Talk to your baby - Why Dada is baby's first word

Why it's always Daddy who comes first when babies begin to burble

stasya...

Well, just to be ornery, my 4 month olds first consonant sound was
mamamamama. And just when I'd put her down for a nap that she needed
but didn't want....

No parent ever forgets their child's first word. However, for many

Renee...

I don't remember my daughter's first word. We weren't considering any
babbles, since we thought anything that wasn't used for communication
didn't count. Then, before we knew it, she was just talking.

Now, my son still hasn't said any words yet (he's 14 months old), so we
might remember his first word.

StephanieTheGoofy...

I don't remember either of my kids' first words.

mothers it comes as something of a surprise when a baby starts to
utter the word 'dada' long before they manage to say 'mama'. But it is
not because babies are expressing favouritism for doting fathers such
as David Beckham. Experts have revealed that the reason is physical,
not emotional. Dr Mary Fagan says that the natural development of
babies' mouth and tongue means that the first sounds they can make
begin with G and then D. As a result the familiar early calls of
'gaga' and 'goo-goo' tend to be followed by 'dada' - with the M sound
taking several months longer to master. This explains why babies often
say 'dad' first, despite the fact that most spend more time with their
mothers.

"There are some constraints on the sounds babies can produce early on
in their infancy," said Dr Fagan, a research associate at Cardiff
University's School of Psychology. "The D sound just happens to be one
of the first sounds babies can produce before M. It has a lot to do
with the early structure of the face. "When babies are born their
tongues are fairly large in proportion to the mouth, which helps
babies breastfeed, so the tongue has very little range of movement.
"So it's usually nothing to do with a child's preferences. It is not
favouritism - it is science." The situation is similar in other
languages including Spanish, Italian and Chinese, she added.

(Daily Mail, 6.05.05)