Starting to talk

[aidensxmomma]

When do infants/toddlers usually begin to talk?

DS2 is 14 months old (almost) and isn't really saying any words yet. He can repeat back to me if I ask him to say "mama," but doesn't really say it on his own. He also will occasionally say "dada," but he doesn't seem to necessarily connect either of these words with their meaning.

He does constantly babble and "talk" while he's playing or interacting with family members. He smiles at people all the time and loves being talked to. But he still doesn't really say any words.

DS understands some of what we say, though. Like, if I ask "do you want milkies?" he knows what that means and will come running over to nurse. He also understands what "no" means, "come here," and "time for a diaper change."

As an added note, DS has been on track for other milestones - he's been walking since right before he turned one.

I don't know if I'm just being overly worried or if this is something to keep an eye on. It doesn't help that DS's doctor already has me worried about there being issues (DS likes to bang his head) and at his last appointment he seemed even more concerned since DS isn't talking. Does anyone else have any experience/reassurances to share?

 

[nessaw]

Hi this sounds almost exactly like my dd at a similar age. She didn't use mum or dad to call us. She had a couple of words-moo being one of them. I was worried because her speech and language was flagged up at her 10 month check. At about 15/16 months she started to show real comprehension although still not saying much so that eased my mind a bit. However she is now 22 months. We have about 50 ish words and she has just started putting them in to 2 and 3 word phrases. I still feel she is a little behind but seems to be catching up quickly. At the time all of our friends with similar age babies were streets ahead with talking. It's so hard not to compare. I was pretty good at not worrying about her development in other areas but this one just got to me. Hope this helps.x

 

[Diannam]

Mine didn't say much at that age. I think he had ball and dada for words. Things picked up after 18 months. We are over 50 words at 23 months and he puts 2 words together. He is still considered behind, but I am not worried. I would give it time. I have met a fair amount of people who have kids who are behind in speech.

 

[Babybum35]

I agree with pp. My dd now almost 23 months was a bit behind at 14 months. I think she had maybe 10-15 words it was on the low end of normal though and I remember asking the doctor at her 18 month appointment (actual age 20 months) what to do as other kids I knew around her age were either speaking more or more clearly and I was told they don't worry about speach until 2 and then as long as they have 50 words they are ok. I would say she started her verbal splotion this last month or two and while it's still a guessing game she has 50+ words I can consistently make out with a few phrases and sentences. I have noticed kids tend to fall in one of a few categories some like my dd walk early like 11 months or earlier but don't start talking until 18 months or later and some talk early like 10 months but walk later like 18 months. Very few kids are either consistently ahead in both areas or hit all milestones in the right order. I noticed when I started reading more and taking her to story time she started doing a lot better

 

[MindUtopia]

That sounds fine and perfectly normal for that age. He'll probably just start talking one day. For mine, it was at 13 months. It just took finding something that interested her enough to talk about it. We went to visit family who had a cat and she was so enamoured with this cat and while we were there, she said, "cat!" unprompted and pointed to the cat. But there is huge variation and no reason to be concerned anytime soon. I think it's really only after 2 that HVs and GPs would want to know. My husband didn't say his first word until he was 2.5. He is mildly dyslexic, but he caught up quickly and was speaking in sentences shortly after that.

 

[Jesse7]

I have 2 kiddos, their development was totally different. My son only said his first word at 18 months, my daughter was saying 2 word sentences at 16 months. Every child is totally different and at 14 months he sounds like he is doing perfectly fine. When I took my son for his checkups and asked my pediatrician about his talking, she said that generally speaking the rule of thumb is for them to say a few words by the time they are 2 and that is considered totally normal. She also mentioned something called competition of skills, you can google it to get some more info on it but it basically means that when they are learning different skills for example walking then the skills compete with each other and the one will dominate, so often if they walk early then the talking will come a little later or if they talk early then then that may be the dominant skill and the walking will come a little later. But you have no reason to be concerned, your little one is just perfect!

 

[Koifish]

I have twins and they were considered behind in speech, and both hit speech milestones at different ages and one is still lagging to the other. They had mama and dads from a young age and understood things easily but didn’t really start using single words until the 20ish month range. I did end up having to do speech therapy as they kept failing all of their speech milestones. Once we started that their speech exploded around 22months and they picked up on two word phrases quickly by 24months and now at 27months the one can put a lot of words together like “I caught a fish mommy” (the other still isn’t there yet). It was like they went from not talking to an explosion in a short span, I did notice a huge difference once they started speech therapy. I probably wouldn’t worry to much until after 2years and if you don’t get some words by then it may not be a bad idea to look into some options to help your Little one. It may just click suddenly. I feel like mine woke up one morning and started saying words. Not sure where you are but we have a program here by the county that’s not income based and covers whatever the insurance won’t. Honestly I wouldn’t worry just yet.

 

[SarahBear]

Leo was on the slower side to talk and now I think he's probably ahead. I don't remember if he was saying anything at 14 months, but if he was, it was "this." He said it all the time for a long time. At some point he added another word, but I don't remember what it was. I know that at 17 months he had only two words. Before 2, he was very slow to add words. He'd also add a word, and then we wouldn't hear it again for a long time. At just before 2, we referred him to speech because he wasn't at the 50 word minimum they like to see at that age. they wanted to wait until he was 2 to assess. This was a good move because at right about 2, his vocabulary expanded and he was saying at least 50 words. He wasn't putting them together yet, so we kept an eye on that. At some point over the summer, he started doing that. Now at 2 and a half, he has an extensive vocabulary and can speak in multiple sentences at a time. His grammar is still funny, but hey, the kid hasn't been speaking in sentences for all that long.

Your kid has a lot of good communication skills if he is understanding and practicing saying sounds. This means he has a good chance of not having any problems learning to talk. Don't worry about vocabulary until a little after 2 and don't worry about putting words together until a bit after 2 and a half, and don't worry about articulation until nearly 3. It all comes together for the majority of kids. 14 months is too early to worry about these aspects of language. Your kid is on track given the other things you said about him.

 

[minties]

None of mine have had words at this age. Emma's just had her 15 month check and they weren't at all worried, neither am I. She understands a lot, follows instructions, uses different sounds for different things etc. She has a lot of different babbling sounds, can meow, says nana for banana, copies when I make sounds etc.

Sophie's first purposeful word was at 16 months and she was having conversations with people no problem by 22 months.

Thomas had delayed speech but once he got going he was fine. He's very articulate now.