13 mo saying enough words?

[Apsf]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering what the normal speech development should be for a 13 month old child?  My DD is a babbler and she understands a lot of words, commands, etc.  We read and talk to her all the time, but she doesn't really say any words yet.  She has said a few - "momma" and "hi," but only a few times sporadically.  I'm not usually a worrier, but we were hanging out with friends who have a DD just 6 weeks older and she is saying 8-10 words and doing so often.  Is this normal?  Should we be concerned? Thanks for the advice!  

[prothyraia]

My kids were both drastically different in terms of verbal development.  My older son was an early babbler and early talker.  His younger brother, on the other hand, understood everything we said at 13 month but I don't think he had *any* words and his babble was pretty much limited to the phrase "duh guh!". 

At 2 1/2 now he won't shutup, heh. 

[treeoflife3]

at 13 months, all my kid said was 'mama' (but she didn't actually CALL me mama.. it was like shew was talking about me?) and bye but only sometimes.  She did have a bunch of animal sounds which from what I understand count as words at this age as it is a specific imitated sound with a specific meaning.

She added hi not too long later and dada by 18 months but she said none of them often.  It wasn't until the last month where she really started to speak.  Now she calls me ma and she talks about dada (he is currently deployed) and she says hi and bye.  She says mine and baby.  She also knows high and low.. she says waffle (wawa) and a few other things too.

At 13 months, I wouldn't start worrying yet unless she also doesn't seem to understand you (my kiddo could follow really simple directions and knew the names of a lot of things although she wouldn't say any of it) or possibly even hear you.  As long as she is showing an understanding of language at this point, I'd give it more time to let her start trying the words out.  Like I said, its only been the last month my kiddo has started really talking and she turns 2 on Wednesday.  Trust your instinct on if you think she is doing just fine with language :)

[onyxravnos]

my ds babbles plenty and says something that Sounds kinda like mama, dada, no, and hi but nothing I've but in the baby book as the official 'word' yet. your LO sounds normal as long as they are babbling and 'saying' things to interact i wouldn't worry

[4evermom]

I remember my ds was only saying a few words at 12 months.  But by 18 months, he was blowing me away.  He was a very verbal kid but he still only had a few words at 12 months.  It can happen fast.  Or it can happen slowly.  I'd worry if dc didn't seem to understand when I talked to him but not so much about him not talking back.  Of course it can be hard to tell if they understand. Some kids understand but don't demonstrate that they do (maybe they don't care about what they are being told, lol).  Some kids just store up words until they need them.  My brother would use a word once then not use it for 6 months until he needed it.  An unobservant person would have thought he could hardly talk at 2-3.

[Llyra]

None of mine said much of anything at 13 months. I think DD2 might have had a few words, but that's it, and I know for sure DS and DD1 said nothing at all at that age. Anyway, they're all perfectly normal kids, now-- the younger two are four years old now, and chatter away all day, and my six year old is a precocious reader with a fantastic vocabulary. I wouldn't worry about it. . The red flag is a child with no words at all at 18 months, or a child not putting two words together at 25 months. Your LO sounds right on track-- ahead, even, based on my experience with my own children.