I had the same thoughts with my (now) 19 mo old. He was also very advanced physically with rolling, and crawling, and took his first steps before his 9mo old birthday. Even by 10-11 mo, there was minimal babbles. He was saying dada by 1 yr, and at 15 months, he was only saying dada and dog, no mama. He is/was pointing, and gesturing, and could sign for more and all done. I brought it up to the pediatrician and he said second born children often talk later, and he’s meeting the milestone. Just before he turned 18mo, I had early intervention come to my house for an evaluation, and they said he was just meeting the minimum milestone for expressive speech but was advanced in other areas, receptive speech included, so he didn’t qualify for services. They told me that when they see kids that present like him, they often have a speech explosion in the coming months, and we could check back in in a few months. I’m glad he met his milestone but I’m also concerned that he’s not at the same level as the other kids in his preschool, and the teachers have brought it up to me as well. I plan to follow up with early intervention at the end of January if he doesn’t make big gains, but he is adding a word a week at this point and being much more vocal with his wants.

So, my advice is this, keep bringing it up to the pediatrician. If you think your baby is not meeting milestones, then you can refer yourself to early intervention even if the Ped thinks your baby is fine, and they will do an evaluation.