He’ll be 17 months on the 14th and I’m a bit worried about my son’s speech development. Could he be a late bloomer and I’m over-reacting? He understands “No!”, “Can I have that?”, “Do you want some juice/milk?”, “Are you hungry?”, and “Come on, Adam.”, “Lay down, it’s time to go to sleep”. He says, “Ma-ma“, and “Bye-bye” but that’s it.
I talk to him like I’m talking to an adult; I mean, he is a little person. I don’t do the baby talk to him and I try to let family members know that they shouldn’t do it either. I read to him and sometimes if my confidence will allow, I sing to him.
Dis regard the foot.
He crawled late, walked late, but in other aspects he flourished. He gave up the binky on his own, he was drinking from straws at 7 months as well as drinking from cups (even the non-sippy ones). He wouldn’t use the walker his great-great-great Aunt got him at all – he’d just sit there and look around the room. He hated that thing. He catches on pretty quick and sometimes, all it takes is one time and he’ll get it, I’m just concerned that maybe he’s a bit delayed. It didn’t help that his doctor put in my head that “according to the milestones for a child his age, he shouldn’t be as delayed as he is”. I’m all about those milestones and when a child is supposed to reach them. I often forget that the child will reach those milestones on their own and begin to overreact; I’m really hoping this is one of those times.
Could my concern for his speech be unwarranted? Should I wait until after he’s 18 months to see if anything changes? I understand children talk at different rates but doing Google searches has put me on the edge and now I’m totally worried from all the stories I’ve been reading about mothers who had late talkers. I did read that bigger baby boys tend to develop a bit slower than children that’s not in the 93 percentile (like my son is); they tend to do a lot of things a bit slower than their counterparts. That almost put me at ease considering all the milestones he didn’t hit until he was way past the target but it’s not enough.
I should be happy, right? He’s not talking my ear off and asking a million questions – telling me “no!” every time he exhale, but I want him to at least say more than the two words he’s saying now. Maybe I should just sit and wait until after Christmas, and see if he decides to “use his words” (I tell him this every day – jokingly) then and maybe I’ll calm down and worry about more pressing matters, like potty-training.
I don’t think your son is too behind. Is he babbling and repeating syllables? If he is, and he understands pretty much everything you say and likes to give hugs/kisses/meet new people, he’s probably fine.
Not that I’m an expert or anything. But everyone’s big fear, autism, is more socially-related than anything else. My son is 20 months and every word he says, he uses for about two weeks and then he quits. Now, finally, there are a few exceptions. But he’s not talking, by any means. I spoke to my MIL, a former pediatrician, about it, and she said he’s not behind as long as he’s speaking babble language, and it’ll just come when it comes.
So….
Yea, he babbles a lot these days and he screams like he’s dying when he doesn’t get his way. It lasts for hours sometimes. By then, I simply give in what was making him upset just so the crying would stop. 1 is the new terrible 2.
Hm, sounds familiar. Our “terrible twos” started at 14 or 15 months. I made a policy not to give in unless there’s a good reason to (besides for not hearing the crying, which is also a good reason because it saves my sanity). So by now, unless he’s really overtired, he gets over it after a bit (up to half an hour). Do you speak a second language? We speak mostly English, but some Hebrew, and second languages slow down language development. Sigh. I think your son is okay, though. Also, in many cities there are centers that will give you a free assessment on whether your baby is on track. I can’t find the site – but they exist.