This is the first time I've asked a question - which goes to show that I'm pretty concerned. I need your experiences, mommas!
My 15 month old daughter babbles - but not varied. She doesn't use "g" "b" "t" or other "hard" consonants like "k". She mainly babbles "na" "ma" and "da." Sometimes it's "ne" (not "knee" but more like "neh"). She doesn't use say "ooo" or "oh" but she does say "hi". She'll say "eye" when we point to our eyes, but that's a sound she's been making a long time.
I'm just really concerned that her babbling isn't varied enough. The pediatrician doesn't seem overly concerned, but says that I know my daughter best and to call before her 18-mo checkup if I don't feel like her language is improving. My husband tells me to give it time.
So, to sum up, my question really is: what are normal babbling sounds? What consonant and vowel combinations did your children use at 12-15 months?
Edit: she doesn't make any animal noises or try to say anything like cow or cat or even dog or puppy (and she's grown up with wo dogs). No "la" or "ba" or "moo."
She's definitely getting more varied lately. Don't know if it was just time, or if I/we starting being more careful about how we spoke to her (enunciating, using simple words, repeating, etc.). Her preschool might also have something to do with it. She's now having conversations with me, not that I can understand a word (which is SO cute), naming objects in her own language, and definitely including additional consonants.
She's even obviously attempting to say cookie and outside, Izzy (one of our dogs), doggie (dah-kah) and a few other things. Thanks for the reassurance, everyone!
My son didn't say his first word until 15mos (ball). Up until then, and for a long time after, it was just babble. He didn't have Ps or K's...ever. He used real words eventually and just never babbled with those.
He was mostly Gs, Ds, Bs and Ts. No matter how I tried, I never got Ms or Ns from him.
Give it some time. By the time she's 2 you'll be begging her to SHUT UP! :)
Once they start really talking, it ramps up really fast.
I think you're worrying too much. If your pediatrician isn't concerned, then you shouldn't be either. All kids are different and progress at different rates but it sounds like your daughter is just fine.
my daughter is 19 months and says few things. "da da" shoe (sshhwwoo) trash (which sounds like josh) not so much mama or her brothers name. she now says dog (sounds like dah). Just when I start to worry she comes up to me and says "out...side" clear as day! My husband and her brother were outside and i asked if she wanted to go outside ? she nodded her head quickly and surly. our son was older than two ...perhaps two and a half and starting speaking out of the blue. our neighbors grand son is a couple weeks younger and he started speaking clearly suddenly about three months after my son did. there grandson started walking months before my son did. most of the time either were not understanding what they are saying or they are quiet/shy or they just arent there yet. i am with your doc give it much more time. some kids are quicker others really take there time and think about it.
It sounds like to me she is using good "babble" skills. The most important thing to note is if her babbles are starting to have a purpose. So the fact that she can say "eye" is a good sign. Does she say "da" when dad walks in the room or the same for "ma"? Can you get her to mimic any other simple words such as "cat" or "car" when you hold up either item? Babbles begin to have purpose definitely by this age so I hope I've made sense:)
She honestly sounds just fine to me! My friends son knew all of his animal sounds at 15 months and my son didn't have that figured out until he was 2. I remember thinking he was way behind. However, now that I'm a mom of older kids, we know that her son was advanced with his speech but not with his body/movement. My son was the opposite from him. Both boys are very, very intelligent elementary school kids. The good news is that she is babbling. If she isn't saying, or attempting to say, "ma-ma," maybe have her checked out by ECI (early childhood intervention). Nothing you say here, however, sounds abnormal to me. Especially if she was a relatively earlier walker or crawler.
I think your being over anxious. give her time and relax. She is probably feeling your stress it is way to early to worry.
