When did your children begin talking?

Brittney - posted on 03/04/2012

My daughter is never around other children and I read to her everyday (we don't watch tv) and she said her first word at 4 months but didn't actually know what she was saying yet, it was hi. Now that she is a little older she says words more fluently. (she says up to 70 words, though some people have no idea what she is saying, just me)

Shanika - posted on 12/05/2011

LOL! Another friend of mine is worried because her son is 3 and doesnt talk. He throws things when he wants something. But he can sing parts of songs. I think he's one of the "mommy knows what i want...i dont have to talk" kids

Jane - posted on 12/05/2011

As a side note, my parents were worried about me because I didn't talk and I was age three. But then one night, I stood up in the middle of the night and hollered "Mommy, Daddy, I need a glass of water NOW!" I was their first baby, and I didn't talk because I didn't need to.

Shanika - posted on 12/05/2011

Thanx for this, it was a really helpful post. I figured he needed to be around other kids once I seen that a friend of mine whose son is 3 weeks younger than my son (who has siblings) was talking way more than my baby. It kinda scared me. But I'll just be patient because I know once he starts...Ima wish he stopped! lol

Thanx again..

Jane - posted on 12/05/2011

Every child talks on his or her own schedule. I work with the babies at church at find that most of the one-year-olds have little to say, and about half of the two-year-olds don't talk much either. I do notice that those with older siblings do seem to speak more and speak with more fluency than onlies.

Perhaps it might help him if he were to be with a mixed-age group of kids on a regular basis so he sees kids a bit older than he that he will want to copy.

It could also be that you understand his needs too well so he doesn't need to talk. You might try using open-ended questions (What do you want? as opposed to Do you want milk?) or questions where he needs to answer in words (Do you want the red toy or the yellow toy?). Once he realizes that words get him what he wants while being wordless doesn't, he will talk more. We had to do this with my oldest niece. She was a master of point and grunt but finally began to talk when we played stupid and couldn't figure out what she wanted.

As to your original question, my daughter spoke her first words in front of an unbiased witness at the age of 7 months, when the doctor went to take a rectal temperature and she shouted "No, no, no! Mama, up!" The poor man almost broke his neck. She has continued to talk at a great rate and has gotten into a lot of trouble at school for talking when she shouldn't.

My son spoke his first word at 13 months. It was "hamburger," a food he eats as often as possible even today. Sentences took a while to follow for him, but he was talking well by 2 1/2. However, he doesn't talk as much as his sister an probably never will. He is a stereotypical guy who grunts a lot.