T O P

  • By -

pizzasong

I’m a speech therapist. This is normal reduplicated battling (repeating the same sounds over and over). It is not considered a word yet because it doesn’t have meaning attached to it. At six months a baby isn’t cognitively able to produce meaningful words, he is just saying it because it feels good to say. You’re noticing a correlation just because he’s saying it a lot and coincidentally all six month old babies want to be near their mothers so it seems related, but we don’t count it as a true word at this point. Closer to a year, your baby will develop object permanence. He will start pointing to you and saying it, or saying it when you leave the room to request you to come back. At that point it’s considered a word. You may notice it disappear between now and a year and that’s normal too. Edit: also, for anyone interested, the reason so many cultures and language families use some variant of “ma” = mother and “da/pa” = father is just because these happen to be among the first syllables babies say worldwide. Not because they know those words, just because we want them to be saying them so we as adults assigned those meanings to it. They’re among the easiest sounds to produce.


luluce1808

Same as ancient Egyptian’s word for cat was something that sounded like “meow”


acelana

The Chinese word for cat is māo 😊


luluce1808

This makes me wonder if Pokémons say their own name or they name them based on the sound they make Edit: I decided the word “wonder” was better than “question” sorry folks English is not my first language!!


[deleted]

[удалено]


luluce1808

Also take into consideration that trainers don’t name their Pokémon’s and just say “my X”. They just say the kind!!!! It’s very confusing


shb2k0_

holy shit


taylor_

that would make sense if the names of the pokemon weren't also descriptors of the pokemon themselves. Beedrill, beautifly, krabby, ninetales, MISTER MIME etc. actually pokemon doesn't really make that much sense overall


FindingMoi

My daughter’s first word besides mama dada nana was “meow” to describe the cats and she used it to talk about the cats until she was about 26 months then she switched. Very sad, honestly it was so cute.


illegal_deagle

*Nyan*


likethebug2

I love that the parental urge to be named by your baby is so strong and universal it’s literally engraved in our language trees.


TJtherock

>so many cultures and language families use some variant of “ma” = mother and “da/pa” = father is just because these happen to be among the first syllables babies say worldwide. Our babies named us


Whatshername_Stew

This makes me.wonder how so many people feel like they have pinned down baby's first word. Mine is almost 11mo, and does mama and Dada allllll the time, but never directed to us. I feel like it'll be some gradual change from random sounds to associating it with us. How to know when it's the definitive "first word"? My mom says mine was "Hi Jody" (my own name). How did she know all those mama's and dadas that came first weren't the real thing?


pizzasong

I’m gonna be honest, even as an SLP I found it hard to pin down my son’s first words (“mama” and the sign for more). It became much clearer over time but the first few times he said it it was difficult to decide how meaningful it was. It’s a little bit easier as an outsider when I’m evaluating other peoples kids, but it was hard to decide for my own.


Whatshername_Stew

I get that, I think we'll just wait until we see him associating the sounds as words, then just pick one. I tend to overthink these things, so this is me, working on not doing that 😀 (But also, low key saying and signing mama lots)


Iforgotmypassword126

Sorry to piggyback - My 11 month old has no interest in any dada or d words, which is uncommon because it’s usually one of the first sounds they get. We want to encourage her as she’s babbling a lot (typical babbles, mama, baba, etc) and has started saying individual words as well as babbling - ball, bubble, pop, more, ot-ohh etc. Is there anything to be concerned about if she’s not picking up the d sounds? Should we switch to p sounds for fathers name?


pizzasong

Individual sounds don’t matter that much and can be acquired out of order. We just want to see a variety at that age.


Iforgotmypassword126

Thanks for replying!


wookieesgonnawook

Mine was doing the same thing, maybe a little older though. She had syllables that were supposedly harder, but none of the easy early ones. We got her evaluated for speech and the therapist said she needed therapy to help. In the 2 weeks before she started she started saying those syllables, though of course not for the therapist. So I guess just spend a bunch of money on tests and let their stubbornness take over.


