Babble to hum... no more babble :(

Okay, it's probably totally normal, and I'm overreacting, but DH and I were just talking about it and now I'm in a tizz..

DS started babbling reaaallllly early- like, 3 weeks old and he chatted away a lot, was never quiet. Lots of vowels, goo, da, mam, mum, bub, eeee aaaa ... etc. We also had lots of raspberries and 'singing'.

Now he's 7 months old and I'm not sure when it started but he just hums... mmmmmm a couple of different tones, but it's pretty monotonous.

Do you think he just likes the feel of it? Or is it something I should be worried about?

He is to busy working on other things, moving about is much more fun! Ds does it during the day too. Dont worry he will chat away soon, it's just not fun when it's 3am.

My DS2 was exactly like this. He could say loads of words very early on and then all of a sudden they stopped and he began humming. I noticed the words slowed down when he started to do something new, like crawling, walking, jumping etc. He is now 4 and probably a little behind on his words, but not by much.

At 7 months, I'd say it's just a phase where he's experimenting with a new trick he's discovered. DD went through a couple of weeks after she discovered she could click her tongue that all she did was 'click click click' after months of babble. We've also had phases of teeth grinding and spit-bubble blowing (yes, charming!). At 23 months she now has a massive vocab and speaks in sentences, asks questions and uses pronouns, plurals and past-tense correctly... so no issue with language development.

I thing it's just a healthy and normal part of them practicing oral-motor skills. And, as others said, sometimes focus shifts onto developing, say, motor skills and language development stalls for a while. I would only see cause to worry if you've noticed regression in other areas such as motor skills or social engagement.

Hope that helps. oxo

PS. I know how easy it is to get yourself into a tizz about this stuff. I work in early childhood development and have practically turned myself inside out a few times scrutinizing behaviour and development! Try and relax and enjoy your little hummer... he'll be talking your ear off before you know it!!