How Can I Help with My 7 Month Baby’s Language Development?

Have her ears tested every so often.
She's at prime time for teething and ear infections / fluid in the ears can make hearing difficult.
Talk and sing to her - I see you are already doing that and that's good.
While keeping track of her milestones is great - I'd really stop hedging questions around the autism thing.
You don't want to be obsessing about it.
Either she is or she isn't - it develops in the womb and manifests itself by 2 or 3 years old.
If you are that concerned then I'd see about moving closer to where you can see a doctor to get better help regarding autism.
Also - asking the same question over and over will eventually mean you are spamming.
Spam gets deleted.

i see that you have posted the same question twice. You really need to read the first set of answers.

I agree that being a first time parent is tough. However, you really need to stop stressing over this. I'm a mom of 4. Each one of my children developed differently, not one rolled at the same time as the first, nor walked or talked. I had a late talker. He didn't start babbling and that's BABBLING until he was 9 months old. The pediatrician was concerned, as were we, but we didn't push for a label or saying there is something seriously wrong. At 9 months, we he was walking and talking (yes, no, stop, go, no. you do it.) at the same time. He went from "soldier crawl" to pulling himself up and chasing after his older brothers. I'm not kidding in a span of 48 hours, walking and talking when before we were concerned. Now? He's 13 years old and won't shut up!! He's really smart. He pays attention before he talks too. He doesn't just talk to talk. He likes to learn.

Your daughter may be absorbing her world. She may be taking it all in like my son did and before you know it? She'll be yapping her head off and you'll laugh at yourself for thinking there was something wrong.

Please. Like other mom's have said. Please do not pigeon hole your daughter. She CAN pick up on YOUR stress.

like people told you in your first post, talk with your pediatrician.

Stop stressing over it. She is picking up on your stress.

Autism is NOT typically diagnosed at 7 months old. Why are you trying so hard to label your child?? I don't get it. Yes, monitor and pay attention. However, stressing yourself and your child out is NOT fixing it or making it better.

Work with your pediatrician. Stop looking for signs that she is autistic. Let her develop on her own and stop forcing her to be exactly where a book says she should be at 7 months. She has reached all over milestones - you stated it - some children don't talk early.

https://www.helpguide.org/articles/autism-learning-disabi...

I'm not sure why you think 7 month olds should have advanced language development. Mine didn't speak until 16 months of age. But he was doing other things at 7 months. He was standing alone at 8 months, but not talking. Other kids are the opposite. And there are many other milestones - which your daughter is hitting just fine.

If you are stressed, crying and agitated, your child is picking up on all of this. She may be a bit stunned into silence, unable to enjoy the world around her because her mother is so upset all the time. Don't think she doesn't know. She does. She's reading your cues.

There's no EI at 7 months in the US that I know of, and none of my many friends whose kids have autism were working so hard at this age to pre-determine a diagnosis the way you are. Autism is a spectrum, by the way. It's not a death sentence no matter what. But many people with autism have wonderful careers and fulfilling lives. I have 2 friends right now whose children with autism are in college, and another just graduated with honors from Tufts University a couple of years ago and has a great career.

Meantime, you are missing the joys of parenting, and your child is missing the fun of growing and being a normal baby, because of your fears. Stop this obsession now, please, for both of your sakes. Take your daughter outside to observe the beauties of nature. Let her put her feet in the lake or in the cool grass, show her pine cones or dandelions or whatever grows in your area. Let her feel the breeze on her face, some light raindrops on her cheeks, the warm sun on her arms. Stop and let her watch a stray cat or a neighbor's dog. Go to the grocery story or the farm stand, and let her touch a smooth banana, a fuzzy peach, a rough-skinned melon. Get some CDs or DVDs with baby music and dancing, and just clap and dance around with her. Fun fun fun! What else is in your area? Park with swings? Library with puppet area? Pond with ducks?

She's plenty old enough to sit on your lap and look at a book that you read. Stop "testing her" by making her point to things. You cannot, you must not, drive her so relentlessly into academic achievement. Babies and young children learn through play! So play with her. Put her in the bath with a funnel and a strainer and a few cups - let her see you pour water from one to the other. Make life a game, not a chore! If you cannot or will not do this yourself, then get a part-time babysitter or nanny, or trade something with a neighbor who loves children and has a zest for life. If you can't afford this, trade some services - do someone's laundry or ironing, give a ride to someone who needs one. Please expose your child to other people. She deserves to see some other faces than one that is worried all the time. She deserves to hear normal conversation from others who are not quizzing her on language mastery.

If you have concerns, make a list and then bring them up at next appointment.

Remember that milestones are a range - it's not that all babies hit them at a certain month. It may be over a number of months, and that within those months is still perfectly 'typical'.

I had the 'What to expect' books. My kids rarely hit milestone that first month they were 'supposed' to. Mine hit them the month after, or the following months. It was still within acceptable period for typical development.

One was not - for speech, standing, walking etc. Turned out he had fluid in his ears.

He passed the hearing tests. His hearing was muffled enough to distort sounds, but he could still hear. He was not a contented child though and wasn't happy. Balance was off.

Really - worrying about it won't help. My earliest talker was my last born and we did nothing special there - in fact, was probably the child we gave the least attention to.

