The Name of the Game

A friend of mine recently asked, "How did you refer to nursing when you were talking to Justin?" Since Justin weaned before he was really talking (13 months), I told her I was just calling it "num num" - which he did try to mimic a few times. She told me her daughter calls it "mun-see," and her pleas for "mun-see" can get quite loud in public.

She was having a hard time with how insistent her daughter would get when she wanted to nurse, but she was thankful her daughter didn't yell out something a little less "acceptable" in public. She imagined how embarrassed she would be if her daughter yelled something like "boobie" or "nipple" for everyone to hear. We laughed about this hypothetical scenario, and thought of how many times we had heard different names for nursing. Then the big question came up - when should she give up the "baby" term for nursing?

Most babies pick up the name for an object or event from their parents' repeated use. A child who hears "car" every time she is to be taken on a drive will undoubtedly associate the word "car" with that big shiny object that magically transports her to places. But then again, my oldest son (who is now almost five and has given up "baby terms") used to call a car a "dow," which eventually led to "big fat dowie" by the age of three. Sometimes, he will call an old classic car a "dowie" just to get some laughs.

So it comes as no surprise to most parents when they hear their child refer to nursing with a word or phrase that mommy didn't use. More often, this new term is a variation of a term used by her parents, but just plain cuter. It is as if the child knows she will get what she wants if she puckers her mouth and sweetly twists the words into something her parents see as an intelligent attempt at verbalizing.

"Num num" suddenly becomes "mumny", and "bee bee" changes to "nokee." Parents go nuts over her adorable way of "asking" for the breast and shower her in cuddles and praise. She gets what she wants, and perhaps she secretly thinks to herself, "Hey, these big people love it when I talk!" And so begins her journey down the wonderous road of speech.

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