In other words, their so-called first words could ... How does one get their pride and joy to consistently say “mama?” By ...

Yes, the first word was like 'mama'. Mama. And after that, after three or four days she didn't say 'mama' and then she went onto 'papa' but when she said 'mama', I just had tears in my eyes.

We say 'spouse', we say 'sibling', we say 'parent ... English and you’ll ruin family dinners through awkwardness! Words for mama and dada tend to be quite similar around the world.