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When Your Baby Stops Calling You Mommy

September 20, 2017


Fox’s first word was “Mama.”

He said it unexpectedly around 6 months old when we were just about to leave the Safari Park for the day, and I felt like I could have floated right into the sky up to the clouds.

From there, he mastered the sounds that M and A make when pushed together and I snickered at Tyler that mine came first (we both had guessed his first word would be Dada). 

That Christmas he was just shy of one year and we visited my family back on the East Coast and…

all of a sudden, he stopped calling me Mama.

It honestly still brings a tear to my eye to even think about that.

There were no substitutes, just silence.

He stopped calling me Mama.

People suggested that maybe he didn’t call me Mama because I’m around him so much, but so is Tyler since we both work from home and he’d been rattling off Da and Dada since his first birthday. He mastered words that sounded similar and began with M, so it wasn’t a speech issue.

It honestly really hurt.

Fox is 2.5 now and he started school in late-August. Over the past couple of days, he’s started to call me Mommy! And it came to a head last night when I went to an event and Tyler sent me video after video of him looking around the house saying, “Mommy? Mommy?” looking room to room for me.

My heart bursts just thinking about it.

Now, I’m not certain why things changed. It makes sense that school is helping, whether it’s because we have time spent apart from each other now or him hearing other children call their mothers, but whatever it is I have a grateful heart.

If you’re going through something similar, hang in there. I know I sound like one of those cheesy cat posters, but I can pretty much guarantee you that your child will not be devoid of being able to call you Mom for the rest of his/her life.

Just give it time and know that when it finally does happen, it will feel so freaking good.

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1 Comment

  • Reply Kevin Martin November 7, 2023 at 5:09 am

    It can be a bittersweet moment when your child stops calling you mommy. On the one hand, it’s a sign that your baby is growing up and developing a sense of independence.

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