[Amy2010]

Hi,

My (nearly) 11 month old DD is not babbling or making any real noise....she obviously cries and she does this squeal noise although she isn't babbling or making any of the dada baba or mama noises that bubs her age make.

We have had a hearing test a fortnight ago which she passed. Is there any other bubs out there who seem to be delayed?

If you have had kids in the past when did they start to babble?

I just don't know what else I could do to help her along the way?!

TIA

[deejie]

At 11months and having passed a hearing test, I wouldn't be worried.

DS1 was a very quiet, non babbling baby. At 2 years, he had progressed to only 6 words (and two of those were partials!) He had a speech explosion not long after and was talking in full sentences within weeks. At 11 months though, I was lucky to get anything out of him other than a screech, a cry, a yell, a wail... you get the picture.

Even at age 3 now, he is a "quiet" child. He is chatty with people he knows, but has a very reserved and quiet nature.

All babies are different and as I said, at 11 months and passing a hearing test, I wouldn't worry. Just keep doing all the right things, talk and sing to your baby. Read to your baby. She will start when she is ready.

[rbat]

Does she have good eye contact? Does she seem to understand what you say? Wave bye? Point? If so, I think she might just take some extra time. Keep in contact with your GP.

[faithy]

Hi,

My (nearly) 11 month old DD is not babbling or making any real noise....she obviously cries and she does this squeal noise although she isn't babbling or making any of the dada baba or mama noises that bubs her age make.

We have had a hearing test a fortnight ago which she passed. Is there any other bubs out there who seem to be delayed?

If you have had kids in the past when did they start to babble?

I just don't know what else I could do to help her along the way?!

TIA

Does she use gesture? Does she understand simple statements like "all gone" ?

Re. hearing, it's great that she passed but some children may have fluctuating conductive hearing loss due to fluid in the ear (it goes up and down so sometimes kiddies can pass tests when at another time they may 'fail' it). Not saying this is the case with your LO but something to consider, especially if she has frequent colds.

Re what you can do..

- make sounds/babble back at her. If she makes a sound, copy the same one or add something to it eg LO: "eee" Mum: "eee.. mama!"

- pause when something is "exciting" eg. when on the swing and pushing LO.. 'hold' the swing and 'wait' to see what she does. If she doesnt vocalise, introduce "ready... set.... (wait)....... GO!" Do this a few times and watch for any vocalisations/attempts. Reward all attempts at her vocalisations - no matter how unclear/different to what the word is eg she'll probably grunt or say "eh" for "GO". That's fine - get excited / praise .. In this situation getting more on the swing is the reward.

- Give single words rather than phrases/sentences when talking to her eg "juice?" versus "do you want juice?". Kids try to imitate what we're saying .. the longer the word/phrase/sentence, the harder it will be for them to copy. That's not to say that you talk in single words around her ALL the time lol, but on occasions when you're wanting to focus on a particular word/ 1:1.

- Sing lots of songs as she becomes familiar with them, "pause" at certain points eg "twinkle twinkle little......" and see if she fills it in. If she doesnt that's fine, continue with the song.

- Try not to say to LO "say..." .. "say...". They will avoid doing what they find hard! This will become frustrating for both you and little one! Give her the word and repeat it a couple of times.. and again 'wait'.

Hope the above helps.

In any case, keep an eye on it and if concerned contact your local community health centre Speech Pathologist. You could probably talk on the phone and explain your concerns and they can determine whether or not she needs to be on the waiting list.

This post has been edited by faithy: 25/11/2012, 07:30 PM

[orangepeanut]

All good suggestions above. One thing to add though. My DS didn't really babble until around that age. It all started once he started eating more lumpy food, something to do with their jaw muscles according to the MCHN?
Could be coincidence though

[Amy2010]

Thank you so so much with the suggestions. My DD doesn't eat solids...we have tried since 4 months and it's an ongoing issue so I have to wonder if it's related? We have actually been to see a speech pathologist/OT re her eating and we are going back to another one (as I didn't find the other one good) so will def mention the lack of babbling.

Yeah she definitely is engaging, has eye contact and understand commands etc....she has just learnt to wave so understand basic commands. I guess I am comparing her (naughty I know!) to my son at the same age and friends bubs who are around the same age or younger. Maybe she will just be the quiet one like a PP mentioned.

[meggs1]

A friends bub had the same combination of no babbling and difficulty eating/swallowing lumps, so maybe there is a connection. In his case both issues resolved themselves around 12 mo.