I've never called my baby by his name!

[Firsttimemummy19]

Hes almost 5 months and I've never called him by his actual name. Always cheeky chops or poppet!
I've been told that by 6 months they should know their name but it's a struggle to say it as it's a very grown up name and he's much more of a poppet!

Do I need to start saying his name regularly?!

I would start calling him by his name. I was like you and called DC1 by all manner of nicknames until about 2/3 months then switched over (even though his actual name sounds quite formal).

I never used their name as babies either. Ds number 1 was Pumpkin, Ds number 2 was bubba, Dd was sweetpea or sweetie

My 6 yo is known by a host of nicknames. He does answer to his proper name, but does tend to be more responsive to his random names that have evolved from his brother's first attempts to say his name.

Of course he's a Poppet! Plenty of time for serious & sensible names later on.

Frankly it is a miracle that any of the children in our family worked out that their real names are not Bumble, Squidge, Moomoo, Bunny etc (but they did).

Don't worry even my HV called dd by her nickname (entirely different from her actual name) because I used it all the time. The hv actually forgot her real name at one point and had to ask me,

My friend has 4 daughters all had nick names i think given from there farther only the oldest 2 really had names that stuck the oldest one's 2nd husband didn't like her having the name i find it very hard to call her by her proper name

I've never ever called my ds or dp any name other than their actual names. My parents were the same. I can't imagine calling someone something other than their name!

The much loved child has many names: Swedish proverb.

My baby is called prawn (he was small and pink and curled up as a newborn).

Mine are both ,chicken ,or sweetheart,sometimes darling boy , they do respond to their names though. Eldest is 12 youngest 9.

@Elliecam my friends DD is known as prawn cracker for the same reason!

My son answers to his name but he also answers to Dudemeister, Captain Pants and Stinkbomb.

Among others...

You call him Poppet etc directly but I bet you are also using his name indirectly without realising all the time. e.g. If his name is Andrew {playing):
Oooh where's Andrew gone? There's Andrew!
That's daddy's nose (honk honk!) That's Andrew's nose (squeak squeak!)
Ooh grandma look! Andrew is waving at you!
etc

I found it strangely difficult to use my DS's name when he was a baby. Never quite been able to articulate why! He grew into it though and knew it by the time he started talking (although he couldn't quite pronounce it properly, which led to a hospital referral and tests for colour-blindness because his attempt at his name sounded like 'Reen' and I thought he was calling everything green )

I rarely use my kids names even now...they're 6 and 4 😳 unless they're being little shits, then they get their name. I call them a variety of things, Sausage, poppet, seed (what my oldest was called when he was still a little bean in my womb and it's stuck with him, the poor love) baby, smelly, legs and many more. Luckily, they are aware of their actual names!

I did use DD's name as s baby but now she's nearly 14 I mostly call her baby, I seem to have got that backwards...

My 6 yo is known by a host of nicknames. He does answer to his proper name, but does tend to be more responsive to his random names that have evolved from his brother's first attempts to say his name.

My sister is 47 and still has not been called by her real name by anyone. One of her pet names, badly pronounced by me, evolved into the name everyone has used for pretty much her whole life.

I realised DD didn't know her name a few months before she started school. I sat down and told her her real name and a couple of related nicknames and asked her which one she preferred. Trained myself to use the one she chose and taught her how to write it. I still use her nickname sometimes, so does her godmother.

My DD is about to turn five months and we call her Biggles. Get some funny looks in shops. She has a beautiful first name which we will use eventually!

My dh is called banana legs... I don't think I'll ever be able to call him his real name again.
When we got married my friend gave us a portrait of us with the monika mr and mrs banana legs over it.

Call him poppet as much as you like and I'm sure his name will pop out when he's running around and up to mischief. Then as he gets older I'm sure you'll use it more.

Mine have been Munchkin, monster, beastie, sweetie, horrid hound, - moo after name, - ster after name and bug short for snug as a big in a rug - as spent so much time in a sling. Nearly 4yo is name or namey now with no issues and is happy that I am name and mummy and DH is name or daddy- basically accepts that people often have more than 1 name!

My baby thought his name was "hey baby" for a while. Just start using his name a few times every day