Baby Talk
Did anyone see the Oprah show earlier this week about the woman who has "unlocked the secret language of babies"? An Austrailian woman named Priscilla Dunstan has studied the cries and sounds of over 1000 babies and is now working with a team at Brown University to further study the sounds that babies make prior to crying. She's deducted that all babies say five words to communicate what they are needing..."neh", "owh", "heh", "eair" and "eh"... I gotta say, it was pretty fascinating! Conveniently, she has a DVD coming out at the end of the month that will teach parents and parents to be the sounds and how to listen for them with your own baby. We had a fussy one, and I do think I would have shelled out the cash for another tool that could possibly have helped us during those first few months of fussiness. Go to oprah.com or dunstanbaby.com for more information if you're curious. Was anyone else as intrigued as me by this story? Would you buy the DVD for yourself or a baby shower?
I too was facinated by the show. It makes perfect sense to me that babies are born with ways to communicate to us and that we have, over time just lost the ability to understand them. With so many external forces telling us how and what to do with our newborns it's no suprise that we are too busy listening to other people/books etc that we have stopped listening to them (as well as our natural instincts). I taped the show and wrote down the sounds and look forward to testing out her theory when I have my baby in Jan. I have been looking into EC (elimination communication) and think learning to understand the sounds my baby makes will help me with that. I think for someone who didnt see the show and who's open to such info it would be a great gift.
Posted by: Lara B | November 15, 2006 at 09:17 AM
I did not see the Oprah show, but I took a look at dunstanbaby.com and remain skeptical--especially given the steep price tag on the videos. One of the most pleasurable challenges I faced as a new parent was learning to interpret my babies' cries and gestures accurately. It was an intuitive rather than an academic process, that happened organically in the course of falling in love with each of my newborns. I have faith in the ability of attentive mothers to "tune in" to their babies' cues. As Dr. Sears puts it, "Some babies give clearer cues; some parents are more intuitive cue readers. But good connections will happen. They will happen more easily if you remember to be open and responsive."
Posted by: Tia | November 15, 2006 at 04:30 PM
I too, was fascinated by this show, but sort of question the true usefulness of the info. I know that seems crazy.. who wouldn't think it would be most useful to be able to know what your baby is saying to you?
Anyway, I think this woman and her photographic hearing is amazing and that she has found a way to identify babies needs through their verbal cues.
With that said, I figured out early on by experience and reading Dr. Sears that babies really have a few basic needs.. sleep, food, attention/cuddles/love, relief from pain. I found that when ours started make noises, I was sometimes savvy enough to ID an "I'm hungry" noise, but most of the time, I would just go down the list of possible issues(the more experience I had the quicker I got)... check temp of room and clothes, no hot/cold issue there, then try to nurse, not hungry, then check for signs of gas, not it, then try to put them down for a nap, if that didn't seem to be it, then baby needed love and attention, rocking, cuddles, etc. Most of the time, one of those things would be quickly identified as the issue and it would be taken care of. There are definitely times when our children, just seemed to be as my husband would say "pissed," so maybe Dunstan would have been able to identify what was up at those times?? I don't know or maybe babies have moods just like Mom's and Dad's? My point is I think Dunstan has a gift and has discovered something, but I think we are able to address babies needs with some basic knowledge about their needs.
My two cents.
Posted by: Monica | November 15, 2006 at 07:41 PM
I thought the show was fascinating and the sounds she identified did seem to emerge organically from the babies. My first reaction was that I wish I had this information when my kids were newborns. Then I realized that when they were crying non-stop, I am sure I tried each of those five things with out any success. So I guess I do question how useful the information is. It did make me wish I could try it all out on another newborn.....
Posted by: robin | November 15, 2006 at 07:52 PM
My husband and I watched it and we were both definitely interested (and my husband's the biggest skeptic on earth)! Of course it's best to follow your own intuition, and we're not placing all bets on this woman's supposed discovery, but I'm happy to have this little bit of information tucked away... I mean, if she's right, what a discovery! I was also pleased that she's working with researchers at Brown and is a mom herself...gives her a little more credibility. I am curious about the video, but was disappointed in the lack of information on her website. If she puts up info about what's in the DVD, I might be a little more interested in purchasing it.
Posted by: Jillian | November 16, 2006 at 06:58 AM
I heard about this on another website. It sounds really cool, and could be even more interesting when combined with signing. I doubt I would buy it since I always felt like I knew what my babies needed, and I had an early talker with my first. I could see how it might be good for dads who aren't with the babies as much and sometimes need "instructions" to give them parenting confidence.
Posted by: Kat | November 16, 2006 at 03:21 PM
I thought the show was great. My wife and I watched it off the TiVo the other night. Only problem is that these are only good for the first three months. After that, the baby will quit the sounds for feeding, if not met immediately. I hear the 'eh' sound from my 7 month son quite a lot, and I don't think he needs to burp. Personally, I think he likes the attention laying on my sholder as I pat his back. He's often fell asleep as I am patting his back.
Posted by: A Dad | November 27, 2006 at 03:50 PM
I saw the show and was optimistic at first but after watching it, I didn't believe it. I couldn't "hear" the difference between the baby cries, and none of them sounded like my daughter (who was 3 mos at the time). I was wondering if maybe I didn't have a good ear for that kind of thing; apparently the woman was very musical to begin with. I figured out my baby's cries soon enough myself and didn't need any training; it is frustrating for sure, but it is an instinctual process to learn your baby's language.
Posted by: Deb | January 23, 2007 at 09:48 PM
I've seen the whole DVD. I actually got it from my in laws. Although I did find it interesting, the main problem I had with it was that even if I could identify the cry/issue didn't mean I could make him stop crying. The most common crying issue in the first three months for us was gas. Great, so I know he has gas, I knew that before I knew he had a "word" for it, but I can't do anything about it.
The other thing is, the video totally made me second guess my own intuition, even if I ended up being correct. Its all about confidence in the begining and this definately did not help mine.
I say go with your gut cause there is no one that knows your baby like you. Especially not some lady on a dvd who's never met either of you.
Posted by: dana | May 22, 2007 at 02:02 PM