Sometimes I'll shoot video of LO to share with family/friends but then I won't share it because my "Mom voice" is quite high-pitched and it annoys me.
What is with the mom voice? Why does this happen? All my mom friends have this--is there something written in our genes that makes us sound like hyenas once we have children?
Do you have a mom voice? Do you like it?
Is there a dad voice?
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
Cripes. I have used my mom voice to her daycare providers and feel ridiculous afterwards. I don't know how to turn it off sometimes!!
hostess / eggplant / 11068 posts
As LO got older, my mom voice disappeared. But the opposite is happening with my husband. Dad voice increases as LO gets older. weird.
blogger / pear / 1964 posts
Oh gosh! When I text my family baby videos I warn them to turn the sound off!! I've also been accused of having a "teacher voice" -- not sure which is worse 
honeydew / 7687 posts
Haha same. I read somewhere its called motherese and it has some important function I can't remember... But that there's a reason for it and it helps language development
grapefruit / 4669 posts
Hehe, I think of mom voice as a stern teacher voice, like @Mrs. Tricycle mentioned. I don't like hearing my voice recorded, period!
coconut / 8234 posts
@tororojo: Oh that's a mom voice, too! But that comes later on, I guess. This is the voice when they are babies that is high-pitched.
grapefruit / 4669 posts
@mrsjazz: I'm sure I'll do plenty of that. DH and I talk to each other in baby voices a lot...but I would DIE if anyone overheard; gross.
pomegranate / 3314 posts
@mrsjazz: Yes! I feel the same way. I, too, have avoided sending out perfectly adorable videos of LO due to: the mom voice. I hope it goes away someday in the near future.
cherry / 233 posts
Motherese (or infant directed speech) is preferred by babies over normal speech and is thought to be helpful for language development. This might be due to hyperarticulation, or the production of extra clear distinctions between speech sounds, but even without hyperarticulation I'd think there would be a benefit to just increasing infant attention to speech by using a higher and more variable pitch. It makes sense that babies will learn more if they're paying more attention! There's some controversy over whether or not this type of speech is universal, but either way I'd take comfort in knowing that your baby is probably enjoying it and possibly getting something out of it, even if it's embarrassing for you. And I believe it will fade naturally when it's no longer developmentally appropriate!
(I should probably mention that I study speech and language. My research isn't on development, but I did work in a development lab and there was a project someone else was doing studying infant directed speech! We made recordings of moms reading the same book to their babies and to an adult, and then analyzed the acoustics of their productions.)
coconut / 8234 posts
@scg00387: @chanzi: Wow. Okay, so there is a reason for this. I'm glad to know that sounding like an idiot is helping my baby.
honeydew / 7687 posts
@chanzi: yay! So glad you chimed in with a much more detailed explanation
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
DH has that voice too, it's pretty funny. I'm camera shy so luckily I'm way less likely to be caught on camera.
GOLD / wonderful olive / 19030 posts
My friends make fun of me so much for my mom voice on videos! Haha it's bad or they make fun of me for the stuff I say
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