No words nearly 12 months

Zebra2016

I am a bit worried about my little baba, she is 11 and half months and doesn't use any words. She does babble away and there is dada in her babble, but it is not used with any intent or meaning.

I guess I am mostly concerned about her understanding, I feel she doesn't understand anything I am saying. She doesn't follow any commands, like if she is holding a teddy and I say give me the teddy and if I put out my hands, she doesn't give me the teddy. I point out pictures in books to her and say the word but I just feel she can't grasp it yet. Her use of gestures is limited, she does sometimes wave and has clapped her hands a small bit, but it's sort of on her own terms, not really in response. She doesn't point or nod her head. She doesn't hug or kiss.

I don't know if she should have more imitation in her play skills, or if they are a bit limited. I try to build a tower with blocks and she knocks it down but makes no effort to build a tower. I have tried to show her how to roll a ball but again I feel she doesn't understand. She has a little wooden police car, but doesn't roll it and just holds in her hand and drops it to the ground after a while. She has a plastic flip toy phone that she will open and close but doesn't imitate talking on it. She just loves mouthing and holding toys, and objects, especially my make up tubes and shiny mascara tube from my handbag. She likes holding objects in her hands and screams if I remove them.

Her interaction and eye contact appear ok and she smiles a lot. Her hearing appears fine. She is crawling and cruising furniture. She has no problem eating and picks up food easily.

I contacted my public health nurse today and she said keep an eye on things and she can re visit it if there is no gains in a few months.

I am worrying a bit. I could be over reacting

Just wondering if I am expecting too much, or has any body has a similar experience with their child?

Thanks so much

Foweva Awone

I'd be unhappy with that response from the PHN, if there were any issues (and hopefully there won't be) early intervention is SO important.

Many PHN centres hold open clinics once a month, maybe enquire into that? Or just ring her again tomorrow.

Alternatively just visit your GP. I wouldn't let it slide anyways, if I were you.

Hopefully all is OK, but always better to be on the safe side.

Zebra2016

Foweva Awone wrote: »

I'd be unhappy with that response from the PHN, if there were any issues (and hopefully there won't be) early intervention is SO important.

Many PHN centres hold open clinics once a month, maybe enquire into that? Or just ring her again tomorrow.

Alternatively just visit your GP. I wouldn't let it slide anyways, if I were you.

Hopefully all is OK, but always better to be on the safe side.

Thanks so much for your reply, I do feel a bit uneasy. I think I will give it a few weeks and then go to my GP. I am thinking back and I probably didn't communicate my concerns fully to the public health nurse, I didn't mention my concerns about her play skills, I just mentioned concerns about language and gesturing. I havd been googgling activities to promote language, communication and play so will try to do more with her, and if I am still concerned in a few weeks, I will take action as you suggested. Thanks again for your advice

shesty

Hmm.The bottom line here is that you know your baby best and if you are concerned then do say it.

But that said, I have two quite close in age and they develop differently.My three year old was saying a few words quite clearly by 13 months, but it seemed to take her a while to associate mama with me (although she got dada no problem!).She rarely clapped hands, and she was going to fast to bother with too many kisses and hugs.She crawled at 10mths and walked at 13 mths.She is now extremely articulate (too articulate) and has no problem running, jumping, climbing (although she never,ever climbed as a small toddler)etc....but oddly enough she never sat and pushed herself around on a push truck or trike and still won't.She's been a deeply attentive reader since 13 mths or so.

Her 16 mth old sister is all babble.Just now I'm beginning to make out bits of words.She understands (and that comes really to them round 14 mths).At 15 mths she started pointing at things and making noises, and only then, really started to pay attention to books.She climbs like there's no tomorrow on everything and has done since she was 9mths.She crawled at 7.5 months but only started to walk independently at 16 mths.She plays in a totally different way to her sister, sits and quietly explores things with her hands, and like you, likes to hold things in her hands and screams a lot when they are taken away.I generally let her do her thing because she can amuse herself so well.And she LOVES a big hug and snuggle, she'd be stuck to you all day if she could!!!

The point of all that rambling is that they all develop differently.At 11 months, I wouldn't be expecting a whole lot.Thinking of my two, and reading about yours, I don't see anything there yet that I'd be too worried about, but again, you know your child.I was worried about my second because she wasn't talking like her sister early, but I kind of told myself to wait a bit more and see.I know with your first though, you're looking at other people's kids and wondering why they do stuff that yours doesn't.But not all kids are the same, yours probably does things that theirs doesn't.

I am not saying to ignore it, but at the same time, I have found at 14/15 mths were when these things really showed with mine, so if your phn isn't too concerned,maybe wait another couple of months and then consider visiting your gp?11 months is still very small

(Sorry, that was very long!!)

Victor

She's young still.

Does she have interaction with other babies or toddlers? If she sees them talking and getting a response, she may be pushed more into talking.

Is diet balanced and adequate?

