https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 19 Apr 2026 22:35:32 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-little-one-start-talking#post-858574 Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:46:47 +0000 banana 858574@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Singing songs and nursery rhymes are a great way to encourage talking. During my son's speech therapy sessions, we would play "fill in the blank" games like "And on that farm he had a cow. EIEIO. With a moo here and a ...(pause)" This is actually how he started speaking more and more. We did a lot of these pauses. Like Ready...Set.....(pause).</p> <p>We also made sure everything was in context (that's the key). We constantly labelled objects that he was interacting with. Children usually first learn by labeling. So if he's playing with a ball, say "Wow a Ball! Look at that ball! What a pretty red ball!". If he's not looking at it or playing with it, we would label whatever it was he was interacting with. From what we've learned, it's all about contextual/visual association, especially at such a nearly age. Those are some of the things that helped us work with my son. We do these things all day long with my 10 month old DD and we can already see her making connections between objects and words! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-little-one-start-talking#post-829515 Tue, 04 Jun 2013 11:08:59 +0000 JessicaMcB 829515@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>A little late to the party but Emma started using her first functional word (up!) consistently at 6.5 months. She's now 7.5 months and will shout at you until you pick her up. </p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejIKEoc1TUo" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejIKEoc1TUo</a></p> <p>Since she's only picked up one more functional word (Dad). I've always heard girls are generally earlier talkers than boys though, and my family is full of freakishly early talkers (my first word was also uttered at 6 months). </p> <p>We haven't done anything different with her other than no babbling, annunciating a lot (you can really hear it in how she says "up"), naming everything for her and participating in our library's literacy bag program. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-little-one-start-talking#post-818363 Thu, 30 May 2013 13:38:32 +0000 cascademom 818363@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mamabear57: We got yeah recently too. It took us by surprise, but we definitely got it.</p> <p>@Navy_Mommy: I'd also suggest playing kids songs or music. My LO loves music which helps develop vocabulary. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-little-one-start-talking#post-818354 Thu, 30 May 2013 13:36:41 +0000 cascademom 818354@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Navy_Mommy: Do you name objects and colors? Ever since my maternity leave, we describe the people walking down the street, what they're wearing, etc. When we play, we name what he's playing with colors. My LO's 9 months old and we've got Mama and Dada consistently. </p> <p>Another technique my retired kindergarten teacher mom taught me is to follow their babbles with real words, draw the word out, so they hear it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-little-one-start-talking#post-818338 Thu, 30 May 2013 13:33:55 +0000 Crisark 818338@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Navy_Mommy: I felt the same way. I'm not going to teach them incorrectly the first time because it's cute and then have to go back and redo it later. That's just dumb. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-little-one-start-talking#post-818333 Thu, 30 May 2013 13:33:04 +0000 teamjse 818333@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DS is 10 months and have been saying baba, dada, papa since he was 8 months. He just recently started saying mama and yea. He doesn't say no, but he'll response to questions by shaking his head. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-little-one-start-talking#post-818328 Thu, 30 May 2013 13:32:03 +0000 Navy_Mommy 818328@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Pumpkinspice: All I can think when people start using the "baby" word for things is, "why are you encouraging them to do something incorrectly?" </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-little-one-start-talking#post-818319 Thu, 30 May 2013 13:30:02 +0000 Crisark 818319@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Navy_Mommy: I t's always been one of mine as well. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-little-one-start-talking#post-818312 Thu, 30 May 2013 13:27:57 +0000 Navy_Mommy 818312@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Pumpkinspice: I NEVER baby talk to him. It's one of my biggest peeves. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-little-one-start-talking#post-818306 Thu, 30 May 2013 13:24:52 +0000 Crisark 818306@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Both my older LO's talked early. But, my biggest thing was telling them to 'use their words' when asking for something. I would say the word and then the corresponding object if applicable and then repeat. I also never talked 'baby talk' to them. I only used the real words when talking about things.<br /> Idk if that will help you or not. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-little-one-start-talking#post-818297 Thu, 30 May 2013 13:23:24 +0000 Mrsbells 818297@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>my LO is 13 months and doesnt say any real words yet. I am not worried because she is very verbal and engages in conversation with me and with herself all the time. I talk to her as I would a grown up </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-little-one-start-talking#post-818285 Thu, 30 May 2013 13:19:30 +0000 Navy_Mommy 818285@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@googly-eyes: No daycare, he's home with me all day. We talk to each other all day long, which is part of what's causing my frustration since I don't know what else to do. At this point he's not "behind" so the ped doesn't have any concerns.</p> <p>(When I say we talk to each other all day I mean I initiate a conversation, he babbles, I generally ask "then what happened?" he babbles more, I ask him what he wants to do now, he babbles more, I suggest an activity (read a book, play with a ball, eat a snack, go for a walk, etc), he babbles more and this is ALL day long. He just doesn't use "real" words, just babbles, but he SOUNDS like he's actually speaking - tone changes, etc.) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-little-one-start-talking#post-818271 Thu, 30 May 2013 13:13:44 +0000 googly-eyes 818271@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My dd is significantly younger but i did a lot of study on early literacy and the bottom line was always to talk and have conversations (pause and wait for a response) and also respond to baby's cues! Also you could ask daycare about it if he attends daycare, and if you become more concerned, the pediatrician although he/she may only repeat the averages which isn't all that helpful. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-little-one-start-talking#post-818250 Thu, 30 May 2013 13:09:40 +0000 Navy_Mommy 818250@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Not real "talking" but using words regularly.</p> <p>I just posted about this on my blog and figured I'd bring it up here as well...</p> <p>W is 14 months old and doesn't use any distinguishable words yet. When he's upset he goes "mama-mama-mama" but I think that's more of a noise he's making than him saying "Mama." And he doesn't even come close to Dada yet (which I assume is more because DH was deployed from 5 to 13 months than anything else).</p> <p>Sometimes I think he says a word, but until it either REALLY sounds like it or he's using it all.the.time (not just here or there) I'm not comfortable saying he knows x-word.</p> <p>Most milestone charts online jump from 12 months to 18 months, but there's SO MUCH that happens between those two times it's hard to tell if they're "on track" or not, know what I mean?</p> <p>FTR I'm not concerned that he's "falling behind" as much as I'm concerned that I'm not doing something right. We've been working on Mama, Dada, and ball (his favorite thing in the world) for a few weeks and still nothing :-(</p> <p>Bottom line - I hate milestones and I'm terrified that I'm not a good enough Mom, lol. Please teach me how to teach my son to say real words, not just babble constantly. </p>