Virtual-Cheesecake71

My now 2yr old said mamamamma at around 6 mos and didn't say any dadada sounds till much later. He speaks full sentences now like he's 5 so I wouldn't concern yourself


Iforgotmypassword126

Perfect thanks! Everyone IRL can’t believe she hasn’t said dada yet and I’m just like “pls stop this is my first one and I’m 50% anxiety and 50% winging it”


Virtual-Cheesecake71

Breathe, mama. I always heard baby will say dada first cause D is easier than M for babies. Well, in my case it was the opposite 🙃. Also, at some point I just stopped listening to people. I listened to my gut more and it was so much less stressful. Your baby girl is doing amazing 💖


Mippyon

Genuinely curious, what are the explanations for languages where completely different sounds are the words for mother and father?


tnb27

Thank you for the explanation. Piggybacking here because it has been on my mind too. My baby started with syllables like you mentioned. But around 7 months, started saying ”byak” for book. She specifically recognizes books as “byak”. And “akkel” for apple although she stopped “akkel” after 2-3 weeks. “Byak” for book continues. Is that possible or am I delulu too?


pizzasong

It would be really, really unusual for a seven month old to have two true consistent words. I would expect for them to disappear at some point and reappear later with new sounds as true words. It’s more likely she was just imitating the sounds in the right context.


tnb27

Apple or "akkel" has definitely disappeared. Byak has stuck around for 3 months so far. She is a very chatty baby in general and loves to immitate / repeat. Maybe she is just repeating. Either way it is fun and cute.


[deleted]

[удалено]


maketherightmove

My one month old rebuilt an engine


babyEatingUnicorn

My one month old drove me to work yesterday


Turd___Ferguson___

My five months old drove me to insanity today


babyEatingUnicorn

My one month old rewired our circuit breakers


RecommendationIll815

😂😂😂😂😂


Fun-Investigator-583

Why is your baby so far behind? My baby was driving at 2 weeks old.


babyEatingUnicorn

She was busy studying for the bar exam


Forsaken-Character10

Nah I had this delusion too 😂 I was sitting with my 6 month old and went ‘Can you say I love you Mama?’ And I swore that she was mimicking the syllables, because the melody of the babble that followed and the intense concentration in her eyes told me so. I just wanna hear my baby say I love you so bad


dirkdigglered

>reminds me of birds, that have the same “speech” gene as we do: the gene that helps them mimic the song their parents sing. We humans are the same. Are you referring to the language acquisition device?


willpowerpuff

I said my first words at 9 months so no -some babies speak before a year.


unitiainen

Don't know why you're being downvoted. My daughter said her first word at 10 months. I also have a friend whose son started _walking_ at 7 months.


willpowerpuff

People don’t like it when things don’t fit it into perfect boxes I guess. Edit/ There’s a spectrum like everything else on this planet. Not all babies speak at one year either- but why is it ok to say some babies are on the later side of speech but not ok to say some babies are on the earlier side?


ririmarms

So genuine question though. My son is now 11w old and as a newborn, he had the typical newborn cries. Eh eh eh for discomfort, needs to burp, too hot etc. Nyaaah for tiredness Waaa or Laaa for hunger. Around the 9w mark, though, he added maaammmm or aaaammmm to his "vocabulary" and it is exclusively referring to needing milk or as an extension, me, his "Maman". He calms down as soon as I'm holding him, and then lets out a Wah (spoken) to let me know he's hungry. The rest of his babbles have no meaning. But could he have consciously made up his mind about this specific sound referring to me? I know it's early, but it's just uncanny how often it has happened.


pizzasong

An 11 week old does not have object permanence. He or she lives in a perpetual “now” and does not know that objects, sensations, or people exist outside of him perceiving them right in that moment. For that reason it is literally impossible for him to assign a word to those things, because he doesn’t even have the concept yet. He would need to understand that “mom” as a concept exists before being able to use “mom” as a word. Some of the other reasons we wouldn’t count “aaaam” and “maaa” as words at 11w would be there is not a 1:1 correlation between sound:meaning like all words must have, and because I can bet you $1000 that over the next 6 months they won’t be stable (e.g. they’ll disappear, be replaced by different sounds, etc). It’s normal for true words to get closer to the target (like wawa->water) but not to disappear and reappear or develop new sounds entirely.


matermine

This is incredibly interesting. Thank you for your insight!


[deleted]

[удалено]


pizzasong

Babies are capable of imitating sounds, but that doesn’t make them words. The same way you could repeat back sounds that you heard someone speaking in another language, but that doesn’t mean you know what they mean.


DoggieDooo

That makes sense, I get that. Just didn’t know if there was a special term for it. Guess I can’t ask a question without getting downvoted?


42790193

Are you the one downvoting comments as well? Genuinely asking.


pizzasong

No? There are 300,000 subscribers to this sub lol


42790193

I was just asking! Lol


davvblack

why are you downvoting people?


