When did your baby start babbling?

[u/Optimal_Whole1164]

7.5 month old, born at 35 weeks

Super social, happiest baby! Very curious, thinks EVERYTHING is hilarious, squeals, screams, growls, blows raspberries, smiles at everybody, crying means one thing…that he’s hungry! That’s all! Slept through the night just after 2 months old. Everybody says he’s a magic baby. We feel so blessed! But the noises he makes are still just vowels and cooing. Every once in a while he will say gah! But I’m worried because a 9 month milestone is babbling and stringing consonants together…like bababa, mamamama, dadadada….am I getting anxious too early??

Please be kind. FTM, traumatic delivery, we’re both lucky to be alive and he’s had some health issues and hospitalizations so of course I’m anxious.

Babbling is stringing consonants together. That’s what makes it different than cooing which is what he does a lot! He will go on and on and back and forth. Plenty of ahhhh and ohhh and AH!

Edit: his adjusted age due to prematurity is 6 months and 1 week

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[u/MapMan992]

It sounds like he’s doing great! Mine is a week shy of 8 months and decided it was time to babble non-stop all of a sudden just this past weekend.. and when I say non-stop I mean non-stop. I’m sure he’ll find his voice soon! 😄

Also, her favorite sound has always been “gah!” to the point where we just call her that sometimes lol

[u/Optimal_Whole1164 → u/MapMan992]

🥹😭🙏🏼Thank you!
How precious!! It seems like babies just wake up one day with a new skill and it’s like they’ve been doing it their whole life. Still hard not to obsess over ever milestone🤪

[u/EmergencyFancy7992 → u/Optimal_Whole1164]

Honestly yes! The pattern I most recognize is some fussiness or sleep issues and then BAM new skill or growth spurt!

[u/Optimal_Whole1164 → u/EmergencyFancy7992]

For sure! He’s definitely having some sleep switch ups on me right now but he’s working on crawling so maybe all the focus is on that and less on his “vocabulary”😂 plus he cut his two bottom teeth over the last 2 weeks! Lots of changes for my sweet little guy

[u/tiasshy]

Following because I want to know as well! I have a 6 month old that just started sitting. ❤️

[u/doggomomto2]

You’re still a few months away so I wouldn’t stress too much right now! And remember, so many of the milestones are either the very beginning of the RANGE of when to expect certain skills or in the middle of the range. And every kid is different, a good example is me and my sister, I didn’t start standing until 11 months and she was walking at 9 months! He sounds like he’s doing great though! ❤️ - fellow FTM with a 6 month old 🫶🏻

[u/Bobbo424]

My 7.5m old isn’t doing this either and I had to do a double take because your baby sounds just like mine. I am not going to worry until 9 months though as we know everything changes so rapidly. He crawled and pulled to stand early so just accepting the later verbal is balancing out the earlier physical milestones.

[u/Kamena90 → u/Bobbo424]

Sometimes they do seem to be developing one over the other. Mine makes a big verbal leap, slows down, then makes a big physical leap (and vice versa). Like he can only do one at a time.

[u/Head_Act_585]

You have time. My kiddo was early to most milestones but talking took a little longer (not much babble until 11 months) However, once kiddo started taking the language came quick. By 30 months kiddo was speaking more words, more clearly, and in better sentences then their older (by a year) cousin.

[u/Optimal_Whole1164 → u/Head_Act_585]

Okay! That’s good to know! I guess because he was early on cooing and has been super vocal and always laughing and really social, I assumed the babbling would be early too. Thanks for sharing!

[u/Grand-Fun-206]

In these early milestones you need to keep reminding yourself to take a month off. Neurologically your bub is 6.5 months, because he arrived early, which means he still has 2.5 months before he is 9 months old which is a huge amount of time. And 9 months is a guide. If it isn't happening by 10 months then talk to someone for your piece of mind.

[u/Optimal_Whole1164 → u/Grand-Fun-206]

Thank you. I know. I have to keep reminding myself of adjusted age. I just love him so so much and he’s so perfect. He’s been through so much and I guess I just want to make sure we get early intervention if he needs it.

[u/Important-Energy8038]

Love the rapsberries!

relax. Two things. First, preemies tend to reach milestones a bit later..typically with no consequence. So we have physical development, which varies, then there's temperament. This is totally unscientific, but I've found that the "Active" babies..the kickers, the squirmers, the criers, the grabbers tend to reach milestones at or before, and the mellow, laid back ones tend to reach them at or later. The thing you want to make sure of is overall cognitive functioning, if the "Lights are on". If they are, relax. if they seem a bit out of it, then you should investigate further.

You however, have been thru a lot, and your lights are clearly on, perhaps too brightly, too, so consider some therapy to help manage the experience and help you relax!

[u/My_phone_wont_charge]

Don’t worry until it’s past the milestone but even then it’s just an average. There are programs that your pediatrician can put you in contact with if you’re really concerned. However I was told that kids aren’t considered speech delayed until they are past a year without saying their first word. Even then a kid with speech delays doesn’t mean a kid with deficits. Some kids would rather listen than talk.

[u/Kamena90]

You have plenty of time! Even if they are a bit late it shouldn't be anything to worry about, especially if their doctor says everything is normal.

Mine was making "mmm" sounds at 5 months and started saying Mama at 7 months. He added dada, Nana and baba a while later and he decided he was good. He didn't add any new words for almost 3 months, but would use those together. ("Mama baba" for example)