17 month old still not talking much

My son is 17 months old and doesn’t say many words at all. I know some are late talkers and some may need help of a speech therapist. I just want to try and help my baby the best I can though.

He can sort of say kitty, booby, baby, mama, Mimi, pawpaw, “ewwiee,” getcha, Bobo, tickle, and stinky. I read that by 17months he should be saying around 30+ words.

He -has- been babbling gibberish a lot more often with in the last few days. He also makes this neighing sound ever since he was 11 months and grunts a lot too. People used to think he was pooping when he grunted as a smaller baby but he never was. He did it when he saw something he thought was interesting. I wasn’t sure if him grunting had anything to do with his speech or not.

I’ve tried to sit with him and show him word books and toys. But he gets really distracted really easily and can never sit still when I try to sit him and teach him the words. I didn’t know if there were different techniques that would work for teaching words or not, but any advice is helpful!

**It is hard not to compare with all the milestones and whatnot.

My son also understands phrases and stuff pretty well. I think kids just set their own pace. I would like to encourage him though, if possible. 😊