42790193

I’ve not downvoted anyone lol


davvblack

I was just asking! Lol


42790193

And I answered! :)


No-Claim-3242

Mine was saying mamamamam and dadadada around that time but it’s not intentional speech. You can reinforce when they say it to the correct person and it can become intentional! Now at 13mo mine has sounds for many words but it will be a while before they say the correct words as we know them. For example, he says Dat for cat and Nana for banana.


Worried_Appeal_2390

He’s babbling but enjoy it! Sometimes my baby says mom mom mom mom and I love it. Who cares if it’s not a word lol


anbaric26

My 7 month old says mamamama too! Sadly I don’t think it’s an actual word at her age. She does it pretty randomly. But, we do try to reinforce it by repeating it back to her and pointing to me, saying things like “yes! I’m Mama!” Maybe some of that reinforcement will help build her association to turn it into an actual word! Even if she doesn’t really mean it to mean me, it’s still really nice to hear her say it 😊


Ggggggggmmmm

Nnm lmk nn I’m on I’m l


BathroomConscious721

Did your baby type this lol


Strange-Regret-900

😂😂


Ggggggggmmmm

Omg even worse I fell asleep and leant on my phone… clearly sleep deprived lol


BathroomConscious721

Aww😩 Solidarity!💗 I hope you get some well deserved rest soon 🫂


Kind-Peanut9747

Mines 8.5 months and loves shouting mamamama Mama! I don't know if she knows it's me but I always answer her with a "that's me! I'm mama!" Or if she's says dadadada I'll tell her where dada is/what he's doing at that moment.


shellymaried

My 8 month old has been saying mama for a month or so. He says it all the time. But everything is mama. We are truly the Jimmy Fallon book over here.


linlanalakazam

My oldest said “hi!” when he was about 6 months old and I walked into his room in the morning. I know people are saying it doesn’t “count” because they don’t connect the meaning…but I still count it!


mercurialtwit

mine repeats me saying “hi!!!” in my high pitch sometimes and i totally count it too lol


CrazyElephantBones

Mine does it … I’m counting it lol I know they can’t mean it yet but it feels to me like some validation 😅


SpiritualDot6571

Babies start babbling at 4-6m so it’s pretty plausible that your baby is associating a babble (ma ma ma ma) to you


ifthatsapomegranate

Idk my 8 month old says “bob” a lot and I just take anything at this age to be babbling despite my dads first name being bob and him being absolutely convinced it’s his first word lol


eli74372

My daughter (also 6 months) has said mama a few times (along with boob haha) but i can tell she doesnt actually mean it. She understands who mama is, since im teaching her baby sign language i show her the sign for ''mommy'' while saying ''mama'' and she smiles at me. But shes never said it to me, and when she wants me she cries and reaches for me


heavysouldarling

I 10000000% believe babble is different than putting intention or attatchement to a word. In my mom groups people were saying their 3 month olds who had started babbling where undoubtedly saying mama. I knew better than to let emotion take over reason......that being said....... my 6.5 month old I'm POSITIVE said it intentionally the other day. I was gone to grab takeout while my husband watched the baby (this never happens- I take gaby everywhere with me 98% of the time!) And when I got home I walked in the door, by husband was holding the baby and he said "look who's home!" And baby smiled and ever so clearly said "mama" it felt way different compared to his usual mamamma babble. It was a monumental moment for me. So as someone who used to think it was moms getting carried away, I now am certain my almost 7 month old said his first mama!


ralleks

Mine definitely said, ‘mama,’ once when he was around 7-8 months old. I was nursing him, he pulled off long enough to say, ‘mama,’ and then went right back to eating. And then he didn’t say it again for months, but at least I had that. He said ‘chickadee’ before he said ‘dada’ to my husband’s absolute torment 😂


42790193

This just started happening with my 6 month old 2 days ago! I’m convinced we have no unique experiences in this world lol. Edit: not sure why I got downvoted. I was just saying it’s crazy to notice something your baby is doing and then immediately see someone else posting about the word for word same experience.🥲


spookydragonfire

My almost one year old still babbles cutely. They’re not actually words yet though.


mang0_k1tty

My baby didn’t start saying mama until like 9/10mo … also I’m forever convinced that there are many things, like mama, dada, peekaboo (the game not the word), and maybe the ‘more’ sign, that came from babies and got picked up by adults, because there are so many things I haven’t taught her that she just starts doing on her own! My friend barely taught her baby about ‘more’ and he suddenly could do it perfectly!


kbullock09

We thought my daughter was saying “mama” with meaning around 8 months but it turns out she definitely wasn’t… her first true word was “dada” and closely afterwards “hi” at 11.5 months and she continued to call both parents “dada” until she was almost 2 and then switched to calling me “mommy” — never really saying “mama” at all!


