Universal Language of Babies

This might sound bizarre, but I have always been interested in childrearing theories. Even when I was in the partiest of modes, hitting the bars every Friday night, I was keen on learning hints about raising children. I stumbled across this in my web travels, and I find it absolutely fascinating, and can't wait to use it in the field, when I have babies of my own. This woman, Priscilla Dunstan, has isolated what she believes are 5 "words" that all babies use to communicate their needs. These words stem from reflexes that, unless they are responded to, and reinforced to the baby that they are working, will disappear by about 3 months of age. So basically, these reflexes are only present from 0 to 3 months of age, so unless you have responded to the words and shown your baby that they work, and they can/should continue to use them to communicate with you, they won't use them anymore. Basically, if your child is 6 months old, its too late. Watch the video of her on Oprah, it explains it all:



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Essentially, the baby will use these words, or make the sounds right before they head into a full-on cry. So you have to listen carefully to the "pre-cry". The 5 "words" are:

• "Neh" which means they are hungry. The emphasis is on the "enn" sound at the beginning of the vocalisation. This stems from the shape of the mouth as the child suckles.
• "Owh" which means they are sleepy. This is almost like a yawn sound. Makes sense eh?
• "Heh" which indicates they have some kind of discomfort. Too hot, too cold, wet diaper, etc. The focus is on the "h" sound.
• "Eair" which means they have gas in the lower belly. And I think, that they need to "evacuate" if you know what I mean... this focus is on the "r" sound.
• "Eh" which means they have gas in the upper belly, and need to be burped.

If you watch the video, you'll see examples of the different sounds and how to differentiate. Its really quite fascinating.