My Baby Doesn't Mimic

[Kelly1101]

I was thinking about this today and wondering if it's normal. Well I mean I know that there is no meaningful "normal" when it comes to babies, but is it indicative of some sort of problem or is it just a personality thing?

She'll say "mama" "dada" and "cat" on OCCASION, and especially with "cat" I know that she means the cat (instead of just babble), but then she'll go weeks without saying it and won't say it when prompted. She does babble a lot, very often, but just meaningless syllable not affected by any words or sounds you make at her. She will wave, but not when you say "wave" or wave at her. She will clap, but not often and not when you clap. It just says in all the books that babies love to mimic sounds and actions, and she just doesn't.

She will grin when you smile at her, but I think that isn't intentionally mimicking, I think it's just that people smiling at her make her happy. The smiling plus she has no problem with eye contact (unless she's angry and/or you tell her no), and she has had intense separation anxiety which makes it seem like it's not something like autism.

Oh, she's 10 months old, although she was born a month early. She hasn't had any real developmental problems that I've seen, on some she's behind and on some she's ahead but there is a good progression with everything and no cause for worry. It's just this weird thing.

Or is it? What do ya'll's babies do?

[Mal85]

DD doesn't mimic much either. She has just recently started to a little more often and she'll be a year old next week. She also doesn't have a any consistent words yet either. But she's walking everywhere and has been since she was 10 months old and always has her hands busy with something, so I figure she's focusing on her motor skills and the verbal skills will come later.

[Auraji]

Sophia doesnt mimic much either. She has said dada a few times. She always says mama, but usually only when I put her in the crib, playard, I go into the other room, she wants me to pick her up or she wants me to give back whatever I took from her lol, but usually she never says mama when I tell her to.
Ita, which is the name for my mom. She repeated after us saying it and said it a lot. She will SOMETIMES wave when you wave at her. She says other things but not when promted either and sometimes she has imitated sound but not because I was trying to get her to say something.
She too will smile when you smile at her, but like you said because she's happy. She loves staring at people. She will bang things if you do and if you dont too lol, she hasnt clapped yet. She has clapped MY hands and it's fascinated by it, but that's it.
A lot of times Im trying to get her to do/say certain things and she just doesnt go for it.

[Kelly1101]

Originally Posted by Auraji

She will bang things if you do and if you dont too lol,

Oh, that is one thing that Em does do-- if she's standing up holding on to the coffee table, and she'll bang her hand on the table. If you then bang your hand on it, she bursts into this huge grin and bangs again. She'll do that for a long time. I guess that is kind of mimicking.

[MeepyCat]

In regards to smiling when you smile at her: Yes, she's happy that you smiled, but it's also mimicking. It's a very strong sign of social and cognitive development. It's also very possible that she plays other "face games" with you - frowning back at you when you frown, or trying to get you to mimic her faces.

The banging on the table thing is *totally* mimicking, it's *awesome* mimicking, and if your table can take it, it can be an awful lot of fun.

[~Sarah~]

Phew, glad to hear some of these responses! DD is exactly the same age as the OP's and never mimics either. Nothing. (Except smiling, apparently!) It doesn't seem like she's not getting what I'm doing or even uninterested in it, it just seems like it doesn't occur to her to mimic it. Like she's just not that in to me! I exist to entertain her, not for her to mimic, apparently!

Me: "Say "mama!'"
Her: "Hahaha!"
Me: "Say 'mama!'"
Her: "Blah."
Me: "Say 'mama'"
Her: <crawling away>

I keep waiting for her to imitate something, any moment now.....

[Llyra]

My DD1 is 5 1/2 now. I had a lot of anxiety about her as a baby and young toddler, because she didn't imitate me or anybody else really. If you invited her to copy you, she would shoot you these looks of baby-scorn, and go do something else. We had her evaluated, actually, because I was so worried. (She also was a late talker.)

Anyway, she's fine. Absolutely normal and intelligent and sociable and all the rest. But what I've learned about her over the years is that she's a fiercely independent person. She's not interested in following the crowd or making other people happy-- she lives to please herself. She's also very strong-willed. I think, looking back, that the refusing to imitate (in that classic baby way you read about in books) was the first glimmerings I had of what a strong-minded kid I had on my hands.