As everyone has said, all children progress differently and all are considered normal. Language is a tricky thing to be sure. Babies/toddlers will experiment with sound and often stick, for a while, with what is easier. That's why letters like L and R and blends BL, BR, ST, etc. are the last to develop. They are harder for the mouth to form. To say "hi" is pretty simple. Open your mouth and there you go. "ooo" and "oh" require you to move your mouth more so she may be avoiding that one for a while. That's also why a lot of kids say things like "tat" and "tank" for bat and thank- there's a lot of tongue and mouth movement on those. With r's and l's blends you have to do mouth gymnastics for goodness sake! I would not, at 18 months worry about it, but I would as eveyone has suggested, keep talking to her and working with her. If you see improvement, even small ones she is good to go. By 22 months, if you are still concerned, I would have her tested- even if your pediatrician says otherwise. My pediatrician thought my then 22 month old daughter was fine, but that still small voice of mine said otherwise. He even called to tell me again when we had her evaluated. The words she did say weren't getting better nor were ANY new pronunciations so I called Easter Seales. We live in San Antonio and at that time, 8 years ago, Easter Seales would come to your house for free and do a complete evaluation. In 15 minutes they said she "qualified" and the following week we started speech therapy. It was the best thing we did. All of her other "abilities" were fine, she was just speech delayed. This past Spring she won first place in a speech tournament with 4-H AND the sweepstakes award. (for the second year in a row no less!!) So yeah I'm a firm believer in speech therapy. But I do agree with one other post- there are days I just want her to be QUIET but those days are looooooong gone!
15 months is pretty young to be saying much. She IS making the effort to speak, so I would encourage her in her efforts. I remembered being concerned that our first child would call her nanny (whose name was Rosa), "Asa" up until she was about 18 months old. And she was a fairly articulate child at a young age - so that just goes to show you that even kids who have an easy time with speaking can still have challenges with making certain sounds. (Heck, up until she was 3, she would say "f" instead of "sp" - like fider, faghetti...)
The best thing to do is to speak to your child often. Use normal adult words. She may not speak back to you yet, but she is listening and processing all those sounds. You can also try sitting with her in front of a mirror and show her how your mouth forms words. You can say "buh-buh-BALL" or "tuh-tuh-TOES." She will want to repeat after you, and encourage her efforts there. One day soon she'll start talking in words and paragraphs, and in a few years you will post, "How can I get my 4 year old to stop talking?" LOL
Still too early. I am babysitting my 19 month old grandbaby right now and she is not saying any more than you describe.
I think she is fine. Just make sure she can hear. If you are behind her and say something does she respond and turn to look at you etc.
Hi,
As a pediatric OT who worked for Easter Seals for a number of years, I would say follow your instincts. If you decide to, it will not hurt a thing to have her tested by a speech therapist and maybe an audiologist. If she needs services, the earlier the intervention the better in my experience. And, if she checks out ok, you will be relieved.
Blessings to you and your family,
K.
as long as she knows meaning to the words you are using, like she knows you as mama and papa and eye. Then her skills are fine. Not every baby can get there hard sounds in there. Babble is experimental talking. Some kids tend to use easy sounds. My 2 daughters never even started babbling till 12 months and they did exactly what your child did, then when the words came they havent stopped talking. They hit all the milestones correctly and sometimes early in the language department. My son however started at 8 months and can say 5 words already, and he did all the hard sounds first. He walked at 9 months and can name most of his body parts. He is 11 months now. He was so different from my girls. So every baby is a bit different. I am with your husband just sit back and work on it everyday and you will notice she will get it very quickly.
There is a HUGE range of normal. You asked, so I'm going to answer, but I don't think comparison is the right way to go on this. At 12 to 15 months my son had about 35 words and used a few phrases (stop it, more please) but THAT's not normal either! I think his 15 month appointment, they were looking for 3-5 words beyond mama and dada.
Remember that any list of TYPICAL development is about finding a middle point between our children.
If you haven't considered signing with her, now might be a good time to start... one of the reasons we understood my son's speech early on was because he was making the sign WHILE he said the words... I might have thought "Momomomo" was just babble as an infant if he hadn't been signing more more more more while he said it.
A lot of what I'd be watching for as mom is to see if she is making NEW sounds... if she is IMPROVING. If the pediatrician isn't worried, I wouldn't be either. Keep talking to her. If you are concerned go back to the pediatrician.
HTH
T.
Yup all babies are different, to me it sounds like she is babbling normally. Also you still have plenty of time for her to figure it out or for a speech therapist to assist you. I know lots of kids that needed speech therapy at age 3 or 4 and all did well and had no problems in kindergarten.
One thing that may help is if you read to her often. I know it's hard because sometimes they want to crumple up the pages or eat the book, but it does help!