Some friends have a boy and because they facilitated him in every way, he is slow with his words. One of the tactics is to hold an object and repeat the name several times (and repeat this every day with the same few objects), to get the baby to associate the word with the object.

volchitsa

My eldest talked late, and at that age was saying very little. I had a colleague at work whose son as the same age and started much earlier so I was a little uneasy as he was my first - but the difference I notice compared to your post is that I could see that he understood everything.

That's what I'd watch out for, and what I'd point out to the PHN, because they do tend to hear what they expect to hear, i.e., over-anxious parents worrying about language skills, IME.

I don't want to worry your and this is just a random thought, but has her hearing been properly tested? An older cousin of mine whose daughter was deaf had her concerns dismissed out of hand for months before she was referred to a specialist, so I worried about that when my son wasn't talking. Our GP told me that the standard hearing tests done when the PHN is there and not when the baby is in the right frame of mind, are not that reliable. For instance the baby can actually be reacting to movement, and look like she's reacting to sound.

A better test (he told me) is you just generally paying attention to how she is at random times. Does she react to sudden noises when she can't see the source? That's a better indicator than five minutes spent doing tests.

And hopefully it will be nothing, but you need to make your concerns heard.

Best of luck OP, I really hope it works out.

mirrorwall14

My lad didn't really have more than 2 words until 15 month but babbled all the time. When the words came properly they came thick and fast in two notable spurts at about 18 months and 22 months. Understanding was good however but 11 months is young yet!

You know your own the best so monitor closely and get reassurance if needs be. I was a little worried about the speech, my husband wasn't at all. He was a little worried about the attention span, I wasn't at all!

volchitsa

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

My lad didn't really have more than 2 words until 15 month but babbled all the time. When the words came properly they came thick and fast in two notable spurts at about 18 months and 22 months. Understanding was good however but 11 months is young yet!

You know your own the best so monitor closely and get reassurance if needs be. I was a little worried about the speech, my husband wasn't at all. He was a little worried about the attention span, I wasn't at all!

Yes this was how my eldest was too - and with a short attention span too, come to think of it, but I think that's often the case with boys anyway, my girls had much more "organized" play right from being tiny, the boys would just run around madly!

Definitely I think the number of words isn't an issue if other "milestones" are ok, and if the baby is engaging with activities etc. I'd draw attention to that if necessary, and I think a visit to the GP as someone suggested earlier would be a good idea.

Personally I found our GP great. I wouldn't wait for the PHN who didn't listen properly to you first time around. The GP should be able to set your mind at rest if it's all within the normal range, so why should you have to be stressed out for weeks over it just because of the PHN?

Zebra2016

shesty wrote: »

Hmm.The bottom line here is that you know your baby best and if you are concerned then do say it.

But that said, I have two quite close in age and they develop differently.My three year old was saying a few words quite clearly by 13 months, but it seemed to take her a while to associate mama with me (although she got dada no problem!).She rarely clapped hands, and she was going to fast to bother with too many kisses and hugs.She crawled at 10mths and walked at 13 mths.She is now extremely articulate (too articulate) and has no problem running, jumping, climbing (although she never,ever climbed as a small toddler)etc....but oddly enough she never sat and pushed herself around on a push truck or trike and still won't.She's been a deeply attentive reader since 13 mths or so.

Her 16 mth old sister is all babble.Just now I'm beginning to make out bits of words.She understands (and that comes really to them round 14 mths).At 15 mths she started pointing at things and making noises, and only then, really started to pay attention to books.She climbs like there's no tomorrow on everything and has done since she was 9mths.She crawled at 7.5 months but only started to walk independently at 16 mths.She plays in a totally different way to her sister, sits and quietly explores things with her hands, and like you, likes to hold things in her hands and screams a lot when they are taken away.I generally let her do her thing because she can amuse herself so well.And she LOVES a big hug and snuggle, she'd be stuck to you all day if she could!!!

The point of all that rambling is that they all develop differently.At 11 months, I wouldn't be expecting a whole lot.Thinking of my two, and reading about yours, I don't see anything there yet that I'd be too worried about, but again, you know your child.I was worried about my second because she wasn't talking like her sister early, but I kind of told myself to wait a bit more and see.I know with your first though, you're looking at other people's kids and wondering why they do stuff that yours doesn't.But not all kids are the same, yours probably does things that theirs doesn't.

I am not saying to ignore it, but at the same time, I have found at 14/15 mths were when these things really showed with mine, so if your phn isn't too concerned,maybe wait another couple of months and then consider visiting your gp?11 months is still very small

(Sorry, that was very long!!)

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. It reassured me and I think as you say the next few months is really the critical time, do hopefully things will come together. It sounds like your two children were very different, and all developed in their own way. I will say my little one has always been very active, needing minimal sleep, so I think she seems too busy for hugs and kisses at times, she just wants to wiggle out of my arms as something else catches her attention. She never relaxed as a baby. I did remove most of her toys from the sitting room today and just focused on trying to roll ball with her and get her to push it back to me. I think she focused a bit better as there was less to distract her, and I got a bit more out of her. Thanks again for your reply, I found hearing about the difference between your two children interesting and reassuring, I appreciate it

Zebra2016

Victor wrote: »

She's young still.

