Is his development normal??

He sounds pretty much average to me honey, I wouldn't worry a few of my friends have children around that age and none of them dress themselves. My nephew Leo is nearly 18 months and he does not dress himself he can put his welly boots on himself and he does feed himself but he only speaks words similar to your sons and doesn't say full sentences yet either so I wouldn't worry you could maybe encourage him to dress himself helping him out at the same time and the same with feeding himself but I don't think there is any need for you to be worried x x x

hiya as everyone has said he will develop at his own speed my son is 22 months and now he copys evaything you say or he trys to but wen he was 17 months he would say the normall wards.u will get to a point wen all of a sudden you will be like wow where he learn that as for feeding himself i know loads whos children dont feed themselves at his age but my son wanted to at 14 months so i just let him have a spoon and now he uses spoon and folk and wont let me help but he does still go bk to hands at some point to.

Sounds pretty normal to me. Once he has about 50 words he should start putting them together, The average child does this at 21-22 months- but HALF of all babies are later than this. As to feeding himself- do you give him a spoon? Do you give him little bits of food to pick up?
Boys are oftern later than girls- and both boys and girls need practice. Girls are also often quicker to dress themselves. Zips are impossible for babies of this age- let him try with vests and pants. Put them down in posVest face down pants face up- so he picks them up correctly. Make sure its easy to tell the neck and waist from the arm and leg holes. make a game of it- and if he shows no interest wait awhile.
A neat way to put on a coat is to put it on the floor front up. Get him to stand at the head end- burrow his arms into coat arms and swing the coat over his head.
Dorothy Einon

I wouldnt worry about it. Those things, in my opinion are way ahead of what your child should be. Your baby sounds fine, he's doing everything my son did at 17 monthes and the health visitor has always said he's doing well with his development. I wouldnt worry about him not being able to feed himself with a spoon, I started trying to get my son to feed himself at 2 monthes ago (he's now 22 monthes) and he just uses his hand because it's easier. I spoke to the health visitor about it on friday and she said it's completely normal for a toddler to use their hands and not use a spoon, she said its just that it's easier and quicker for them. She said not to encourage them or force them to use a spoon because they may get distressed at meal times and cause more problems, she said just provide a spoon anyway and he'll use it when he's ready to. My son doesnt really try to dress himself as such, he lofts up his leg to put his pants on or for me to put a sock or shoe on his foot, but otherwise he doesnt doing anything apart from take his pj trousurs off. Your baby sounds fine, I wouldnt take those updates to heart if i was you xxx

He sounds just like my daughter did when she was his age - I wouldn't be worried at all xx

I wouldn't take too much notice. It's just a guideline and whilst he might not be doing somethings he may be doing things that aren't expected at his age. From what you've said he sounds about where he should be. HTH X

Hi all, first time user! I just read my 17 month gurgle update and kinda teensy bit panic'd, not major but he isn't doing anything they mention. I wonder how flexible this is. What should I definitely expect from a 17 month boy in terms of speech, movements and other developments. HE runs, dances, says "flower, dog, duck, dad, mum, car, door, and the sounds of alot of things" and some other babbles that kinda makes sense to me. He has always been physically strong and ahead in development acc. to health visitors and GP etc but he doesn't feed himself (with spoon) or try to dress him self? Should I be doing something to encourage more independence in him or some exercises to get him more developed?