At the moment DS2 can say 13 words & know what they are for, but can't string any together yet. Should be be able to by now? Should he be saying more words?
He's a quiet child & only really speaks when he needs to. He does babble a lot when he plays with his brother. I just wonder whether he's behind in his speech.
WDYT?

Hi ,
My dd has just turned 16 months and has about 20 or so words (maybe more) and doesn't really put them together. She babbles all the time and definately thinks she's talking. My ds however was at about the same stage as my dd at 22 months, he was much later with his speech and it didn't really take off until he was 2. He's now 4 and has no speech problems. I personally think that most boys talk later then girls. I would only be worried if he isn't understanding simple instructions, seems to have a hearing problem or doesn't seem to want to communicate in any way.
Vickix

the blue child health book (Victoria) says kids should have 5-10 words by 18 months, by that standard your DS is fine.

My DD is 17 months and only uses a few words, but understands a lot and can point to pictures in her books when asked (eg. where's maisy? where's the panda? etc...) so on good days I'm not too worried

DS is 17months and says about 10-15 words but they aren’t very clear so he is a bit hard to understand. He certainly doesn’t string any words together either. He is now babbling a lot more though so I think he is getting there.

He sounds fine. All kids are different.

My DS (now aged 9) didn't say anything until he was 26 months - his only word was "beeeee". At 26 months he started, and talked and talked and talked.

My DD (now aged 5) had about 20-30 - perhaps more - at 18 months.

Jo.

My DS didn't have any words at 17m. Now at 21m he only says Dada, mama, nana, Oooh and Uh-oh. He communicates in other ways though. I'm not worried though, apparently DH started talking when he was nearly 3y and he is now an IT senior manager. It could also be because he is bilingual.

Thanks. I'm sure I was worried about the same thing when DS1 was the same age.
DS2 understands what the words he says are for. He's actually said 3 new words since I posted lol

I was recently doing some research on kids and speech development (as I watch in fascination as my 2 are starting to say words) and everything I read said that until they are about 2 years old+ the most important thing is what they can understand rather than how many words they say. If your LO is comprehending fine, then you've nothing to worry about.

My sister didn't speak until she was 4! Nothing wrong with her now.

DD is almost 18mths and can say about 20 words. She did string 2 words together the other day but we think it was more by accident than anything.

I think as long as he is babbling and can understand you then he is fine.

I have two 18mos. Neither can say anything other than (inconsistently) "mama" and "dada" (and those don't necessarily mean mummy and daddy, either!).

However, they can follow directions, pick up words in a long sentence that mean something to them and act on that, etc etc. (e.g. I once said, "I think I need to go shopping to get some stuff for dinner" to DH, and DS2 toddled off into the kitchen and grabbed me a green bag!)

Yay for DS2. I am fascinated by this in the girls and constantly amazed at just how much they understand. This morning I told them we were going in the car to daycare and went upstairs to get their raincoats. I get back downstairs and one of them has her big warm jacket ready that she's dragged from the corner ready for going in the car.

Yep, all kids are different. My baby is younger and is stringing together words, her vocab is amazing but her older sibling was over 2 before she said anything more than mum and dad. I was worried but was told not to worry until the age of 3 especially since there was no problem with understanding and I think that is what is important. We did go on to have articulation problems but the speechie said it was because of the speed of speech rather than the fact she was a late talker. It all started pouring out and she was so excited you couldn't calm her down and it would all roll together They are so cute!