Does she have interaction with other babies or toddlers? If she sees them talking and getting a response, she may be pushed more into talking.

Is diet balanced and adequate?

Some friends have a boy and because they facilitated him in every way, he is slow with his words. One of the tactics is to hold an object and repeat the name several times (and repeat this every day with the same few objects), to get the baby to associate the word with the object.

Thanks so much for your reply and advice. I minded her until 9 months. She goes to a baby sitters who is a close relative of mine, and she has a few young children of her own, aged between 2-5 years. I work about 3.5 days a week so she is with me some of the time too. So, hopefully being with other children will help her, as you say.

As for her diet, she is still being breastfed and is on solids as well, and I am quite particular about having healthy unprocessed food in general so I think she has a good diet. She eats what we eat, in general.

That is good advice about holding the object and repeating the name of it at the same time. I will defo work on that, that might help her understand better.

She is a first child but I don't say that we attended excessively to her needs. She was difficult in that she was so active, never relaxed and needed a ridiculously little amount of sleep. She seemed to love loads of stimulation and being out looking at things and meeting people. She seemed to get bored easily, so it was impossible to keep up to her demands so we did our best but she wasn't tended to at every moment.

Thanks so much for replying

annoyedgal

My little boy had mostly babble and few words like dada at 12 months. I wouldn't be overly concerned about it.
If you feel that she doesn't understand commands and things your saying to her it it might be worth saying it to your GP.
They might refer you to a speech and language therapist who could reassure you or give you some activities to do at home if needs be.
There's no point worrying yourself when you can get her checked out. Most likely she is absolutely fine and developing at her own rate but it's no harm to get some reassurance and have a chat with your GP.

shesty

Zebra2016 wrote: »

Thanks so much for your reply and advice. I minded her until 9 months. She goes to a baby sitters who is a close relative of mine, and she has a few young children of her own, aged between 2-5 years. I work about 3.5 days a week so she is with me some of the time too. So, hopefully being with other children will help her, as you say.

As for her diet, she is still being breastfed and is on solids as well, and I am quite particular about having healthy unprocessed food in general so I think she has a good diet. She eats what we eat, in general.

That is good advice about holding the object and repeating the name of it at the same time. I will defo work on that, that might help her understand better.

She is a first child but I don't say that we attended excessively to her needs. She was difficult in that she was so active, never relaxed and needed a ridiculously little amount of sleep. She seemed to love loads of stimulation and being out looking at things and meeting people. She seemed to get bored easily, so it was impossible to keep up to her demands so we did our best but she wasn't tended to at every moment.

Thanks so much for replying

My older one sounds a bit like that.Mind you, much as she loves the stimulation, it gets too much for her very quickly, and as she became a toddler it started to show in her behaviour.My younger girl regulates herself much better.She sleeps 12 hours in a night.No.1 only seems to need approximately 10 hours sleep, but goes so fast all morning she would sleep for three hours in the middle of the day (still), amd then sleep alll night after an afternoon of activity.The more stimulation she has, the longer it takes her to go sleep and the earlier she will wake up.(I've cut the midday nap, btw!).The key for my older one is actually quiet time and it's hard work to get her to be bored, chill and amuse herself.Sleep begets sleep with her, the more rested she is, the better she sleeps.It can be tough!Obviously because she's the first and the type of child she is, I was in the habit of playing with her a good bit, but as she's got bigger I've realised I need to try to step back more and encourage her to play by herself or with her sister. To say they are polar opposites is an understatement!!!

Being with the other kids will really start to help and you will hopefully really see it in the next couple of months, so fingers crossed you will feel better about it.

Zebra2016

annoyedgal wrote: »

My little boy had mostly babble and few words like dada at 12 months. I wouldn't be overly concerned about it.
If you feel that she doesn't understand commands and things your saying to her it it might be worth saying it to your GP.
They might refer you to a speech and language therapist who could reassure you or give you some activities to do at home if needs be.
There's no point worrying yourself when you can get her checked out. Most likely she is absolutely fine and developing at her own rate but it's no harm to get some reassurance and have a chat with your GP.

Thanks, I appreciate your advice, if I still feeling worried in a few weeks I will certainly get a professional opinion, a speech and language therapist or someone, as you say, there is no point stressing about it when she might be fine. Thanks

Zebra2016

volchitsa wrote: »

My eldest talked late, and at that age was saying very little. I had a colleague at work whose son as the same age and started much earlier so I was a little uneasy as he was my first - but the difference I notice compared to your post is that I could see that he understood everything.

That's what I'd watch out for, and what I'd point out to the PHN, because they do tend to hear what they expect to hear, i.e., over-anxious parents worrying about language skills, IME.

