Did my baby just call me ‘Dada’?

Babbling is a pre-speech skill that happens in stages. The second of these stages is known as reduplicated babbling, and you’ll hear it as simple double-consonant sounds such as ‘baba’ and ‘mama.’ 

Does that mean my baby knows ‘Mama’ or ‘Dada’?

It’s natural to wonder if those babbles have meaning, but they don’t yet.​​ Still, they play an important role in language acquisition.

Babbling helps build strength and control in your child’s lips, tongue, jaw, and voice box, so that they can articulate sounds more clearly. Somewhere between 11 and 14 months, your baby will likely say ‘Dada’ or ‘Mama’ on purpose ❤️

The benefits of responding to babbles

You can help your baby improve their articulation by copying them. Research shows that playfully returning a baby’s babbles encourages them to keep trying to communicate. They will make more and more advanced sounds that will eventually become spoken words. 

Name the objects your baby is looking at

If your baby babbles while looking at an object or person, you can say the name of whatever has caught their attention. If they babble when they see a dog, for example, point to the animal and say, ‘dog’ with emphasis. This will help them link words with real-life objects.