A SPEECH expert has warned mums why they should never tell their toddler "say mama".

The woman, called Moira, revealed in an informative TikTok video that it could actually harm your little one's progress when it comes to talking.

Captioning the post, the expert wrote: "Toddler not saying many words?? This may be why."

She said that there were some "common" reasons why children between 12 and 24 months might not be saying many words yet.

Speaking to the camera, Moira said: "Stop telling them 'say this…say that…say mama'."

She explained: "Talk about dialling up the pressure. Your child is much less likely to say a word if you're demanding it of them.

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"Additionally, when we just say 'say…' this word it's out of context and devoid of meaning."

Moira suggested: "Children learn words best when they're contextualised and meaningful to them.

"So instead of 'say mama', just try repeating your target word a lot in your own daily language."

Her tip was popular with viewers, who left more than 305,000 'likes' on the clip.

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One person joked: "'Say mama' was very successful in teaching my kids to say 'dada'."

Another wrote: "This was helpful thank you."

A third commented: "Thank you for this! I definitely feel like my toddler is behind in speech and these are some things I unconsciously do with her."

And a fourth shared: "I’m a daycare provider and this is soooo true."

Meanwhile, a fifth added: "These tips definitely worked for me!! Awesome practical information."

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