I don't want to worry your and this is just a random thought, but has her hearing been properly tested? An older cousin of mine whose daughter was deaf had her concerns dismissed out of hand for months before she was referred to a specialist, so I worried about that when my son wasn't talking. Our GP told me that the standard hearing tests done when the PHN is there and not when the baby is in the right frame of mind, are not that reliable. For instance the baby can actually be reacting to movement, and look like she's reacting to sound.

A better test (he told me) is you just generally paying attention to how she is at random times. Does she react to sudden noises when she can't see the source? That's a better indicator than five minutes spent doing tests.

And hopefully it will be nothing, but you need to make your concerns heard.

Best of luck OP, I really hope it works out.

Thanks very much, that all makes a huge amount of sense. You are so right, I actually only became concerned when I realised she wasn't understanding, and didn't follow very simple commands, where I used gestures too. Also, like you said, I actually initially got concerned cos I was chatting to another mom who has a child of the same age, who is very advanced, but regardless of that, I suppose when I thought about it logically I still was a bit worried.

I have been thinking about it since the other posters gave their thoughts, and I do feel she might be finding it hard to focus, she has always been so busy, maybe I need to slow her down and reduce some of the clutter from the environment when I play with her, so she gets less distracted. Today, I felt she actually focused on a book for the first time, she didn't squirm out of my lap and seemed to actually be looking properly at the pictures, and interestingly I really noticed her body felt relaxed, like she allowed herself to sink into me as she sat on my lap. It made me realise that she never normally would sit on my lap and relax, she is always looking for the next thing and squirming. Even when I am breastfeeding, she would be grabbing and pinching my skin, reaching for my face and trying to grab my nose, and kicking her legs, this would be fairly constant, she can't stay still. I know that is probably normal for a 1 year old but she has been like that since a tiny baby, she would never relax in the arms or lap unless she was asleep.

As for hearing, you make a very good point, and that natural testing sounds like a far more reliable method. The public health nurse did actually ask me about her hearing and if I had any concerns. She has always been a very light sleeper so I have had tip toe around the house at times. My husband actually thinks her hearing is too sharp, but his family would hear a pin drop!! So to answer your question, I think she reacts to sudden random noises even small noises, even when she can't locate the source of it, or see any movement. The public health nurse also said she probably wouldn't be babbling as much if she was experiencing any deafness, I hadn't really thought of that. I could get her hearing checked if things don't improve, just to rule it out.

Thanks again for your post, makes so much sense.

volchitsa

Hi OP, thanks for your thoughtful feedback on the various posts. Good if you're able to eliminate hearing issues straightaway.

I'm interested in your comments about her being easily distracted, and it does sound a bit like many first-time parents (including myself!) who maybe interact a little too intensively with the child and don't leave them enough "downtime" to work stuff out for themselves. I know I certainly did, with the result that my first child wasn't able to amuse himself until he learned to read. He just always needed me to play with him. My second always kept herself entertained, probably because I just didnt have time to get involved in her play.

But don't forget that none of us here have seen her, so I think don't hesitate to ask your GP, if only to set your mind at rest.

Zebra2016

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

My lad didn't really have more than 2 words until 15 month but babbled all the time. When the words came properly they came thick and fast in two notable spurts at about 18 months and 22 months. Understanding was good however but 11 months is young yet!

You know your own the best so monitor closely and get reassurance if needs be. I was a little worried about the speech, my husband wasn't at all. He was a little worried about the attention span, I wasn't at all!

Thanks for taking the time to reply. That's very reassuring, hopefully it will happen for my little one too, as you say they can come along in bursts. That's what I am hoping will happen. I don't think my husband was too worried about speech but I think her lovely smiles blinded him!!! I think next few months will tell a lot, probably too young to have any sort of formal assessment. Thanks for your post

Zebra2016

volchitsa wrote: »

Yes this was how my eldest was too - and with a short attention span too, come to think of it, but I think that's often the case with boys anyway, my girls had much more "organized" play right from being tiny, the boys would just run around madly!

Definitely I think the number of words isn't an issue if other "milestones" are ok, and if the baby is engaging with activities etc. I'd draw attention to that if necessary, and I think a visit to the GP as someone suggested earlier would be a good idea.

Personally I found our GP great. I wouldn't wait for the PHN who didn't listen properly to you first time around. The GP should be able to set your mind at rest if it's all within the normal range, so why should you have to be stressed out for weeks over it just because of the PHN?

Thank you for your comments. I am lucky to have a lovely and very competent GP too, so that is definitely an option I can look into. I guess in my head I thought the public health nurse would be more informed about child development, and to be fair, I have always found her very good with other issues, such as teething difficulties with the breastfeeding.

I actually feel way better since sharing my concerns here. It had been playing on my mind, but I feel much clearer about my concerns now, and my options, thanks to the lovely posters. Family will just offer unconditional reassurance, which is nice but I need more unbiased opinion.

Dravokivich

Hi op, when trying to determine a development stage for your child, you should take some time to think about how you are quantifying it. There had been many times when other people felt my son should be more vocal than he was from 15 to 30 months. Mostly they were voicing what they "felt" he should be doing without regards to children needing time to develope these skills.

