6.5 Month Old Does Not Babble

My first bit of advice to you would be not to believe everything you hear or read........my first born didn't walk until she was almost 15 months old. People around me had children walking from 8 months, did it bother me...YES but then when she started walking I realized how life was w/out a little one into everything & realized I should've enjoyed her, walking or not. It's hard when there are all of these proud mom's/dad's, etc. bragging about what their child can do, but just give it time. When you spend too much time worrying about it, you are taking away from the simple things in her life that you should focus on more. My youngest daughter walked the day after her 1st b-day - it all varies so try not to get upset over it. Good luck!

My daughter didn't start babbling till she was 9-10 months old. Now is almost 2 and says 3-4 word sentences and never stops talking!! Don't worry about it, every kids develops at a different pace. She is probably busy learning something else, like crawling or pulling up. She will babble in her own time!!!

yes, get in touch with the state immediately. they have programs and can test the baby. even if the baby starts to babble and achieve all the milestones b4 your appt. keep the appt, you never know. i can't remember the name of the program. montclair state univ. participates in it. you could call them. or better yet, call your school system, the superintendents office. they may be able to tell you the name of the program. we went through this with our younger child who is now 10yrs. good luck

One of the neices I have been raising since birth was very slow to speak. We have many children and of the first 4 she was the last born. The others all talked very early 3 months was the earliest. She didn't babble but effectively communicated what she wanted in other ways. We took her to the doctors at around 18 months because she still hadn't said a word. No "mama" or "dada". Nothing. We were very concerned. The doctor checked her out and found nothing out of the ordinary. Yet she still said nothing. Then out of the clear blue sky, we ask her a question not really expecting to hear an answer but got a full sentence out of her. We repeated the question and she answered again. So her first words were, "I'm getting off". Out of all the 11 children she is by far the smartest and a deep thinker. She is now 16 and a junior in highschool. I high hopes for that little one.

Get your child checked out to rule out anything out of the ordinary then just wait. Perhaps you too have a genious on your hands.

Neither of my kids babbled really. They never made those babababababa sounds (or any other repeatative sounds) that went on forever. They just spoke words. My son spoke younger then daughter did. He was between 7 and 8 mons. By 1 he had an unusually large vocab for his age. More then 50 words easily. By 3 he spoke like an adult. Even preschool teachers were impressed with his speach. And he always spoke very clearly. There have been very few words that I could not understand, ever. My daughter (younger of my 2) was a little over 9 mons when she spoke. She did babble more then my son, but not for any real lenght of time. She spoke words very quickly just like my son. Now at 3 she speaks mostly complete sentences, not like the typical 3 yr old. I wouldn't worry, she will speak and walk and everything else all in good time. I tell this to all new parents... "We can't wait for our kids to walk and talk. Then we can't wait for them to sit down and shut up." My son started speaking at 7 mos, I'm still waiting for him to stop.

Some kids are just "observers" at first. Even though my son didn't babble much -or even smile much- at 6 months, he was always making happy sounds and blowing strawberries. And then out of the blue, at 8 months, he started vocalizing and by 18 months had a huge vocabulary. He's now 5 and talks non-stop in 2 languages! You'll read in some places that raising kids in a bilingual home "can" delay their speech. Studies show now that it all depends in the kid's personality. Siblings, (monolingual or bilingual) progress at different speed. If your girl is an "observer" or timid, she might take longer to dare to sort out the 2 languages, but will easily catch up with others, just a few months behind schedule. No big deal.
Keep using both languages at home and establish your relationship that way. You'll be happy that you don't have to TEACH her that second language later on!(most kids tend to resist it and it's h*** o* the parents and the kids).

I don't have specific experience with this, since my baby is monolingual, but I manage a program that teaches parenting skills to first time mothers. We work with many bilingual families, and we to our moms that explain that language acquisition is different for babies who are being raised in truly bilingual homes. Most babies are late to develop language skills until about 2 (or later) and then they catch up all of a sudden, and are able to use both languages fluently. Hope this helps!

G., if you are really concerned, you can have her checked. From my experience, notne of my boys babbled at that age either and in fact, they wouldn't say or imitate my words when I talked to them. It was like they were patient to listen to wahtever I was saying to them and have them look at me when I smile and talk to them. I would make certain sounds and they didn't mitate but I didn't worry and glad I didn't because all of the worries with my first seemed to have been waste of time but that is normal with first time mothers. I would wait and as long as she is using her voice and making sounds that is fine and you continue talking to here when you look at her and they love that when mothers look at them when talking to them. Honestly, I wouldn't worry, but again first time mothers do and if you want to have her tested, go ahead. I would just wait for another few more months. Let us know what you have decided and what happened.

G.,

2 languages! Awesome! Do you stick to one parent per language?

I wouldn't be surprised if she waits another month or two. Can't give you anything scientific, just gut feeling and remembering bits and pieces of pre-baby lectures about 2 language households. Wish I could have gotten DH on board with that, you are giving her so much!

you know, you can also find a radio station with Chinese or Japanese, and further expand her receptivity to languages. It will not hurt, and will only help her in years down the road. Spanish stations, any station with another language other than your 2 languages.

Good luck!
M.

I can't remember when my daughter started to talk, but I do remember having the same worry as yours because it seemed like she was old enough that she SHOULD have been doing it. But then all of a sudden she was actually talking, much earlier and using much longer words and sentences than the other kids her age. So she may be saving it up to just do it all at once like mine did.