My 10-Month-Old Baby Is Not Talking Or Gesturing – What Do I Do Wrong?

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Mom’s Question:

My 10-month-old baby is not talking.

I stayed home with my son until he was 4 months before putting him into daycare. I couldn’t bear it, so I became a full time stay at home mommy when my son was 8 months.

I feel like maybe I’m failing him. He only says “dadadada” and other babble all day. However, he doesn’t say mama, bye bye, no, or any other legible word. He also doesn’t shake his head “no” like a lot of other babies.

I am worried because maybe he isn’t getting what he needs at home. I would hate to stunt his development because I’m not doing something right. He is very active, demanding, sweet, always on the move, trying to walk, and dances/sing-babble along with music, but won’t speak. He also won’t imitate sounds either like other babies.

Please advise if you think he needs more formal care. Thank you so much.

Easy Baby Life:

10-month-old Baby is Not Talking – What to Do?

Congratulations on deciding to stay at home with your baby. You are doing the BEST thing possible! It is such a dilemma for parents who want to continue their career, or need the financial input from both parents, but have to put a baby in daycare.

A baby cannot possibly get much one on one attention in a daycare situation unless the ratio of adults to children is a max of 2:1. If one baby is crying, the other baby is on its own. I have yet to hear of a daycare where that was happening. You are definitely NOT stunting his development. Sure they often have formal programs they try to work to, but increasing evidence shows babies do much better at home with Mom, so long as Mom is happy to be doing that. An unhappy Mom makes an unhappy baby.

Should Babies Be Talking at 10 Months?

Now in terms of his talking, don’t worry about it – babies at that age mostly make noises and we think they are saying, Mom or Dada. His development has mostly been getting control of his body, trying to grasp, learning to sit and crawl, etc. You can learn more about 10-month baby development here.

Is he interacting with you? Does he react when you talk to him, or when he hear sounds? Most babies say their first word at some point between 10 and 14 months of age, so he is definitely not “late” yet!

He will understand a lot of what you say, particularly repetitive words like Mommy and Daddy, drink, names of pets, etc. Babies can actually learn sign language far quicker than talking.

All babies develop at different paces, so don’t compare him with other children; it sounds like he is doing really well. Some babies are still not crawling at 10 months, let alone trying to walk. If you look around, I am pretty sure that you will see some 10-month-old babies that are definitely NOT trying walk, like your son. Instead, they may be focusing on pointing or babbling – or none of it yet!

Browse through our baby development video gallery and you’ll see what I mean. :-)

How to Stimulate Your Baby’s Talking at Home

Eye Contact and Noises

Make sure you spend lots of time with him making eye contact and making noises. Babies learn by watching more than listening, so show him how your mouth moves, make noises like pop pop pop, baby, boo, etc. When you talk to him let him see your face.

Read and sing

Read stories to him, sing rhymes, and songs with actions. It sounds like he is very active, and he is probably more interested in getting into action than concentrating on talking.

You can see if there are Mommy and Baby classes in your area, sometimes there are Rhyme Time classes, or the local library might have baby story days. There may be a playgroup where you can meet other Moms and your baby will get the stimulation of other babies and children.

Variation and talking

The whole world is an exciting place for a baby, give him lots of variety, new experiences, and talk to him all the time about what you are doing, where you are going.

Take him to the park and let him touch the bark on the trees, shred a leaf, feel the sticks, bare feet on the grass. Lots of tactile experiences, and again, explain and talk about them so you are giving language to his new experiences. If you want more ideas, you’ll find baby activities tips here.

Here are more ideas on how to teach your baby to talk.

Of course, if you are at all worried about his hearing or if there are developmental milestones that he seems to be missing, certainly discuss the matter with a doctor. But simply not talking at 10 months, is NOT as reason to worry.

By the time he is three, you won’t be able to shut him up! There will be endless why questions and he will tell you long long stories about what he is doing. So just relax and trust you doing the best thing for him. He is a lucky boy to have a Mom who could choose to stay at home.

Have fun with him! All the best,

Paula

More About 10-Month-Old Babies

• 10 month old wants to be carried all the time
• No teeth at 11 months old
• All posts about 10-month-old babies

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Paula Dennholt

Paula Dennholt founded Easy Baby Life in 2006 and has been a passionate parenting and pregnancy writer since then. Her parenting approach and writing are based on studies in cognitive-behavioral models and therapy for children and her experience as a mother and stepmother. Life as a parent has convinced her of how crucial it is to put relationships before rules. She strongly believes in positive parenting and a science-based approach.

Paula cooperates with a team of pediatricians who assist in reviewing and writing articles.