Q: I have a 1 year 11 months old baby. My first question is about his development regarding speech. His speaking ability is like, now he speaks amma, appa, grandpa, grandma, some of his friends name, some animals name and some more. But he is not able to form sentences or join two words. The second question is, he has repeated colds, that means, he will have cold and for that he will be given medicine. Within the course of medicine he will be ok but, say within 10 days again the cold will come. As this continues to be a trend I shifted to homeopathic treatment. There I saw much improvement but not upto the mark. Why is it so?

A:Regarding answer to your first question about speech of your child who is nearing 2 years of age is that if he understands and responds to when called or talked to, carries out simple commands, and says amma, appa etc to these relations with meaning, and has a vocabulary of about 30-40 words, I think there is no need to worry. Some children have slightly delayed speech, specially if one of the parents had similar speech. You can talk to your child, recite nursery poems, read stories to him and stimulate him with words, it will enhance his speech. If in the next 3 months there is no increase in spoken speech, you can consult a doctor to test his hearing and also to see that other developmental fields are normal. Your second question about frequent colds, it can be allergic or infections. I presume your child is vaccinated well. You should consult an ENT specialist to check the ears for otitis media or sinusitis and advise proper treatment. If there is fluid in middle ear that can also effect speech as hearing gets impaired. Homeopathic medicines take a longer time to treat, may be if you continue for longer period you will find better results.