When Should My Baby Talk?

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Baby BlocksDuring the first few years of life your child will begin to talk. Long before you hear those precious “first words”, your baby will be learning how to communicate and how to express their needs and wants to you.

From the moment your baby is born they will begin to express their needs and emotions by crying, smiling, grimacing and wiggling around.

Within the first few months of life they will move their tongue around and you will start to hear the cooing and babbling. Soon those sounds will turn into the most commonly heard first words, “mama or dada”.

Both of my children said “mama” for their first words and it happened around 7 months old. From then on they began to pick up more words from my husband, myself and everyone else around them.

My youngest is now 18 months old and her pediatrician recently asked us “How many words is she saying?” I hate this question because I never know how to answer it.

This is what I hear from my baby

Could you understand a word of that? LOL

Obviously she is talking.. a LOT, but I have no clue what she is saying other than a random word here and there. Our pediatrician advised us that she should be saying at least 4-5 words.

Here is a general guideline of what a toddler’s timeline of communication might look like

  • 6-12 months – Your baby will start to babble and attempt to make their first sounds. Mama or Dada might slip out a time or two, this is a melt your heart moment ahhhhh
  • 12-18 months – This is when inflection will begin, such as a raised tone when asking a question. Such as “Eat?”
  • 18 months – Though your baby might only speak a few words they know about 50, amazing huh?
  • 18 – 24 months – Your child might be saying around 50-70 words and understand around 200 words. Also around this time they will start to learn two word strings, such as “Mommy nose”
  • 25-36 months – Your child’s vocabulary will grow to over 300 words. Nouns and pronouns will come together to form simple sentences.

These are general guidelines and please remember that every baby is different. My son didn’t start talking until he was almost 2 1/2 and Andrea is 18 months, she is not saying anywhere near 50 words but I do know that she understands a lot.

Communication is there, she can point, she can make sounds to get my attention when she needs me.

Should you be worried if your baby isn’t doing these things?

Of course if you have concerns you should always discuss them with your baby’s pediatrician. From my experience the first two years of life vary so much, child to child. The best thing to do is to continue reading to your child. Talk to your child about the world around them. Don’t stop talking and make each day a play by play.

Next thing you know, your child is 4 and you are asking them to stop talking for just a minute Smile

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