When do they say mum and dad at you correctly

[kbaby]

My DD 11 months has been saying mum, dad, cat and bird etc for a few months but doesnt seem to know which one of us is mum or dad and says mum, dad when playing ie babbling.
I was wondering when they actually know whose who and calls us by the correct name.

Thanks

[hunkermunker]

I think they can go on getting confused for a while - afaik, daddy can mean "kind person who makes me laugh" and mummy can mean "kind person who gives me cuddles when I am sad" - they'll use one word to represent a number of things (all big animals are cows, all men are daddy, etc) for ages!

[anchovies]

My ds is 15 months and still doesn't always get it right, tends to call everyone daddy! Also says no to everything whilst nodding his head, very confusing!

[Gobbledigook]

Oh yes, it can be quite amusing when they point and shout 'daddy!' to some random bloke in Tesco!

[anchovies]

That explains why all animals are dogs in our house then hunkermunker!

[MrsMiggins]

my ds called me "mama" (sounding like mamar and rather posh!) until he was nearly 3 - that was his word for mummy. Was quite sweet as everyone else is mummy so liked having my own name....now he says mummy like everyone else.

[marne]

My dd is 15 months, she says bye bye daddy to everyone including some bloke in argos wich was a bit embarassing. She also calls food nanny!

[fisil]

ds held "mummy" back for a long time. He did the same with his own name. He could say it, and used Daddy (as well as lots of other words and phrases) very well, but steadfastly refused to use mummy (which is apparently not unusual). He finally started using it when he was 18 months because he went away to stay with my parents for a few days and so needed to refer to me rather than simply talking to me!

[hewlettsdaughter]

I'm not sure when they know who is who but it sounds as if your dd is doing pretty well being able to say mum, dad, cat, bird etc already. I don't think my dd (12 months) has said a recognisable word yet.

[Nemo1977]

my ds is 18mths and knows who daddy is..if he sees pics or cars like dhs etc he says dada
however he can say mum but just doesnt..

[californiagirl]

DD at 14 months does not say mum or dad (well, she says mamamama some times, but I think it's meant to be either
"more" or "mine" -- it's almost never about me). She absolutely without a doubt signs "more" and "no" and says "uh-oh". Her words are all vaguer, but she arguably has "Hi", "up" (which also means "down"), "ball" (which also means "balloon"), and "dog" and possibly "Thank you" (which means "Here, take this and thank me for it").

[expatinscotland]

DD still doesn't say mummy and she's 22 months. She says 'Daddy' crystal clear, however. DH is a SAHD.

[zebraX]

22-24m, both DS & DD. To my mind anything they said that sounded like "mama" or "dada" before that was just noise, nothing to do with me or DH or any person, really.

[throckenholt]

we had daddy before mummy with all 3 of ours - I guess daddy was around 18 months and mummy nearer 24 months

[bee3]

kbaby, thank for starting this as I'm finding it v interesting and useful too. My ds is 15 months and can say about 12 words - all the normal stuff, not v clearly but definately decipherable and in context - ball, woof, spoon, keys, bear, toast, car, teeth, book, drink etc. 'Daddy' was his 1st word, and always used to refer to dh, but he will not/can not say mummy/mamma/ma. If someone else says "Where's mummy?" he always points to me, but has never said anything to refer to me. I was worried (well, a bit jealous really - if he can refer to a spoon, why not me! )but now I just think that it will happen, some time, in the future and I will be very happy when it does