No Babbling

My youngest didn't start saying da-da-da until about 8 months, so I think you're fine. All 4 of mine started "talking" at vastly different ages. My oldest didn't call me Mama until just before she turned 2. My second had a rather extensive vocabulary at 18 months. I think this fourth may only ever say da-da!

My 2 1/2 year old boy does not speak much. He was evaluated in December and found to be developmentally delayed in several areas because of it. I too noticed early on that he didn't talk much, but I thought he would develop at his own rate and he seemed really bright and intelligent in other ways. My advice is to listen to your pediatrician. Ours recommended that he be evaluated earlier, but I put it off because I didn't want to deal with it, and now I wish that I had. Maybe earlier intervention would have made a bigger difference???? Who can tell, but I do know he has made great progress already with his therapy. Try not to worry, and continue to observe and tell your pediatrician your concerns.

Hi J.,

I am no expert but my son and daughter couldn't be any more different.

My daughter met every milestone like "as I was reading the new milestone" hahaha
My son, it is all at his pace, he held his bottle at NINE months ;) my daughter did at 5!
Things like that... waving, eating...

I guess each child has their own personality AND pace ;)

If the peditrician hasn't been concerned, I would just give him a little longer.
Oh the worst one so far, he wasn't sitting up until he was past 8 months!! - They're supposed to at 6!
He was crawling and turning all over, but not sitting up....

I was worried and now he's sitting up at 9 months perfectly ;)

Amy

J.,

You still have a few months before you should worry. By 12 months, if your baby is not doing these things, have a developmental screen:
No big smiles or other warm, joyful expressions by six months or thereafter
No back-and-forth sharing of sounds, smiles, or other facial expressions by nine months or thereafter
No babbling by 12 months
No back-and-forth gestures, such as pointing, showing, reaching, or waving by 12 months
No words by 16 months
No two-word meaningful phrases (without imitating or repeating) by 24 months
Any loss of speech or babbling or social skills at any age

M.

I have heard from many mom that the second child is much slower in language development than the first. It could be that the younger sibling is getting what she wants without having to do a lot of talking. I don't think she is old enough to be overly concerned right now.

I wouldn't worry about it. My son is 14 months old and just learned "mama" last month. Other than that there are no words yet coming out of his mouth... When I asked the pediatrician about this at the 12 month check-up she said that every child develops at his/her own pace and he'll speak soon enough. :-)