16months, not talking much

I have a 16 month old boy, and he's not talking much. I may be just paranoid, but all he reallty says is mama and dada, or daddy. Every not and then he may say other words like 'hey' or 'dog'. On one hand that worries me, but on the other hand he bumfuzzles me because he can seperate things by color. Anyway, does anyone know if his stage of talking is normal?

[mom2threeChildren]

My son is fifteen 1/5 months and doesn't talk.  Some talk later than others, I wouldn't worry.  He's my third and he babbles, barely says mama or dada, but he knows exactly what I'm saying to him.
Give him time.  He'll learn to talk before you know it.

[Bruingirl]

The only thing I might suggest is to have a hearing test completed. I knew someone who had a daughter that needed tubes in her ears (everything sounded like being in a swimming pool). Otherwise, I would not worry every child tends to have their own schedule; if he starts missing the mark on other milestones then maybe look for some more advice. Good luck!

[jenniepepsi]

alot of times with children that have one or 2 siblings ahead of them, they dont talk as soon as the first do, because they always have big sis/bro to speak for them :D plus, with your first baby, your attention is totally completely on them, and when you have more children its spread out some (never any less, but more spread out u know?) doctors normally dont start to worrie about speach untill they are 2, unless the child is making NO sounds or effort at all. and babble IS an effort :D

[CUTSHALLEST04]

My daughter didn't utter a word until she was 18 months old.  But to be on the safe side, I would have his ears checked to make sure he isn't getting ear infections.  My daughter was and had no symptoms.  She got tubes and now never shuts up!!  I love it!!

[tdub321]

I wouldn't worry yet.  My almost 3 year old had very little language at 17 months -- a few words like mama, daddy, ball, baby... she would imitate a few words but didn't use them regularly, and did a lot of grunting and pointing to get her message across.  Within a few months her vocabulary exploded and now she has normal, probably advanced language skills.  

I talked to my friend who is a speech therapist and she gave me some advice for advancing her lanaguge, like copying her sounds and words, "taking turns" with her when she was babbling like it was a conversation, talking to her about what she was doing "you are rolling the ball! " and expanding what little she did say.. like if she said "ba" for ball I would say, "yes, it's a big red ball!  Roll the ball..." or something.  

I would only be concerned if he had no intentional communication, as in, he didn't use some form of communication like grunting, gesturing, eye gaze, to purposely get your attention or point things out, request things, protest, etc; or if you have suspicion that he can't hear you.