Just make sure to have your daughter assessed by pediatrician. If you find yourself getting anxious to the point where you are upset - talk to your doctor.

start with reading all the responses in your first question about this.

you don't even know that your daughter has autism.

khairete
S.

Just keep doing what you're doing. Keep talking to her and read her books. I'm not sure what kind of language skills you expect from a seven month old, but just as she got caught up on most of her milestones when she turned 6 months, she will likely catch up on her language skills by 2-3 years (if she's even behind).

For your reference, I have two kids and they both said their first word after their first birthday -- my daughter at 15 months and my son at 14 months. They both said their first word relatively late, but once they got over the hurdle of saying their first word, their language developed very quickly.

A few people below mentioned teaching her baby sign language, which is a great idea. You can google or even YouTube some of the basic signs, such as milk, more, water, play, put in, take out, etc.

As for the smiling, my now 6 year old daughter was like yours -- it was really hard to get her to smile as an infant. We had to try really hard to get a smile out of her. But now, many comment that she always seems so happy because she always has a smile on her face.

Please don't cry yourself to sleep over this. I understand the anxiety that comes with being a first time parent as I was one myself not too long ago. But you have to constantly remind yourself that every child grows at a different rate. Give her some space and have patience.

I wonder if you edited your first message in a new post.

I suggest you ask your daughter's pediatrician what he thinks about your daughter's seeming lack of laughter and smiles as well.as speech. Your description is helpful. Show this to her doctor.

If you read and talk to her all day long, that is all you need to do. Milestones are a silly thing. Some kids hit none of them and then start talking 2 years ahead of their peers.Talk about everything: "it's time to change your diaper. you had a big pee! doesn't a clean diaper feel nice. shall we now go play with our ball."

There are so many great books. I'm a big fan of Sandra Boynton for babies. So many great words and sounds. Dr Seuss too!

I studied language acquisition for a time in grad school. read and talk. When shopping, describe: oh look at that large orange? shall we buy one?

Reading and talking one on one are the secret weapons to advanced language development. It really is that simple. Stop stressing. Enjoy your baby's smells. Keep on cuddling, reading and talking.

They are all so different. My first taught herself to read at 4. Fluently. She read Harry Potter at 5.5. My second didn't read at all till 8. He is fluent, but he couldn't read Harry potty. Maybe in a year. My last, at 5, who knows? She isn't reading yet.

My husband didn't say much until he could talk like an adult. Be patient. Your anxiety will make things worse. Just love and be present. That's the most important thing.

I loved learning baby sign language with mine kids when they were around that age. We got a video called "My Baby Can Talk". The key to making this work is that you sit with your baby and do the signs while you say the words along with the video so your baby can see you making the signs. You can also gently take their hands and help them make the signs. Once you learn them, you make the sign every time you say the word. My babies picked up the signs for "milk" and "dog" really quickly (funny because we don't have a dog but they got excited to see the neighbor's dogs), and added "more" pretty soon after. It's a great way to get communication started with your baby before they learn to put sounds together.

Being a first time mom is super hard and everything makes us worry! I don't think Autism will be diagnosed until she's at least 2, so take a deep breath and just focus on what you CAN do. THE BEST things to do are read to her all the time and talk to her all the time. Narrate what you are doing even if it's just a mundane task like emptying the dishwasher.

Google Parents as Teachers in your area. This is an outstanding program and although much of their funding is being cut, hopefully you have resources still available. They will help you through all these milestones and answer your questions from a professional standpoint.

She sounds like she is doing fine, just keep talking to her, singing to her, and reading to her. Don't use "baby talk" or silly voices, just talk to her about what she is doing, what you are doing etc. I work in a child development center and one of the main things we do to help develop communication is simply talk to them "Hey Alex, I am going to pick you up now so we can go get a dry diaper, would you like to go get a dry diaper on..........." etc. We also teach them simple sign starting from infancy, things like "more, milk, water, all done, please".

Well, I would not worry too much yet! She is so young and you can't really tell yet. Different kids learn to speak at different rates and it doesn't mean they have autism. My good friend's son was not speaking much at age 3...he spoke like a little caveman without full sentences most of the time. He was chatting away by Kindergarten and is a perfectly normal teenager now. My son was speaking great at age 3 and she always thought it was amazing how different they both were (they were best buddies). My cousin did not talk at all until he was between 2 and 3. He had all his needs taken care of and just took his time learning to talk since he didn't need to. My advice is read baby books to your daughter every day. Talk to her every day. Tell her what you are doing. Tell her what she is looking at. Point out colors, animals, shapes. As she gets older read more books to her. Point out letters and signs. Talk to her all the time. If you still are worried in a couple years from now start doing research on autism. Until then you can give her plenty of stimulation. Baby music time. Teach her baby sign language (milk, up, down, more, etc.). Outdoor time. Sensory activities (playing with a water table or sand table when she can stand up). Toddler story time at the local library. But I have to ask... are you someone who is prone to anxiety? If you are and tend to have repeating worries or thoughts that are not necessarily true then make sure to talk to your doctor about this and start seeing a therapist to work on coping mechanisms. Sorry...I don't mean to offend you if that is not the case.