[erindiv]

Possibly more of a vent than anything as obviously there isn't much I can do about this, but just wanted to know if this is common, I can't remember if DD did it.

DS hums. All the time. He gets a constant rhythm going: "Mmm. Mmm. Mmm." It's cute to anyone who isn't around him 24/7 but jeez, it drives me crazy! Especially when I'm driving. There are times when he will do it non-stop for over an hour while I drive and it is so distracting. At home he does it all the time while he crawls around. He babbles too (limited to ba-ba-ba and mum-mum for now) but most of the time it is just this endless humming!

He has done it for a long time, I honestly can't remember when it started, but I think he was only a few months old. After a while it really starts to grate on my nerves and I end up doing the silliest thing ever - trying to tell him to shush

I'm guessing he just really loves the sound of his own voice...?

[nicknick]

That sounds like my DS when he was that age,also had limited babble. For my DS we have had delayed speech, he started speech therapy around 18 months and still going (he has just turned 3). My therapist explained she thought my DS was trying to communicate but didn't know how, so the humming was his way of doing it. Yes it got under my skin often, very annoying. Her advice to me was try to ignore it and focus on the words when he does say them so he is encouraged to use words not humming. It did work and the humming has disappeared. He is now using lots of words but still babbles when trying to put sentences together, but so much better. I think as it used to get under my skin I'm sure I would focus on it with him, which I am sure it just made it worse. The only other thing in my experience is to watch the speech and if in doubt get it checked out.

[erindiv]

Thanks nicknick. DD had a speech delay and basically no words at all until after 18 months, was still slow at 2 but then made leaps and bounds and now talks very well at 3.

Their father (my XP) had learning difficulties in childhood and has some sort of issue still now (won't admit it though) so I always watch my two closely so if they develop any problems I can get them seen to early.