Couple questions about my 8 month old DD

[IVFMiracle05]

Hi everyone,
I had a couple questions about my DD. First, when did your DC start to respond to his/her name? Mine isn't really responding yet consistantly- sometimes she'll look at us when we call her but not sure if she's just responding to our voices because sometimes she won't even look at us. Maybe she's just already got "selective hearing." LOL My second question is how much does/did your 8 month old "babble?" My developmental book says between 6-9 months they should be saying consanant sounds such as "ah, da, ba, ma, di, mu" but she's only doing the "ah" sound occasionally. THe rest of the time she sounds like a little chimpanzee with all her grunting noises. I realize all babies develop in their own timeline but it's so hard not to worry after reading all these darn books. I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to help her develop normally. Since she's my first I don't really have anything to compare to. Anyway, any help or advice is welcome and greatly apprieciated.
Thanks in advance,
Tamara and Kylee (8 months)

[californiagirl]

Mine was a big babbler, but not consistent about responding to her name until over a year. And she didn't say "Mama" until after she got her first big language burst at 14.5 months and didn't say "Daddy" until 18.5 months, by which time she had about 200 words! Babies don't read development books.

[cbm]

Please don't worry. I think books are designed to panic new parents. I just went to the 9 months appointment. The pediatrician asked if DS was saying anything. I said he said ba ba ba and ma ma ma for a few days and then nothing. The doctor said he wasn't expecting DS to say anything at this age. My DS does those chimpanzee sounds too :-). Sometimes he sounds like a bird :-). It is really funny when he does it at the store and makes people turn around :-).
At any rate, some will say ba, da, ma and so on, but it isn't going to be the way new parents imagine. At 8 months is too early to see if she has a language problem, and you are doing fine. There isn't much you can do at this stage except loving her and talk to her. As you said, children will do things when they are ready for it.
My suggestion is to throw away the books or at least put them on the side and refer to them occasionally. Actually, it is really funny to read them after the baby has passed the stage.
As usual, my experience.

ETA: DS has been responding to his name for a few months. Although he responds most of the time, there are times when he doesn't even look at us. I think it is normal for their age. Probably our DC are practising how to ignore their parents :-).

Claudia.

DS 12/18/04

[SummerBaby]

Hi- I can't remember when my DD responded to her name. Definitely by 9 months, but I'm not sure if she did it consistently at 8 months.
As for babbling, I was really worried about this because, as you know, the "books" say babies should start saying ba-ba, ma-ma, etc at 6 months. DD was always very vocal (and also did a lot of chimp like screeching), but she never made any consanant sounds until she was 9 months. I laugh at this now because she ended up knowing about 8 words by a year old, which is ahead of schedule (the only thing she's been early on, btw). I would bring it up to your ped at her next visit and just relax. Around 8 months is when I stopped reading the books!

Val
Mom to Madeline
7/28/04

[IVFMiracle05]

Hi,
I wanted to say a quick thank you for your responses. They really helped me relax. I'm gonna put the book aside for awhile because all it does is make me worry. As I see from all your posts, babies really do master things when they are ready.
Thanks again,
Tamara and Kylee (8 months)

[Hippoharbor]

My 7.5 mth old DS hardly ever responds to his name and only responds to us talking to him half the time (hearing test at peds office couple wks ago was normal).

He started saying ba-ba-ba-ba at 6.5 mths and just started ma-ma-ma-ma 1 wk ago.

Please try not to worry and remember that these precious kids of ours do not follow "the book". I was really concerned about DS not responding to us and convinced myself that he had Autism, but over the last week, he really has started to be more responsive.

I hope Kylee starts to babble more soon for you.

Michelle