Babbling - developmental question

[juliasdad]

Julia used to babble quite a bit. She especially liked to babble with things in her mouth; she couldn't put a finger or fist there without babbling.

She's now 5.5 months; for the last month or so, she's all but stopped verbalizing. Maybe an occassional sound, but for the most part, no more babbling.

I'm just curious as to what others' experiences have been.

Thanks!

-dan

[newbelly2002]

Dante did the same thing. He babbled from 3-5 mths like a fiend. Then he stopped for about a month. Now, in that month, his physical development shot up. He started turning over both ways, grabbing at things out of reach, and bgan to tuck his legs and arms underneath him in the initial stages of crawling. He has started up with the babbling again in the past week or so (just past 6 mths).

I remember reading somewhere that when one set of developments (verbal or physical) come, the other takes a respit. Or something like that.

Enjoy the quiet--the testing of the vocal cords (Especially the highest ranges, the dog is in constant torment) came next for us.

Paula

[atlbaby]

I've also read that often one developmental area (physical/verbal) will take a back seat while they are working on another one.

But oh my goodness the screeches Arielle made from around 7-10 months!! I thought I'd go crazy (and deaf)!! My mom used to say, 'why is she doing that?' all the time--like I *knew* or something, and furthermore like I could stop it! :-) So enjoy the quiet indeed!

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle Jill, 10/30/01

[sweetbasil]

I echo Paula and Rachel's experiences with our son. He got really good at rolling over for a while, then stopped to work on talking. Then started working on sitting up, then....

Really, these days with him talking to me *all* the time, I can barely remember the sweet little baby-babble stage. I remember going to lunch with a girlfriend who has a little girl Kellen's age--- it was so nice to see them making the same sounds, so I knew it was not just our little boy who loved to hear himself. Those little girls, though, they've got the market cornered on the shriek, shrill noises- even Kellen would cringe when the playgroup girls squealed....

Enjoy!

[juliasdad]

Thanks, all! I do remember reading that idea of various branches of development taking a "back seat" at times while other areas progress; it didn't occur to me, though, that an area might actually seem to regress. Nice to know that others have seen the same thing.

We'll just take your advice and treasure these quiet moments! :-)

-dan

[COElizabeth]

There's a really interesting book called "What's going on in there?" about baby and young child brain development. I actually bought it after reading a rec on this board. Anyway, the neuroscientist who wrote it said something about that early babbling being called "pre-speech" and it fading away for a time before the baby starts up again with real words. At least, that is what I remember. You might check it out if you are interested in learning more. It's a fascinating book.

Elizabeth
Mom to James
9-20-02