Dravokivich

Zebra2016 wrote: »

Thanks for taking the time to reply. That's very reassuring, hopefully it will happen for my little one too, as you say they can come along in bursts. That's what I am hoping will happen. I don't think my husband was too worried about speech but I think her lovely smiles blinded him!!! I think next few months will tell a lot, probably too young to have any sort of formal assessment. Thanks for your post

Hse can put you into a workshop with speech therapist. The child doesn't need to be involved, but it'll give you some ideas on how to gauge your child's development along with exercises.

PHN can refer you for it. But it might be an idea to look into that for yourself to help set expectations.

Anita Blow

You know your child more than anyone else so if you're concerned then it's no harm to visit your GP for their opinion. In terms of milestones for development, it doesn't sound like your child is missing any of the windows for development. 7-12 months you'd expect a child to react to sounds and look around for a sound, which you've said they're doing. Words and 1-2 word sentences can then develop any time up to 2 years and that's still considered normal.

Smiling, looking for toys that have fallen or moved out of her sight, having favourite persons and beginning to understand some gestures is typical of that age. Make-believe-play and representational play like imitating talking on a phone and pushing toy cars may be a bit beyond an infant that age and it can take even up to 2.5 years for some children to grasp that.

Any child who is happy to explore their environment, objects and toys is always a good sign. But if you're worried, which is perfectly normal, then absolutely go see the GP if for nothing more than reassurance

volchitsa

As parents, I often think part of the difficulty in identifying whether a problem is serious, or even whether it's real or not, is that with big familes in the past, young parents, mothers anyway, would have grown up helping out with all sorts of child minding, and so would have more hands on experience themselves. That's less true nowadays, and the first child is often the only one that a young mum has ever had real responsibility for.

That's why I think talking to other people, and particularly asking various experts' opinion is a really useful aid - not to replace your own opinions, but to help you be more confident in forming your own.

scarepanda

Hi OP!

My lo is just gone one, so Iv been keeping an eye on this thread. With my limited knowledge of babies, I'd have to agree with what everyone else has said here so far.

My lo won't roll a ball, doesn't play with wheeled toys like you would expect and only has mama, Dada, Baba, nana, bah and ah-bah (both of which are what she calls the dogs depending on how exciting she is). She's crawling, standing and cruising around the place and rarely stops moving about!

I'm not worried though because she will pick up a ball if you roll it to her and hand it back to you, interacts with her wheeled toys, just doesn't roll them like an older child would, will knock down anything I build with her blocks and then pick one up and bang it against something. She loves her teddies and will actively kiss and cuddle with them (she's very selective with kisses and cuddles for us), loves interacting with the dogs when she's let near them and actively feeds the dogs from her highchair. She is definitely starting to understand gestures and some phrases. She's constantly babbling, but the biggest change in this is it's now very tonal like she's actually having a conversation with us/teddies only in babble language. She's also really loving noise and sounds at the moment. The more noise she can make the better. But she can't concentrate on a book most of the time, even at bedtime. I suppose you could say her play is not organised and not always in a way you would expect. I let her off though and only really interact with her during play time if she comes to me.

She was 'stuck' at a certain level for a couple of months and about 5/6 weeks ago could suddenly do X,y and z. She just jumped ahead of where she was all of a sudden. There was no grey area in her development of being kinda able to do X,y and z, she just woke up one morning and could do stuff.

Anyways, I just thought I'd give you an idea of where my little one is at the moment. Despite what Iv just wrote above, try not compare where your little is to another baby, because you can be dam sure that there's something your baby is doing that another isn't. We have friends who have a baby a few months younger than ours and everything ours can do theirs can do to, even though there is a slight age gap that does make a difference at that age. I always find it entertaining!

Wexy86

My little girl turns one in two weeks and only has one word - Mam which she associates with the dog if you ask her to call the doggy she screams Mam :)and does a little come here action with her hand which we've been teaching her for months. she had a few gestures she does when asked like clapping, waving bye and when she drops something or someone leaves lher sight she'll do 'all gone' with both hands out, again another gesture we've been doing for months. She's only started doing these the past few weeks, she's not the most vocal - she babbles away the odd time or screams when a toy or taken away. She's a very independent player and will sit in her play pen for hours playing with toys. Sometimes when crawling around she makes a beeline for the play pen to get in. She appears to recognise everyone(v large extended family) and has her favourites and dislikes one or two for some reason. Like scarepanda she feeds herself and the dog so her motor skills seem like there are where they need to be. Overall I've no concerns about my girl but I think the next 4/5 months will be important for a few milestones. Myself I'll be focused more so on the speech as she has no words, good to hear some kids don't have any at this stage. Just said I'd chime in about my girl who's at the same age

Zebra2016

volchitsa wrote: »

Hi OP, thanks for your thoughtful feedback on the various posts. Good if you're able to eliminate hearing issues straightaway.

