My 8 month old baby doesn't babble

Question

My 8 month baby doesn't babble in terms of saying baa gaga Dada ma etc..he does do a lot of "ah" and "eh" in different tones...He is very happy and active otherwise i am sure its nothing wrong with his hearing as he turns to noise..should I be concerned about this and maybe see a doctor ?

Answer 1

Whenever you are concerned, you should at least call your child's doctor. That's what they are there for (I know because I'm a physician who did Family Medicine before switching, and I did a lot of deliveries and Pediatrics.) Parents worry. It's normal. Part of my job was to listen, teach, and evaluate to address their concerns.

No one on the internet can tell you from the limited information you've given if your baby has a problem or not. Babies are individuals who verbalize at different rates, though it tends to be fairly consistent. However, there is a range of normal that spans months.

If you look at this source, you'll see that at 8 months he should be babbling (consonant-vowel sounds) and combining syllables. "Ahhgooo" is a common first "word" with combined syllables (I have no idea why, but I've seen it so often that I would ask parents, have they said "ahhgooo" yet?). But if you look at the chart, you'll see that he falls early in the blue region, which means 75% of children have already reached this milestone at this age, in other words, delayed but not abnormal.

Your baby should be having frequent visits at this stage (around every two months.) If everything is otherwise normal, and his hearing seems ok to the examiner (who should check their ears for fluid), it should be ok to take a "watch and wait" approach for another few weeks.

If all else is normal, the major concern at this point is the baby's hearing, so don't be surprised or concerned if a hearing evaluation is ordered. You should get the results the same day.

_{N.B.: The Denver II chart is older and a bit less accurate in diagnosing problems, and your provider may use one of several newer evaluation metrics, e.g. the ASQ-II, or the online only PEDStestOnline, but parental access to these is limited or costly.}