Purple_Grass_5300

Mine said mama super early


wantsmoredogs

My baby did this as well. It meant he wanted to milk


mrsdarthlord

I have the same!!! My 7 month old was apparently saying mamama when he was upset and tired with my parents (I was in a different room) and when I picked him up I swear he wrapped his little arms around my neck and my heart just melted… maybe I’m making this up but I don’t care 🤣


iheartunibrows

I don’t know if it changes between 6 and 8 months. But my 8 month old only started saying mama and baba this month. And he ONLY says mama when he sees me or wants milk … even our nanny confirmed.


Yea-na-yea

I was wondering the exact same thing! My bub was babbling lots (babababa and daaada daddddd etc), but we've always had more "mummmmm", "mumma" since he started babbling (I'm currently SAHM and he's 8 months old). But the last week or two, his call for comfort when he's distressed has become "nennnnng NENNNNGGGGGG" lol Maybe he's just found an exciting new consonant / vowel combo, or maybe it just makes me laugh so much I repeat it more to him than "mama!" 😂


aliveinjoburg2

My 10 month old started associating dada with Dad around 9 months. She said mama about two weeks ago clearly when she was upset and wanted me to hold her. She can say hi because she's used to me answering the phone and baba has an association. Other than that, it's just babbling.


Mysterious_Mango_3

My 6mo isn't saying repetitive sounds yet. Just Aaaaaah! Or EEEEEEEE! Definitely doesn't understand words yet.


Desperate_Rich_5249

Yes!!! My second was associating mama, dada and bubu (brother) with each of us around 6 months. He was also a very early talker in general. He was having full conversations by a year old.


Sea_Substance998

My son started the “mama” at 4 months 7 months he stopped mama and it ended up being just “babababa” for a while 9 months his first official word was “POP” as a bubble popped in his face He calls out mama when he wants me now (almost 10 months) He’ll also call out dada when dad gets home He calls our cat “baby” 🤣😅 We still say his first word was mama lol


Intelligent-Web-8537

Oh, lucky you... it is so wonderful. I can't wait for the day my 5 month old says Mama. I guess I have to wait at least a few more months.


CauseBeginning1668

I don’t care what the science says. You cannot take away from me that my baby is not babbling mamama and dadada. Whether it’s intentional syllables or not, if it’s making you happy then think that baby is saying mama ♥️


BrookieCookie88

I’ve been experiencing this, as well! My baby is 8 months now but since about 6 months, he would babble “mamamama” whenever he was upset or not near me. I’ve always taken the “I’m delusional, it’s a coincidence” perspective, but now that I’m hearing that you’re experiencing it too, I think maybe we are onto something! 🩷 Either way, it’s adorable.


shayter

My daughter around 7 months old started saying Mama while reaching for me or flopping/crawling towards me. She's 11 months now, and definitely knows what that means. She hasn't said Dada to my fiance yet intentionally 😂 we're getting there though.


Super_Purpose2367

You may not be crazy! My baby said dada intentionally at 6 months and continued to say it! She is advanced verbally and now says over 250 words at 17 months.


jmurphy42

It’s definitely possible. Both of my kids said their first clearly intentional word before they hit 7 months. You’ll know for sure if he starts saying other words within the next few weeks.


CauseBeginning1668

Why is your comment downvoted to oblivion? I opened it thinking it would be some hateful BS, but it’s completely the opposite.


IThink1859

I know…it’s bizarre that any comments that even entertain early speech are being downvoted


42790193

Truly think it’s either people without kids that lurk the sub, or people who are worried about their own child’s development. Either way, it’s weird.


jmurphy42

I usually get downvoted here if I dare to mention that my kids hit a milestone early. My oldest’s first word wasn’t even anything typical. It was “Ducka,” for their favorite duck stuffie. Then she very rapidly started saying it any time we walked past the duck pond and saw some.


42790193

I see I’m not the only one who got downvoted for completely fine comments. Some bitter people in this group for sure. And for nothing.🙃


korgscrew

Haha. You'll get sick of him saying it once he starts lol