DD doesn't know mama and dada

Socialworkgirl · July 2013

So DD babbles and says bye bye, but no other words yet. There are lots of items around the house that we can ask her where they are and she will point to them. She also understands some simple commands like "turn the page." However, she seems to have no idea that I am mama and DH is dada. If we ask her where Mama or Dada is, she looks around and might eventually point at something else (usually a ceiling fan, lol). This is certainly not for lack of trying to motivate her to say our names and/or acknowledge us. Anyone else have this issue? I'm not that worried. I just think it's peculiar.

Socialworkgirl · July 2013

She is 13 months, btw.

tbmadeamistake · July 2013

Maybe she thinks you have a different name? Do you call each other by your first names around her? Maybe if you ask her where (insert first name here) is, she'll respond to that.

Socialworkgirl · July 2013

Lilygrace48 said:

Maybe she thinks you have a different name? Do you call each other by your first names around her? Maybe if you ask her where (insert first name here) is, she'll respond to that.

I guess that could be it but I kind of doubt it. We don't really call each other by our first names much and when we talk to her we call each other Mama or Dada. I will try it though...thanks for the suggestion.

dairygirl19 · July 2013

She probably knows it, but just doesn't care.

My now 2 year old learned a lot of other things and words before she started to care about mom and dad.

Socialworkgirl · July 2013

LalaMama81 said:

She probably knows it, but just doesn't care.
My now 2 year old learned a lot of other things and words before she started to care about mom and dad.
This. Plus there's research showing that they often don't need to label mom because she's always there. They don't even realize that mom is a separate entity.

This makes sense to me. I was wondering if it was something like that.

ChelsiAnn13 · July 2013

Maybe she doesnt need to get your attention often because you know her so well that you are on top of it. So she never really needs to call for you like that, not that she doesnt know it.

I also support that she may know you another way. I live with extended family, which comes in handy since I decided to go back to college and get a new degree. But because of this she slips and calls me Chelsi and even calls her Nana Mom. She does correct herself from time to time, but it irks me. She does this because everyone in the house calls me Chelsi and I call my mom, well, mom.

RMama2012 · July 2013

My DS is almost 15 months and barely uses our names either. He has 4 strong words. I read on a speech therapists blog that most parents actually think their tots are saying mama and dada for the parents but they aren't actually using them in that way. She said most kids don't actually learn Mama & Dada later and not as their first words.

meg_2006 · July 2013

DS didn't start acknowledging us until a month ago. He wouldn't even look at us if somebody said our names. He does now most of the time, but he's more likely to say "Dada" or point to him than me. It just takes a while with some of them.

Socialworkgirl · July 2013

RMama2012 said:

My DS is almost 15 months and barely uses our names either. He has 4 strong words. I read on a speech therapists blog that most parents actually think their tots are saying mama and dada for the parents but they aren't actually using them in that way. She said most kids don't actually learn Mama & Dada later and not as their first words.

That's really interesting. Thanks!

traveltheworld · July 2013

DS babbles "dadadada" whenever he is in a good mood and "mamama" whenever he is whining or crying. DH thinks it's funny. Me, not so much. Lol.

He is only 12.5 months and doesn't have any words. He does make very specific sounds for certain things - "dee-da" means book, "bobo" means ball, and "yaya" means sippy cup. We have no idea where he got those associations and always correct him, but for now I'm not worried.

cattynine · July 2013

DD doesn't call us Mama or Daddy either. She does know who we are though because if I say "go show Daddy ___" , she will go over to DH. She is 15.5 months and only has like 3 words, although I can tell she's on the verge of a few more. I'm excited for more language skills, but not worried.

capulet · July 2013

RMama2012 said:

My DS is almost 15 months and barely uses our names either. He has 4 strong words. I read on a speech therapists blog that most parents actually think their tots are saying mama and dada for the parents but they aren't actually using them in that way. She said most kids don't actually learn Mama & Dada later and not as their first words.

From my experience with DD and DS this sounds about right. I think DS has just started using mama/mommy to refer to me in particular; until recently it was what he called whoever he wanted something from. And he seems to call random men dada. They both nailed a lot of other words before they used mama and dada correctly. FWIW DD has never had any speech issues aside from being what we thought was a late talker. At 13 months my kids weren't really saying any words with intention as far as I could tell, and it wasn't until the 15/16 month stage where I could tell they had good receptive language skills even though they didn't say more than two or three identifiable words (more objects/exclamations than names of people).

Nel11 · July 2013

LalaMama81 said:

She probably knows it, but just doesn't care.
My now 2 year old learned a lot of other things and words before she started to care about mom and dad.
This. Plus there's research showing that they often don't need to label mom because she's always there. They don't even realize that mom is a separate entity.

Yup, this, for sure. Mine is just about 17 months, and she is just now starting to use "mama" and "dada" to actively refer to us. She has about a dozen words that she will use consistently, but up until very recently has had no real use for mama and dada.

Socialworkgirl · July 2013

Thanks for all the feedback. DD definitely knows her name as in she looks when we say it. There is also some consistency in the "babbles" she says for different things. For example, she always says "boo" when she points at stuff. Like I said, I'm not worried, I just thought it was odd since I feel like I always see other people talking abou their LO's first words being mama and dada but from these responses, it sounds like that is less common than I thought. Thanks again!

stanfordt04 · July 2013

Nicb13 said:

DS can point to me, DH, his step-brother and himself when we say "where is dada" or "where is mama" or "where is Max" but every single thing under the sun is "dada" to him. He thinks our neighbors boat is dada so he just loves saying the word!
Ha! this is my LO exactly... everything is dada!

Netty_3 · July 2013

My little guy has around four words that all sounds close to mama...Mama, Elmo, Selma (his teacher), and more milk. There may even be more.

Jtiki · August 2013

My son's first word was cat. Second was bath. Still waiting for mamma and dadda

dizzycooks · August 2013

My daughter still doesn't really say 'dada' consistently. She will say mama, but that was new in the last few months and only recently is it consistent and it's mostly only when she REALLY wants me.

henrytviii · August 2013

stanfordt04 said:

Nicb13 said:

DS can point to me, DH, his step-brother and himself when we say "where is dada" or "where is mama" or "where is Max" but every single thing under the sun is "dada" to him. He thinks our neighbors boat is dada so he just loves saying the word!
Ha! this is my LO exactly... everything is dada!

Same here. Everything outside is DADA . . . and by caps I do mean YELLING!

PetuniaFeatherbottom · August 2013

My daughter said dada forever, but only said mama at 18 months (on Father's Day, actually). Keep talking to and reading with your little one. It will come!

lilmejo · August 2013

We had this same issue around that age, but when we would ask where we were by our first names, ding ding, got it right away! He then began calling us by our names, funny but also waiting to hear mommy, so long and then hearing your name is like ugh! So I asked our MD and he asked what we referred to ourselves at home by and we both said our names. We refeerred to eachother as mommy and daddy when we talked to him but to eachother we used our names, he said try referring to eachother as mommy and daddy for a while and that was it, he nows calls us mommy, daddy, and then by our names lol and I would say a week or two after using those names, he was able to pick us out when we asked him

wychets · August 2013

Lilygrace48 said:

Maybe she thinks you have a different name? Do you call each other by your first names around her? Maybe if you ask her where (insert first name here) is, she'll respond to that.

THIS. DH calls me "Babe" When DD was around that age she would repeat him...I would drop her off at DC and she would say "bye bye babe" Lol it was cute!

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