I'm interested in your comments about her being easily distracted, and it does sound a bit like many first-time parents (including myself!) who maybe interact a little too intensively with the child and don't leave them enough "downtime" to work stuff out for themselves. I know I certainly did, with the result that my first child wasn't able to amuse himself until he learned to read. He just always needed me to play with him. My second always kept herself entertained, probably because I just didnt have time to get involved in her play.

But don't forget that none of us here have seen her, so I think don't hesitate to ask your GP, if only to set your mind at rest.

Thanks for posting. I agree, I think I would be far more confident if she wasn't my first baby. At the same time, I suppose I am aware of a family history of certain difficulties, so I think it has increased my anxieties. In terms of my baba getting lots of attention, she was a baba that hardly slept for the first 5 months and I think she must have been over tired much of that time so was very unsettled, so did need lots of attention, and got it!!. You just couldn't leave her on a mat or blanket on the floor, even for 5 mins as she would roar. I remember her going whole days without naps and her being only a few weeks old, and jogging around the kitchen to try to soothe her. I remember she didn't like the buggy, the cot, the car or being in my arms(unless breastfeeding). I didn't know any different at the time, but i see my own niece now and my friend's baby, and while they have their moments, they seem so much more settled than my little one was. I didn't realise it at the time, being a first time mom. So, yeah she got a lot of attention as she wasn't able to soothe herself at all as a young baby. So, in that sense maybe I am expecting a bit much for her to be able to focus and attend at a high level now, given her history. I hadn't really thought about that, until you asked those questions, thanks!! Thankfully she does amuse herself to some extent now, but as I was saying earlier I had some concerns about the quality of her play with toys, and if it is developed enough.

However, I feel I am getting somewhere in possibly understanding her better, and in the meanwhile I will keep an eye on things. Thanks again

Zebra2016

Dravokivich wrote: »

Hi op, when trying to determine a development stage for your child, you should take some time to think about how you are quantifying it. There had been many times when other people felt my son should be more vocal than he was from 15 to 30 months. Mostly they were voicing what they "felt" he should be doing without regards to children needing time to develope these skills.

Thank you for that. I agree, I think it's important to have accurate information, and get professional advice. At the same time, I have found experienced moms have such a wealth of knowledge, I really value their opinion about anything to do with child rearing. I am sure most moms have worried about some aspect of their child's development at some stage.
Thanks

Zebra2016

Dravokivich wrote: »

Hse can put you into a workshop with speech therapist. The child doesn't need to be involved, but it'll give you some ideas on how to gauge your child's development along with exercises.

PHN can refer you for it. But it might be an idea to look into that for yourself to help set expectations.

That sounds very interesting, I haven't heard of anything like that, I would be really interested in attending a workshop like that. Is that a nationwide primary care initiative or something? I can ask my PHN but can I google it or does it have a name?

Thanks again

Dravokivich

Zebra2016 wrote: »

That sounds very interesting, I haven't heard of anything like that, I would be really interested in attending a workshop like that. Is that a nationwide primary care initiative or something? I can ask my PHN but can I google it or does it have a name?

Thanks again

I did it through referral and have changed phn's since then. Was in Dublin. But I'm sure they'd have something regional.

Quick search, even though this is for dun loaghiare, they've links to some resources.

https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/2/PrimaryCare/pcteams/dublinsouthpcts/dunlaoghaireglasthulepct/speechtherapy.html

Zebra2016

Anita Blow wrote: »

You know your child more than anyone else so if you're concerned then it's no harm to visit your GP for their opinion. In terms of milestones for development, it doesn't sound like your child is missing any of the windows for development. 7-12 months you'd expect a child to react to sounds and look around for a sound, which you've said they're doing. Words and 1-2 word sentences can then develop any time up to 2 years and that's still considered normal.

Smiling, looking for toys that have fallen or moved out of her sight, having favourite persons and beginning to understand some gestures is typical of that age. Make-believe-play and representational play like imitating talking on a phone and pushing toy cars may be a bit beyond an infant that age and it can take even up to 2.5 years for some children to grasp that.

Any child who is happy to explore their environment, objects and toys is always a good sign. But if you're worried, which is perfectly normal, then absolutely go see the GP if for nothing more than reassurance

Thanks very much for sharing your view. It's very reassuring. I do feel she is a happy baby, and really loves exploring her environment and being around people. She loves creeping up to me and surprising me, and laughs a lot. She enjoys if I crawl on the floor and chase after her.

I think I have found it hard to gauge the level her play skills with toys should be at, like how she should actually engage with toys. I think I did expect some imitation, but maybe it's too early. I was playing with her today, and was trying to get her to copy me, so I pretending to play the drums with different objects, like hitting a saucepan with a spatula, but she just wanted to chew on the spatula!! Later, she took all items and teddies from a big box, and I was hoping she would copy me putting up them back in, but she had no interest.
I guess, I am happy overall, but my main concern would be her understanding of words and basic commands.

