When should a baby start talking?

What the evidence says

Talking develops in stages, and Canadian sources track it this way. By 4 months, babies begin distinguishing the sounds of their own language and start babbling repeated sounds like 'ba-ba' or 'ma-ma'. By 12 months, many babies say one or two meaningful words and understand far more than they can say.

By 15 months, most try to say a word or two besides 'mama' or 'dada'. By 18-24 months, many combine two words together, like 'more milk'. There is a wide range of normal.

Some children are early talkers, others are late bloomers, and boys tend to develop language somewhat later than girls on average. A 'late talker' is a term used for toddlers aged 18-35 months who are behind on language but otherwise developing typically; this affects roughly 10-15% of toddlers, and many catch up by age 3-4. Hearing matters a lot for speech development, so Canadian guidelines recommend that all newborns get a hearing screen, since undetected hearing loss is a common and treatable cause of speech delay.

If you're worried your child isn't meeting milestones, isn't babbling by 12 months, has very few words by 2 years, or seems to have lost skills, it's worth mentioning to your doctor rather than just waiting, since early support tends to help. Remember these are population averages, not strict deadlines. If your baby is understanding language, using gestures, and making steady progress, that's often more reassuring than the exact word count.