Home > Your toddler 12 months + > What your toddler’s saying at 12 - 18 months
Toddlers love to talk! Learn what to expect as they discover new ways to express themselves.
12 - 18 months: how your toddler's growing
Learn how your toddler's growing, and how girls start catching up with the boys.
12 - 18 months: what your toddler’s doing
From wobbly steps to adventurous jumps - find out how your toddler will be keeping you on your toes.
12 - 18 months: what your toddler’s seeing
Learn how the development of your toddler's eyesight opens a whole new world of games, play and skills.
12 - 18 months: your toddler’s bones
Learn how your toddler's bone structure is changing and which nutrients encourage healthy bone growth.
12 - 18 months: your toddler’s brain
Learn how your toddler's memory skills are developing and why the right fats are important for a healthy brain.
12 - 18 months: your toddler’s digestion
Learn about your toddler’s growing stomach, how much they should now be eating and why added salt and sugar are still a no-no.
12 - 18 months: feeding your toddler
Learn how to encourage a healthy, balanced diet, even when your toddler is asserting their newfound 'no' power!
Between 12 -18 months you’ll start to notice a huge improvement in your toddler's communication skills as words gradually evolve into phrases and requests.
Don't be too concerned if they don't seem to be using lots of words because at this stage they’ll understand far more than they can actually say. Rather than producing fully formed sentences, they’ll start by using single words to explain what they want, like ‘cup’ for ‘I want my cup’ and ‘teddy’ for ‘give me my teddy’.
Eventually, they’ll start putting two words together, like ‘play me’ when they want you to play with them, and they’ll begin to listen with great interest to what you're saying.
At this stage, your toddler is more than likely to want to join in nursery rhymes and songs – so it's a good idea to refresh your memory and recall your own childhood favourites!
Despite their ever-developing skills, it’s good to remember that at the 12 -18 month stage, a toddler’s vocabulary is still quite limited and they can't always express their emotions or tell you what they want quite as well as they would like… so be prepared for temper tantrums and fiery outbursts!
