14 months and talking (or lack thereof)

[RainbowDrop_x]

I'm just wondering at what age should you start to worry with regards to talking. My DD2 doesn't have much of a vocabulary. She can say dad/dada and baba but not in any type of context. She does make sounds, I wouldn't necessarily call it babbling, and she does make sounds in a conversational manor, so for example she'll "talk" and then wait for a response and if you talk to her and pause she'll "respond". She shouts, a lot. Not screams that represent a tantrum (although we do have that) but if she wants something she doesn't point, she just shouts.

Do I need to be concerned or am I prematurely anxious?

 

[CeriB]

I wouldn't be overly concerned until closer to 2yo. How is her general understanding? Does she respond to familiar words?

 

[RainbowDrop_x]

Her general understanding is quite good. If you say come on/come here she comes to you, if you say no she stops what she's doing/has a tantrum, if you say hand she reaches for a hand to hold, if you tell her aww love she'll give cuddles.

 

[CeriB]

That's pretty good then! I would not be too worried just yet then - maybe focus on extending her understanding and the words should follow. Use pictures books to start identifying animals and use their sounds and noises to encourage her to imitate you. Tantrums are pretty normal at her age too and are massively related to developing communication. She knows what she wants but doesn't quite know how to tell you yet.

 

[happynewmom1]

I wouldn't worry yet honestly. She's still so young. I agree with the ideas the above poster gave our lo is close to 15 months now and says a lot of baba too as well as Dada, mama, that, up and hi. But nothing more yet and that's not much more than your lo. Ours also has a lot of tantrums.. It's really that they want to communicate but can't yet.

It sounds like she is doing well learning to understand and follow directions so I think she's doing great

 

[nessaw]

Our daughter has just turned 16 months and is quite similar to yours. This last month she has started to say moo and quack when seeing animals in her books or repeating. She says dada and mama but not quite in context. Tho if you say where is mama she will look in the right direction which is a recent thing. She also does the shouting when she wants something-frustration I think? They said she was behind at her 10 month check with sp and language but weren't concerned because she was communicating well with eye contact etc. But it's played on my mind since then. She's conquered walking the last 2 months so I figure she's now moved on to the talking as I can see a lot of little changes in it.

 

[loeylo]

My wee one was similar at that age, she's 18 months now and she is actually quite advanced now. I was worried as others seemed to do more, but she can use simple sentences now like "oh, what's that?" And "juice all done" as well as saying many words (probably at least 50 but haven't counted for a while) - she also has an amazing understanding of what we are saying. She seems to develop an understanding of a word before trying to say it. She's naturally very inquisitive and a problem solver so I think she just masters things silently then shocks us with her ability. It makes it look like she is behind, she is always towards the later end of normal when she achieves a skill, but then she "gets" it properly very quickly. For example, she didn't walk until 14.5 months, but she could run pretty much straight away and now is really steady and can walk long distances. She didn't speak til fairly late but she just seemed to develop loads of speech straight away. She also didn't really babble much.

 

[Berri]

My oldest had over 150 words
at 1 and was speaking sentences at 14mths. My youngest was a collection of noises until about 18mths and slowly progressed from there. We did nothing different, they're just different kids. No need to worry.

 

[xdxxtx]

Younger siblings tend to have worse speech and smaller vocabularies at first... Of course there are plenty of exceptions to this rule, but it is normal nevertheless. My second-born didn't say much of anything until he was 2! He said DADA a few times as a 1-year-old, and that was it. Shortly after he turned 2, he told me, "I love you!" That was the first time he'd said anything in months. That same week, he was naming everything around him, asking complex questions, and I was just in such shock that he went from saying NOTHING to having full conversations. Now, he's almost 4 and won't shut up.

I took him to the doctor over his lack of speech when he was 18 months old and was told not to worry about him yet. The doctor who saw us had a similar story to mine, regarding her third-born. Apparently, her older two children talked enough for the three of them, and her third toddler didn't feel the need to talk until the older two went to school (so she was around 2).

 

[jjyrt]

According to my mom, I didn't say much of anything until I was three and then started speaking in full sentences. I'd just learned to communicate without it. My baby is still young (5 mo) so I haven't had experience in seeing him learn to speak.

 

[minties]

My first just babbled till he was 23 months old, he's now 6.5 years old and is a fabulous, normal talker.

Sophie said her first word at 16 months and seemed to add a new word every few days, she had long sentences and conversations with us before turning two.

 

[george83]

My ds2 only had 3 words until just before his third birthday, he literally said yes, no and mum. He wasn't entitled to any support because his comprehension was good so I wouldnt worry too much at that age, it's so hard not to panic though