What do you consider their first "word?"

hepcats · February 2012

Martin has been practicing with the letter B so he's been saying baba a lot. Does that count as his first word? What would count as a first word if that one doesn't? Just curious since many of our LOs are practicing with consonants so where do you draw the line between that and a word?

Golf424 · February 2012

Ella started with mama and now is onto dada and I'm just not sure if I'm counting this as first word, because it's not like I'm mama or dh is dada yet... I don't know what to think.

Syncronicity09 · February 2012

Ash says Dada a lot, and while we encourage it by trying to get him to associate it with MH, we are sure it has no meaning for him yet.

I would consider his first word to be the first one that is deliberate and has meaning. Like when he no doubt figures out that Dada means MH and starts asking for him all the time. He is such a daddy's boy!

OpheliaChem · February 2012

I think the first word is the first intentionally spoken word, which definitely has not happened for us. Just my opinion though. Perhaps I'm holding out, hoping her first word is "sucka" or something like that :-P

cassoppea · February 2012

I agree with PP - I think the first word is one with meaning. My LO says mama, dada, baba but I don't think she knows that those sounds have any meaning. I will consider it her first word when she says something deliberately.

gymnst1013 · February 2012

First words to me are something that he would say that has meaning behind it. Not necessarily just a string of random sounds put together.

jehnm · February 2012

T has done the bababa, dadada and mamama for a long time, and is just now starting to associate them with the right thing. Holds out his hands while saying mamama or while with daddy, turns to me and says it. I'm shocked that he seems to be knowing what is what.

However, kitty and yay are his first words, my parent's still have my cat from high school and he says kikiki anytime he sees the cat and ONLY when he sees the cat. When T is "talking" he uses a different tone of voice than when babbling too. It's pretty funny!

AshleyPT · February 2012

I don't understand why it would even be considered to count something as a first word until it clearly had purpose and consistency.

hepcats · February 2012

suzieq413:
I think the first word is the first intentionally spoken word, which definitely has not happened for us. Just my opinion though. Perhaps I'm holding out, hoping her first word is "sucka" or something like that :-P

LMAO that would be awesome. I was sorta thinking the same thing, that it doesn't count until it's intentional, but just checking.

Spartanmama722 · February 2012

I agree with pps that first word is the first word said with meaning. Ev said mama and dada for a long time before I considered either as a first word, but they were always said randomly just to practice the sound I think. I started considering them words when he would look at me or DH and said "mama" or "dad." He also says dog and hi in the right context which I think helped me know he wasn't just making sounds when he said mama and dada.

JuneBugsMommy · February 2012

MrsPrevost:

Ash says Dada a lot, and while we encourage it by trying to get him to associate it with MH, we are sure it has no meaning for him yet.

I would consider his first word to be the first one that is deliberate and has meaning. Like when he no doubt figures out that Dada means MH and starts asking for him all the time. He is such a daddy's boy!

All of this except DS being a daddy's boy, he is no doubt a mama's boy!!

chuicafina · February 2012

I consider the first word to be the first time using a word with meaning. Even if he just says "ba" and to him it means "bottle," I might consider that a first word.

My friend's 10 month old says "hi" and "kitty" and they are definitely used at appropriate times. I would say those are her first words. My LO is not there yet with his dadada's. Right now he's still babbling. I'd say, if Martin is saying "baba" to mean something specific, it's a word. If he's just practicing consonants, he's babbling (which is a very important stage of language development in and of itself...says the speech therapist in me Stick out tongue )

akayf · February 2012

I don't count it until he uses it meaningfully. If he says baba for bottle or for ball, I'll count it as a word. Just babbling bababababa....not a word.

casirdms · February 2012

DS says dada and more uncommonly mama but I think those are just random sounds.

He does say dogdog (no g on the end its more like dawdaw) and I consider that his first word because he says it while looking at our dog. And if I ask him where is dogdog he will look at her

EMLYNNLERETTE · February 2012

I have to use this post as a big fat AW. Our daughter's first word was Daddy (which I will never admit to him that this was it) and her next word was a freaking sentence! We have been practicing with the baby signs and her favorite is after dinner or whenever it is applicable we say "All done!" and throw our hands up. The other day she said "ah da, ah da" and threw her hands up multiple times. I didn't really believe her, but thought it was a coincidence. Well, she has been doing it ever since! I just wish she would say Mama already!

Birdies08 · February 2012

Sylvia calls everything "ba" and we don't use bottles (since her full refusal to drink from one), so I think that's a normal babble sound. She also says "pa" and "ma", but not in a meaningful way. Well, "mama" means she's mad, ha ha.

She'll imitate sounds we make, like "hi" or "yeah". She's repeated our dog's name, "Ube" for "Ruby", and she's done that more than once. In these cases, we always say the word first, and she'll repeat it. I'm pretty sure she gets that "Ruby" means the dog, but she's never said it out of the blue or anything.

We aren't really counting any of that, since it wasn't something she said on her own with a clear meaning.

Andie_83 · February 2012

MrsPrevost:

Ash says Dada a lot, and while we encourage it by trying to get him to associate it with MH, we are sure it has no meaning for him yet.

I would consider his first word to be the first one that is deliberate and has meaning. Like when he no doubt figures out that Dada means MH and starts asking for him all the time. He is such a daddy's boy!

This is what I think too. I was actually looking in her baby book today and the only part on the page of her firsts I haven't filled out yet was her first word. I'm waiting until she says something and can actually associate it with something. She says mama, dada, baba, etc but there's no meaning yet.

J9melissa · February 2012

I'm waiting until A associates the word with the item/person.

ETA: I should have read the other responses and not wasted my time on this post or your mom.

SarahP15 · February 2012

J9melissa:

I'm waiting until A associates the word with the item/person.

ETA: I should have read the other responses and not wasted my time on this post or your mom.

DS has used the word "kieeey" when he sees the cat, so I'm counting it. We say "kitty" all the time when the cats are roaming around so I truly think he understand that word is referencing the animal and even though he can't say it all the way, it sounds close enough

Bran_ham · February 2012

Lana said "mama" once but never since. I consider it her first word even though she wasn't using it in the right context or any context...

LaceFace14 · February 2012

Personally I don't think it counts until they definitely know its you. DS says mum mum and dada but I don't count them as words until there is recognition. I found with DD I knew without question at one point that she was talking about me and counted it then.