[starlein26]

All three of my kids have been unmimicking. I worried with my first, slightly with my second and not at all with my third....

[Kelly1101]

Originally Posted by ~Sarah~

Phew, glad to hear some of these responses! DD is exactly the same age as the OP's and never mimics either. Nothing. (Except smiling, apparently!) It doesn't seem like she's not getting what I'm doing or even uninterested in it, it just seems like it doesn't occur to her to mimic it. Like she's just not that in to me! I exist to entertain her, not for her to mimic, apparently!

Me: "Say "mama!'"
Her: "Hahaha!"
Me: "Say 'mama!'"
Her: "Blah."
Me: "Say 'mama'"
Her: <crawling away>

I keep waiting for her to imitate something, any moment now.....

YES. This is exactly it.

Originally Posted by Llyra

My DD1 is 5 1/2 now. I had a lot of anxiety about her as a baby and young toddler, because she didn't imitate me or anybody else really. If you invited her to copy you, she would shoot you these looks of baby-scorn, and go do something else. We had her evaluated, actually, because I was so worried. (She also was a late talker.)

Anyway, she's fine. Absolutely normal and intelligent and sociable and all the rest. But what I've learned about her over the years is that she's a fiercely independent person. She's not interested in following the crowd or making other people happy-- she lives to please herself. She's also very strong-willed. I think, looking back, that the refusing to imitate (in that classic baby way you read about in books) was the first glimmerings I had of what a strong-minded kid I had on my hands.

Ah, well there you go... she comes from four generations of stubborn, "strong-willed", pain-in-the-butt women, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised, rotfl.

But, yep to the baby-scorn looks... I sure know that look.


Thanks for easing my mind, all of you.

[mckittre]

My one year old isn't a mimic either. He will mimic only what he thinks is fun, not what the books say he's supposed to. He certainly has never mimicked a word, and only select sounds he thinks are funny (like "achoo"). He didn't mimic sounds at 10 months at all. He mimics some actions he enjoys, like throwing a ball, building a block tower, banging on things - but he does those more as games than mimicking, and most are more recent than 10 months... I've always felt rather baffled by accounts of babies who will copy you and "say" something because you want them to! He's also an independent guy - for instance, he has never once been convinced to walk holding our fingers, though he's starting to learn on his own.

Anyway, he doesn't talk yet, but uses 10 or so signs in addition to waving and pointing, understands everything we say, and is very social. I'm not worried.

[kay27]

hi there, i was just hoping to check in with you and your daughter, i came across your post today -- and you could be describing my daughter! even to the point that 'cat' is the only word im certain she means! she is 12 months, very sociable but intense, does not mimic at all, is very into waving at people but often just looks at them, or away, when they wave back. sometimes when she laughs, its like she is just testing to see what happens, rather than really laughing. she does really giggle but it takes work to draw her out.... just curious how things have gone for you.  thanks for taking the time, kay

[Kelly1101]

Oh, wow, old thread.

Well, she just turned 2, and it's only been in the past month or so that she's starting talking.  But now she's talking a LOT.  Hundreds of words, some phrases, knows all her letters and numbers.  The way she started talking was also decidedly weird-- she didn't do a lot of the "normal" words first, but would do just random words first like "clock" and "outside" before even something like "mama" *sigh* LMAO.  (although she does say "mama" now).  

Basically she just does things her own way on her own time...

But yeah, she does everything normal or even ahead at this point, so, it was nothing to worry about.  I think she's just hard-headed ;)

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by Llyra 

If you invited her to copy you, she would shoot you these looks of baby-scorn, and go do something else. We had her evaluated, actually, because I was so worried. (She also was a late talker.)

Anyway, she's fine.

So nice to hear this! I thought I was the only one who got looks of baby-scorn.

[Monkey Keeper]

Originally Posted by PatioGardener 

So nice to hear this! I thought I was the only one who got looks of baby-scorn.

OOoohhhh, no!  My DD2 was the queen of baby-scorn. Our family still talks about her dirty looks! She's 3.5 now and fiercely independent.