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I am pmsl at the moment cause we are biggest culprits of all mentioned.
We love all the cutesy words and use them without even thinking bout it.
I have started using thank-you bit more over 'ta' because my mum absolutely hates 'ta' so gotta keep her happy, lol.
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yum yums is food when DS is refusing to eat! But then it's "lasagne for dinner, does Liebling want lasagne? It's yum yums. Lasagne yum yums." And I hate "ta" too - my mum kept trying this with him. DS can say thank you, well, ang-oo, why do I want "ta"? It just sounds awful when everyone just says "taaarh" to a baby all the time, but it could be the awful accent my mum's family have.
"Please give me the XYZ"
"Liebling let go please"
"Thank you for doing as I asked"
"Liebling say thank you Mummy/Daddy/whomever"
I also make sure I remember please and thank you when out and about so DS hears these words a lot! I'm still working on people using DS's name when referring to him, I'll work on using real words once I've mastered that.
I noticed as we were out today I was saying to DS "Oooh, look, doggie. Can Liebling see the dog? A big black dog. Can Liebling say doggie?" "Hat. Hat hat hat. Liebling took the hat off. Mummy puts the hat on Liebling. It stays on now. Hat." I must sound like a right idiot walking down the street!
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I always swore that I'd never be a 'mummy', I'd be a 'mum', and within about 5 seconds of having him, what did I start saying?... "Mummy's going to change your nappy now", "Mummy's going to feed you now" etc. etc.
It is bl**dy insidious, but I haven't quite gone down the complete baby talk road to ruin - I still use my normal voice and it hasn't risen an octave. I was taught to speak "good proper English like" and will doing the same for my son.
Ta is my irk. I always say "thankyou" to DS hoping that he will repeat that one day (he can't say anything at the moment). But my parents say "ta". It might be easier to say ta, but he has to learn thank you some day... so I don't want him to learn ta now, and thankyou later on.
I never thought about many of the others you have all mentioned. I'm a culprit with some of them.... ni ni. But then, I think I would say that to my husband
BellyBelly Life Subscriber
Ha Suse, I'd read that we instinctively use a higher pitched voice with babies because they respond better to that - spose there's a difference between soothing sing-song and annoying screeching though!
I guess it really depends on what stage your child is at - for us, any verbal communication Riv made would be fantastic! If he says 'ta' I'll be super happy that he's saying 'ta' and not ummph that means ta.Then when he starts to say ta consistenly, perhaps I'll start to suggest he say thankyou instead. Kids can relearn things, they do it all the time!
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Children hear higher voices better, you're right Nelle, but there's no reason to do the baby talk too - speaking a little higher doesn't mean you have to say "does oo wanna bickie den? bickie yum yums. ta bickie." My voice does rise a little for DS, but not that much - but then, I have a fairly low-pitched voice normally.
BellyBelly Life Subscriber
My voice is pretty low pitched too. Ahh yeah, never really baby talked like that...though, I can understand it for really young babies, it just needs to be soothing babble really. I just never did, because I'd sing instead of babble.
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Oh, I babble. DS knows it's silly - he kills himself laughing for a "ba ba ba ba bananana lama nana bana." Or if I copy the sound he has made, that's pretty funny too. This is usually during the witching hour, he just laughs at me for it. And rightly so, I can speak properly! I sing too, so much better for babies to hear real words.
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Nelle, that's interesting that babies respond better to higher pitches - but I agree that there is no need to sound like you've just inhaled a helium factory.
When I sing to him I find that he responds really well to lower pitches - but that is probably because he is against my chest and he can feel the vibration more intensely. I make up silly songs - usually variations on a theme of 'what will happen to Euan if he doesn't go to sleep' (will he go in the microwave or get fed to the crocodiles), but our current favourite is one that DP made up - it goes a something like this...
Hey little Euan
when you gonna spewin'
when you gonna pooin'
when you gonna weein'
when you gonna go to sleep...
It even works as a round.
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I dont like "ta" either. I usually say "thankyou" or "Claire, please let go". I get annoyed when I hear people say "taarrrrrrrr". Claire doesnt really respond to "ta" anyway.
I do sometimes say "birdy" and "horsey" etc, but not all the time. Sometimes it just slips out. I dont particularly like it as I would like for her to speak properly. That is really interesting though about how it makes it easier for a young child to hear the hard sound at the end of the word though.
I used to say "ni-ni" but I dont say that anymore. I just say "sleep time" or "time for sleep" or something similar.
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Suse, I'm glad I'm not the only one who makes up ridiculous threats for a non-sleeping baby!
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Caryn, if protective services heard some of the things we 'threaten' him with - they'd have us locked up in a heartbeat! Luckily Euan is too big to fit in the microwave, and by the time we drove to the nearest croc infested river he's asleep, so I don't think anybody would take our silly songs seriously. Nonsensical threats are a wonderful way to restore a bit of sanity, and are great for those who can't remember the words to real nursery rhymes.
(Also big in our repertoire is the 'burpy/farty/pooey/spew' song which is sung to the tune of twinkle twinkle little star... OMG - does that mean I am guilty of baby talk? Next stop, chipmunkville. Gulp.)
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I do it to my class too!!! Luckily the parents have senses of humour LOL
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I know of a couple whose son still refered to soft drink as "fizzy cuppy" until he was at least 6 years old...
we always read books and she points out birdies, duckies. she also says sleepies, jarmies, din dins. i dont mind tho, as she gets older im sure she'll be saying the correct words.
oh and she also says 'offie' which means horsie....
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I don't mind the fishy and yum-yum and duckies stuff so much as the high pitch voices that usually goes with it. I figure ppl say horsie for the same reason they would say johnny to a little boy with the name John. Just making it "smaller" so kids can relate to it, kwim?? Eventualy kids will learn how to speak proper, so that's fine ...
but having to listen to a grown-up cooing in a high pitch voice gets me all the time. Espesially when it's a real small baby and ppl goes all gogo-gaga and stuff - flips me out each time. Can only imagine how scary for the kid
i hate it when mil say "dwinky" in that annnoying sing song voice .... grrr
Registered User
Oooh, Lea - now that's a REALLY annoying one - replacing 'l' and 'r' with the letter 'w'.
"No, the widdle bubba doesn't want a bwuddy dwinky pwease, the baby wants a bloody drink please, or mummy will get vewy, vewy cwoss". Makes Elmer Fudd sound well spoken.
Should be a hanging offence IMO...
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