Toddlers usually start talking with their first recognizable words between 12 and 18 months of age. Early on, they experiment with sounds like cooing and babbling from about 4 to 6 months, leading to simple sounds like "mama" or "dada" by around 7 to 12 months. The vocabulary then grows rapidly between 18 and 24 months, with many toddlers combining words into simple phrases by the age of 2. Key stages include:
- 0-3 months: Cooing and vocal experimentation.
- 4-6 months: Babbling starts with consonant-vowel sounds like "ba-ba."
- 7-12 months: More complex babbling and occasional simple words.
- 12-18 months: Most toddlers say their first meaningful words.
- 18-24 months: Vocabulary expands to 50 or more words, and toddlers begin to form simple two-word phrases like "more milk" or "go outside" and start putting together simple sentences by around 2 years old.
It's important to remember that speech development varies from child to child, and some may start talking a bit earlier or later depending on their individual development pace. If speech is significantly delayed beyond these typical ranges, it may be worth consulting a specialist, but many toddlers develop language skills at their own unique timing.
