It happened. Just as everyone told me it would. My baby found her voice and started saying “dada”– just one day, out of the blue dadadadadadadada. I wasn’t surprised, because every mom out there has laughingly said “just wait, you carry them, you take care of them and then they say dada before mama.” And they were right. But why? Is there a real reason they say it first? I went straight to the pediatrician and asked.

Why They Say Dada First

Don’t take offense if your baby says dada first, 99.9% of them do, said my pediatrician. He’s only had one patient in his practice ever that said “mama” first and that’s because she named the bottle “mama” so the baby, reaching for the bottle, would say “mama, mama.” He also assured me the baby isn’t saying dada and identifying her father, she’s just saying dada because she found those words first. Pfew. Ok. Not that I don’t want her to identify her dad — because he’s a wonderful dad, but hey, I’ve spent a lot of blood, sweat and tears the first few months of her life and I really want a “mama.”

The Restaurant

That night, we go out to an early dinner the three of us, the restaurant is packed and out of nowhere, on the top of her lungs she starts it again: DADADADA. An older lady sitting next to us said “Awe, she wants her daddy, how sweet. And she looks JUST like him too. She hasn’t said mama yet?” Nope! She hasn’t said mama yet, and she doesn’t look a thing like me. Oh well, it can always change I suppose. I truthfully don’t feel that bad about it, in fact, I know it makes my husband proud that she’s saying dada. It lights up his face every time. It’s kind of great.

When Did Your Baby Start Talking?

According to Babycenter, your baby will learn to talk during the first two years of life. Long before he utters his first words, he’s training to communicate — he will start using his tongue, lips and palate to make sounds as early as 4-5 months…At 7-12 months, your baby will sound like he’s making sense. At 13-18 months, your baby will utter one or more words and know what they mean! At 19-24 months, your child will say 50-70 words and understand 200 words. Isn’t that amazing? I hope the first word my baby will understand, is mama. 🙂