I've come to the conclusion that there is no work around and this is just how the comments moderation tools currently function - no notifications except on replies. This is surely a bug, but whether the bug is that there are no notifications on comments OR that there ARE notifications on replies is unclear.
Again, here's a link to the bug report - https://developers.facebook.com/bugs/575266905848137?browse=external_tasks_search_results_5217cbbc6dc793d49828864
Marking my own answer as correct