental window - fortunately about a week before the check up with the HV, otherwise I guess we'd have been referred to check for developmental delays).

However, if he still isn't babbling by 12 months (see for instance
www.parentsconnect.com/parenting-your-kids/baby/development/language-development/infant_not_talking_concern.html) you probably do want to start pursuing this. The other thing probably worth thinking about right now is whether he responds ok to sounds? Does he turn his head if you clap your hands behind him? If you have any suspicions at all about his hearing, get them checked asap. Also, do not let people fob you off with "he's just a boy" comments - the differences in language aptitude between sexes are so small that behaviour a long way outside the average is worth checking regardless of sex. (Important disclaimer - I'm not a child psychologist, just an enthusiastic geek in another field who finds child language acquisition fascinating so has read a bit about it).

Thank you for your responses. They are reassuring!

Lurcio - I'm pretty sure his hearing is fine, he responds to his name (when he feels like it) and turns towards noises etc. he also wakes up when my DH sneezes in another room!

The article you linked to is very interesting and reassuring, he is only 7 months on weds so right slap bang in the middle of the right age for babbling, so I guess I've got another couple of months before I should worry. Over the last week or so, he has been making 'ffff' and 'pffff' shapes with his mouth and sort of pushing air through but with no sound iyswim. I wonder if he is building up to making a sound with this...

i personally wouldnt worry till 12months, i think 7-9 months is the norm for babbling X

Hiya,

I'm usually crazy for telling parents to get things checked out asap and suggesting that there are possible signs of things to consider but honestly, even I wouldn't be worrying at this stage.

You're sensible to keep an eye due to the ASD in your family though but with 1 in 60 now being on the spectrum, chances are there is someone in nearly everyone's family.

hth

Thank you. Am starting to calm down due to your reassuring responses. One last question, does the rolling thing look like a red flag to anyone? As mentioned, I guess it probably is because he's working on other stuff now and he hates tummy time but was worried in case it sounded like a regression of sorts. Also read that hating tummy time could be a red flag in itself. But surely this is common among babies?

10-12 is the later end of normal, and can be predictive of some degree of speech, language or communication impairment. After 12 months, it is worth pursuing as above. Don't worry.