My son is 12 months old, and a twin, but as yet is not babbling or waving bye, he is saying mama and dada, ?

Question

Yet his sister is hitting all the milestones, can anyone help !!

Answer 1

J. M. is right. All children are different when it comes to hitting the milestones.  He may be intimidated by his sister's actions or it could also be an opposite s*x issue. There can be a multitude of reasons. No fear, I am sure he will turn out fine, and he may even hit some milestones before her!

Answer 2

They babble and wave good-bye at around 13 or 14...years old.

Answer 3

If he says mama and dada, why would he need to babble? Babbling's just something some babies do before they say recognisable words. Some. Not all.

If he's alert, developing his dexterity, understands you, and is saying something, I really wouldn't worry at all. Baby milestones are a swizz. They don't mean a darn thing, except to help identify babies who have serious problems which mean that, for instance, they are still floppy at a year old.

Answer 4

i'm a twin myself and most twins are late starters when it comes to speaking. according to my mother me and my sister didn't start speaking an understandable english until we were 5 years old. so your son might just be a late speaker.  

Answer 5

He'll look far behind next to his sister.  Boys are almost always slower than girls on language development.  

If the doc hasn't found anything physically wrong, he is just fine.  Sounds like he IS hitting the milestones if he is saying mama and dada.

Answer 6

I know 2 year old twin boys and they are only now waving and are not yet speaking clearly, yet their older sister started very early. Each child is different and I believe especially twins sort of develop their own language amongst each other and don't feel the need to talk as quickly.

Answer 7

boys tend to learn to talk slower than girls... i know b/c i have a younger sister and a younger brother. and my mom always tells me that my brother learned to talk slower than me and my sister. =) don't worry! he'll catch up!

Answer 8

if you are really worried you can take both kids to early intervention in your area for a free evaluation of their development. If the specialist sees an issue that needs attention they will tell you how to get free therapy too.

My son only said about 10 words when he was 2 years old. I took him to EI and he gets free speech therapy and a specialist comes for an hour a month to play with him and make sure he is making progress. My son has a neurological condition called developmental oral apraxia that caused his delay.  He has made tons of progress in just 7 months.

Answer 9

Don't worry.  Every child learns at their own pace.  And don't pay attention to people's remarks.  They're just ignorant.

Answer 10

It wouldn't hurt to get a hearing test done.  I'm not sure how they do it at age 1 but I know for newborns they have to be asleep so its really not a big deal.

As long as his hearing is normal he will catch up.  If his hearing isn't normal then that needs to be addressed -the sooner the better.

(PS remember when reading a milestone chart its always the later date that is the one you worry about.  Only a few, if any, children will meet the milestone at the early end of the range)

http://www.blankees.com/baby/speech/lan0...

6 months to age 1



    * understands some common words when used with gestures e.g.. "bye, bye", "up", "give me" and own name

    * tries to say sounds and words - "ba, ba", "na, na"

    * tries to sing along with radio/TV

    * laughs and may imitate a cough

warning signs

    * are you concerned about your child's responsiveness or babbling?

    * does your child have recurrent ear infections?

http://www.comeunity.com/disability/spee...

6 - 11 months   Yes   No

Understands "no-no." ___ ___

Babbles (says "ba-ba-ba" or "ma-ma-ma"). ___ ___

Tries to communicate by actions or gestures. ___ ___

Tries to repeat your sounds.