Thanks so much for your post, it's very informative and helpful

Zebra2016

Dravokivich wrote: »

I did it through referral and have changed phn's since then. Was in Dublin. But I'm sure they'd have something regional.

Quick search, even though this is for dun loaghiare, they've links to some resources.

https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/2/PrimaryCare/pcteams/dublinsouthpcts/dunlaoghaireglasthulepct/speechtherapy.html

Thanks a million, you are very good, I will look into it, and see what options might be in my area.

PhoenixParker

My son just turned 11 months and everything you describe about your daughter sounds like she's absolutely perfect to me.

The stuff you're looking for in terms of copying you putting toys away is way more advanced then this age. Stacking blocks etc will take a lot more refinement of fine motor skills. She's crawling, cruising and engaging with toys. She's 100% on track motor skills wise. Understanding pictures in books is a huge leap that'll take a while yet.

Speech, as I understand it, the key indicator you're looking for is babbling which she's doing. Actual words are a bit like crawling, there's a very wide spectrum of normal and you're nowhere near the bad end yet.

I think you're missing the forest for the trees. If she's creeping up on you and loves to surprise you. That shows a dozen high level skills she's acquired all by itself. There's communication, humor, some context, understanding that you expected something, some imitation, remembering what happened before.

Does she respond (even occasionally) to her name?

Zebra2016

PhoenixParker wrote: »

My son just turned 11 months and everything you describe about your daughter sounds like she's absolutely perfect to me.

The stuff you're looking for in terms of copying you putting toys away is way more advanced then this age. Stacking blocks etc will take a lot more refinement of fine motor skills. She's crawling, cruising and engaging with toys. She's 100% on track motor skills wise. Understanding pictures in books is a huge leap that'll take a while yet.

Speech, as I understand it, the key indicator you're looking for is babbling which she's doing. Actual words are a bit like crawling, there's a very wide spectrum of normal and you're nowhere near the bad end yet.

I think you're missing the forest for the trees. If she's creeping up on you and loves to surprise you. That shows a dozen high level skills she's acquired all by itself. There's communication, humor, some context, understanding that you expected something, some imitation, remembering what happened before.

Does she respond (even occasionally) to her name?

Thanks so much for sharing your views, what you are saying is very insightful. To be honest, your comments about all the skills she is demonstrating by creeping up on me is spot on. I didn't really break it down like that, in terms of what is involved in that interaction, thank you for doing that. I did take it as a good indicator of her social development anyway and I am not concerned about her motor development.

I liked what you say about words being like crawling, they all do it so differently. My little one was frog leaping along for ages before finally properly crawling. And as you say, the babbling is a key indicator of language development, so I think her babbling is sounded more like words even in the past few days and she definitely directs some of it at us, as if she is trying to tell us something.

As you say, the play stuff I was expecting might be too advanced.

I guess when there are a family history of a difficulty, one is always a bit wary, and I think that is one reason I might be focusing on her development.

Thanks so much for taking the time to post

Zebra2016

volchitsa wrote: »

As parents, I often think part of the difficulty in identifying whether a problem is serious, or even whether it's real or not, is that with big familes in the past, young parents, mothers anyway, would have grown up helping out with all sorts of child minding, and so would have more hands on experience themselves. That's less true nowadays, and the first child is often the only one that a young mum has ever had real responsibility for.

That's why I think talking to other people, and particularly asking various experts' opinion is a really useful aid - not to replace your own opinions, but to help you be more confident in forming your own.

I 100% agree with it, I think you have touched on the bigger issue here. I had very little exposure to young babies, like many of my generation, so it was steep learning!! I found the same with breastfeeding, I had no one to ask but a public health nurse, as my mom or no one around me had breastfed. Then I joined a breastfeeding group. Life has certainly changed, and I do think it takes more than a person or a couple to rear a child. I realise this more than ever in the first 5 months when my little one slept so little, we thought we might go mad, we were at our wits end and looking back I wished we asked for more help from family. We tried to do most of it ourselves and I think we felt bad even asking family for any help.

And grannies are so good with babies, their intuitive knowledge and just love is so nurturing. I love to hear others opinions and learn as much as I can from experienced others, but at the same time, I am quite clear about how I want my child to be reared.

Thanks for posting

Romantic Rose

It's very hard to know at this age, it's a very in between age where they're not newborn babies anymore but their skills in different areas haven't developed fully yet either.

My little boy has just turned 1 and he isn't babbling as much as he was even a month ago but I do think he's concentrating more on getting on his feet. He's cruising around the furniture too. He is very into exploring around the house. He's too busy to stop and chat!

I talk to him a lot over the day, I was very conscious of this with my girl too. He has picked up some words like teddy, daddy, mama, uh oh, dog, ball/dall, banana/nana. He does seem to have good comprehension.

My little girl is fantastic with him and she has brought him on a lot from imitating her play. I remember when my little girl was 1, I used to get so frustrated that she didn't want to build a tower with me but I've since learnt that she just didn't have any interest in playing with bricks/blocks.

