Milestone for 10 Month Old

I am a Speech-Language Pathologist - I recommend to all parents with children who "mumble" to have an Audiological Evaluation done - not just a 'hearing screening' at the peditrician's office.. It's possible that he may have fluid in his middle ear, or impacted ear wax in the ear canal.

Just my 2 cents...

J.

C., you crack me up. The way I see it, if you son is healthy and active, he's on the right track. Some kids develop faster physically than linguistically. My son at 10 months said a lot of gibberish & said mama and dada to everything. He's 17 months now & still isn't saying mama consistantly. He says dada, but seems to be addressing both daddy and me. I run into the same concerns - am I doing something wrong, will he have to go to speech therapy, etc. But what keeps me level headed is that I see his advances. His vocabulary expands weekly - sometimes daily. I'm sure it will also help to talk to your pediatrician about these concerns at your next visit.

Also, my pediatrician said to start "brushing" their teeth with gauze when they start getting their teeth. I wasn't the best at being consistant b/c it seemed he was always teething. I've finally gotten into a routine to brush his teeth in front of the mirror while he's sitting on the sink. He seems to actually like it.

Best of luck to you.
S.

While the guidelines do have a purpose, they can cause a lot of unnecessary stress and worry for moms. Simply because you're concerned about it tells me you're a hands-on mom and probably naturally provide your son with the love, care and appropriate developmental stimuli. At 10 months, all you need to do is meet his needs, help him feel secure, talk to him, sing to him, read to him, and narrate your day around him. After that, he'll take what he wants and leave the rest. An active 10 month old boy is often more concerned with physically conquering the world around him than with letting anyone know what he's thinking, and much less bothering to verbalize it. Also at this age, kids have a very focused approach to development -- they often ignore one skill as they are developing another. If he's close to walking, that's all he can focus on right now. Chances are good that as soon as he takes his first steps, you'll hear him pick up a few words, or begin saying those things the experts say he's "supposed" to say.
For a broader range of "normal" development, I'd look at the ECI information rather than what the pediatrician uses.
http://www.dars.state.tx.us/ecis/resources/development.shtml

As far as teeth - we started both of ours at 6 months (with or without teeth). Every evening when we'd brush our own teeth before bed, we made it a family affair. We sat the baby on the counter in front of the mirror and handed him/her a wet baby toothbrush to gnaw on. They loved being included in this experience! We'd make all sorts of sound effects ("eeeeeee" and "ahhhhhh" and "ohhhhhh"). It wasn't long before the baby would mimic our actions (and sound effects!). After several days of toothbrushing fun, we attempted "mommy's turn" to brush the baby's teeth. We had to make it fun, so I'd say "OK, mommy's turn! I want to tickle your teeth!" and put my hand over the baby's hand (they usually had a death grip on the brush), and just try to swipe the brush across their teeth a little, then say "Bye-bye toothbrush" and put the brush away. Initially, parting with the toothbrush would upset the baby, but very soon they were readily letting me have a turn to brush their teeth, and saying "bye" to the brush as well. A good distraction to letting go of the toothbrush is picking them up to switch off the bathroom light.

Now, at 2 and 4, they both open wide for me to brush their teeth well, and they have both had dental checkups with no problem.

Good morning! Please don't stress. These "milestones" are broad strokes. My son wasn't waving or clapping at ten months either. Actually he wasn't even really pushing up or crawling by his nine month check up. His doctors weren't worried even though I was. Then a week later he pushed up, crawled, and pulled to standing. It literally happened in the course of a week! Now he's almost 15 months and is running and climbing and has tons of words. But, just to keep it in perspective, we have friends whose 14 month son isn't walking yet and other friends whose 18 month son has fewer words than ours. They just do things in their own time it seems. But I made myself sick reading about what my son should be doing. I've since put my books away and only use them for the occasional reference. I truly hope this makes you feel better because I remember how worried I felt!

Best,
M.

I am looking for a site that describes milestones for infants. Mine is 12 weeks old and I am looking to make sure he is on track. Where did you find the milestones you are describing above?

C.,

First, remember the milestones are guidelines. Kids develop at different speeds. Don't get stressed.

If you see he's like six to nine months behind, you can take him to your elementary school for a speech eval. ECI Homespun and your pediatrician also can do a comprehensive developmental eval. Two of my seven children needed speech therapy. They are now 10 and 7 and are completely caught up. As far as the waving goes, is he doing other things to communicate with his hands? Is he pointing, etc.?

I "brushed" my baby's teeth with a soft cloth daily.

God Bless!

Hey C.,
All kids are different.
I have 3 daughters.
My first was walking & talking in full sentences at age 9 months. YES it is TRUE! People used to ask me if she was a "little person" (midget, dwarf).

My 2nd daughter refused to walk & barely spoke until she was 2 years old. All of a sudden she discovered her voice & we couldn't shut her up. It was as if over night her entire vocabulary just came pouring out.

My 3rd daughter was kind of middle of the road although she would climb everything in sight. We had to watch her like a hawk cuz if you left the room for a minute she was climbing the entertainment center & trying to balance at the top of the TV. She has since broken the same arm 2 times, almost cut her toe off, slit her eyebrow & broken her nose.

- My oldest is now 16 & her IQ is just under genius (138).
- My 2nd daughter is 13 & passes all TAKS test just under commended (by like 1-2 points).
- My 3rd daughter is 10. Active in sports, has dyslexia and is on the A-B Honor Roll.

All child info is based on an average of the population of children. Be patient with your boy. It will all work out fine based on his own personal time line.

It's hard to read about all your child's development and not become overwhelmed, just remember they are just "guidelines". The way I see it is, if my son is performing most of the things mentioned in the "guidelines" I don't worry, but if he seems to be lacking more than half of the skills then I ask his pediatrician for a more through evaluation.

I started cleaning my son's teeth and gums when he started teething. I found this helped relieve some of his teething pain and kept his gums healthy. They have special teeth and gum cleaners for young children with no flouride so you don't worry about them swallowing the cleanser. This also taught my son to brush his teeth regulary now that he is 2.

Those are just guidelines. Every child develops at their own pace, I wouldn't be too concerned, if you are you can talk with your pediatrician. You can drive yourself nuts and frustrate your child by comparing him to those guidelines or to other children.

All children develope at different paces so just be patience and stop the expectations. Teach your baby and he will learn. Some babies they walk until they are two but they can talk at 9 or 10 months. So relax and aloow the baby to grow.

Bert

My son was slightly speech delayed and I had him evaluated through the state of Alabama while we were living there - they sent a speech pathologist once a month and a child development technician once a month and he is doing So good now ( he was three in July ). I really wouldn't start to worry until he's at least two. There are some great resources for signing for babies available at the library and on-line. You might try teaching him some basic signs so he doesn't get frustrated until he figures all that "talking stuff" out.

My son didn't walk till he was almost 2 and my nephew who is the same age as my son walked at 10 months but didn't really "talk" till he was almost 2. All kids are different.

As for brushing teeth and started "brushing" our sons teeth before he even got them because there gums can get infected. The best part I found is the earlier you start the more routine you establish and they actually want to do it. I may forget to brush his teeth but he always remembers. So start them early it works best.