Keep the chat going with her. Like I said it's a very tough stage to know if you should have genuine concerns or it's a developmental milestone delay.

Children can be great in some areas and just not pick up skills as quick in others.

mirrorwall14

Romantic Rose wrote: »

It's very hard to know at this age, it's a very in between age where they're not newborn babies anymore but their skills in different areas haven't developed fully yet either.

My little boy has just turned 1 and he isn't babbling as much as he was even a month ago but I do think he's concentrating more on getting on his feet. He's cruising around the furniture too. He is very into exploring around the house. He's too busy to stop and chat!

I talk to him a lot over the day, I was very conscious of this with my girl too. He has picked up some words like teddy, daddy, mama, uh oh, dog, ball/dall, banana/nana. He does seem to have good comprehension.

My little girl is fantastic with him and she has brought him on a lot from imitating her play. I remember when my little girl was 1, I used to get so frustrated that she didn't want to build a tower with me but I've since learnt that she just didn't have any interest in playing with bricks/blocks.

Keep the chat going with her. Like I said it's a very tough stage to know if you should have genuine concerns or it's a developmental milestone delay.

Children can be great in some areas and just not pick up skills as quick in others.

Laughing to myself here as my son is only just now building towers (with duplo) and he's 2 1/2! He just had no interest before now

Romantic Rose

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Laughing to myself here as my son is only just now building towers (with duplo) and he's 2 1/2! He just had no interest before now

If I bought all the blocks in China, my wee girl wouldn't play with them. It's funny how they have their unique wee interests.

volchitsa

Romantic Rose wrote: »

It's very hard to know at this age, it's a very in between age where they're not newborn babies anymore but their skills in different areas haven't developed fully yet either.

My little boy has just turned 1 and he isn't babbling as much as he was even a month ago but I do think he's concentrating more on getting on his feet. He's cruising around the furniture too. He is very into exploring around the house. He's too busy to stop and chat!

I talk to him a lot over the day, I was very conscious of this with my girl too. He has picked up some words like teddy, daddy, mama, uh oh, dog, ball/dall, banana/nana. He does seem to have good comprehension.

My little girl is fantastic with him and she has brought him on a lot from imitating her play. I remember when my little girl was 1, I used to get so frustrated that she didn't want to build a tower with me but I've since learnt that she just didn't have any interest in playing with bricks/blocks.

Keep the chat going with her. Like I said it's a very tough stage to know if you should have genuine concerns or it's a developmental milestone delay.

Children can be great in some areas and just not pick up skills as quick in others.

Someone (forget who now) told me that often when babies start to walk their speech skills drop back a little, as though they can't really concentrate on both at once, and I sort of think I noticed that a bit with mine - the two that talked earlyish (my second and third) walked later and were less physically active when they were small.

Romantic Rose

volchitsa wrote: »

Someone (forget who now) told me that often when babies start to walk their speech skills drop back a little, as though they can't really concentrate on both at once, and I sort of think I noticed that a bit with mine - the two that talked earlyish (my second and third) walked later and were less physically active when they were small.

Definitely find that too. My girl walked very late but had very clear speech from a young age. She would sit and look at books with me for a long period of time.
My boy is very busy and definitely wants to be on the move more. He wriggles away if I browse through books for too long.

shesty

Laughing a little myself here too....my second loves her dolls and buggies and always has.No.1 wouldn't give them the time of day! Not every child is interested in everything, they gravitate towards certain things over others, but with your first you don't really realise that.

Also, PM sent OP.

Zebra2016

Romantic Rose wrote: »

It's very hard to know at this age, it's a very in between age where they're not newborn babies anymore but their skills in different areas haven't developed fully yet either.

My little boy has just turned 1 and he isn't babbling as much as he was even a month ago but I do think he's concentrating more on getting on his feet. He's cruising around the furniture too. He is very into exploring around the house. He's too busy to stop and chat!

I talk to him a lot over the day, I was very conscious of this with my girl too. He has picked up some words like teddy, daddy, mama, uh oh, dog, ball/dall, banana/nana. He does seem to have good comprehension.

My little girl is fantastic with him and she has brought him on a lot from imitating her play. I remember when my little girl was 1, I used to get so frustrated that she didn't want to build a tower with me but I've since learnt that she just didn't have any interest in playing with bricks/blocks.

Keep the chat going with her. Like I said it's a very tough stage to know if you should have genuine concerns or it's a developmental milestone delay.

Children can be great in some areas and just not pick up skills as quick in others.

Thanks very much for that. Yeah, I very much agree that it is an in between stage. Interestingly, since initially writing my first post, I do see progress, maybe not with words but with social interaction, like little games of chase, and lots of laughing. And she properly waved back at her granny today a few times, so was delighted to see that. Like your little one, she is busy and sometimes it seems like she is too busy for chatting!! My got instinct now is that I need to be patient and her understanding and words will come in the next few months. Thanks for sharing your experience