Apparantly a very talented and musical australian woman who has a photographic memory for sound recognised that her baby made the same noises for different wants.

She found that all babies have this secret language, and if you respond to it within the first 0 - 3 months they will continue to make the sounds to communicate. If the sounds arn't recognised and responded to they lose this 'language' and every cry begins to sound the same.


Be patient and this vid shows babies making the sounds and what they mean.


It's really amazing!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aewskiO9YuY

I used this a bit with #2 and 3...
but mine were fatties and pretty much all they said was "ne" (hungry).
Ocassionally they would make other sounds, like the one for tired... but mostly it was just 'feed me!!! feed me now!!'

lol

I found it took a lot of the guess work out of it all for me - I could recognise the sounds and cater to their needs better, without having to go thru nappy check, burp check, feed check, sleep check.. I could hear the cry and kinda know what they wanted.

Definitely worth a try anyway smile

Yep, I bought the DVD nearly 5 years ago now before my DD2 was born. Found it really helpful in the first few months when you're still getting to know your bubby. I dont know about losing the language if you dont respond to it, I think it's just that after about 6 months or so the cries aren't as distinguishable and bub has found other ways to communicate too.

Would certainly recommend it. In fact I lent my DVD to family friend and have never got it back so obviously she found it helpful too.

Here's another link, a bit longer but goes into more detail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv3-74EFtWQ

I swear by it! With my first two 'typical' babies it worked a treat. Didn't hear them really cry til about 7 months, as I knew what they were asking for/needing. However... my third is refluxy/colicky baby and all that has gone out the window.

Yep, I did it with DD and found it really helpful. Especially the "hungry" "wind" signs and sounds (which were the main things going on with a newborn)!

When we had our antenatal classes with DD it was part of what the midwife taught us. Fascinating stuff and definitely worth a try smile

I'm glad some people find it useful. I found it an absolute waste of time. They only helpful part of the DVD for me were the techniques on burping.

I can't believe I've never heard of it before... my psychologist lady introduced me to it yesterday.

I remember going through E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G with dd and in the end I'd just stick her back on the boob again.... so then she would be feeding every hour, even as a 6 month old, which of course eventually made her uncomfortable in some way or another - and by the end of the day she would be screaming uncontrollably and I would get no rest.

Definately going to print out the meanings of those sounds and stick them on the wall!

How exciting! lol

There's a website too - Dunstan Baby

I heard about it when DD was about 2-3 months and started using it with her then. Went straight into it with DS and found it to be fantastic. I had trouble telling the difference between the upper wind and the lower wind noises so just treated for both when they made a sound that could be one of those smile

Leisa.

just wanted to reply so i can see the vids later. thanks smile

Wow!!
I wish i knew this when ds was a newborn. That is awesome, ill try to remember this for our next one smile
Thanks for posting

Loved it! grin Especially the lower tummy pain sound - "eairh" sad , that one saved me. You need to here the sounds and practice a bit but it works. There's a free booklet on the website.

Here's another good link to the Oprah video on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nv3-74EFtWQ

I used it for DD1, it really helped as I had no idea what was wrong with her - I felt so much more in control when I could "understand" her.
I didn't use it with DD2 as she was a much easier baby and I seemed to get everything right (or maybe I just remembered it all from DD1).

I've had dh watch it today... he's a bit sceptical but open to trying it. I'm hoping it'll help him to feel more useful with a newborn baby. It's irritating when men just think that every cry means 'feed me', so then don't do anything to help because they don't have the goods!

I found out about this when my daughter (now almost 4) was a newborn. I found it fascinating, and I think it is a great discovery, mainly because of people who claim that babies cry for "no reason" or whatever.

I remembered the "Eh" from when I looked at it when my daughter was a baby and have found it to help when I had my other kids.

Basically though, I think you would be much better off just getting to know your baby! It is easy to learn their individual needs if you put the time into it and I even think that mums may figure out what is wrong from learning the cries subconsciously, never even having seen the Baby Language info. I think that spending time trying to listen to the exact noise your baby is making would take away from time you could have just spent relaxing and enjoying your baby a bit more. And I know that some babies cry a lot from back injuries, injuries during the birth, medical conditions etc... but for the average baby, it isn't that hard to figure out why they are crying is it? I do love the Baby Language discovery but think that most of the time it is unnecessary.

If there was some kind of way it could be better implemented (eg some kind of device that processed and interpreted the noises quickly) I would support this a lot more than I do, but I feel that with all the time spent listening to the noise - you could have figured out what was wrong by then anyway, and gotten more efficient at simple empathy and being in tune with your child, which is more helpful long term.

(Agree with your point about allowing Dads in on it though Chalys)

It's irritating when men just think that every cry means 'feed me', so then don't do anything to help because they don't have the goods!

Ooh, that is annoying isn't it!
My MIL used to think that all the time too, she'd be holding the baby who was fussing and sooking and always say "Must be titty time", and I'd say no while thinking "No, it's it doesnt want to be smothered by grandma time".
I also used to hate her saying "titty time", made it sound kind of dirty <img src='http://www.huggies.com.au/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='<_<' />

She found that all babies have this secret language, and if you respond to it within the first 0 - 3 months they will continue to make the sounds to communicate. If the sounds arn't recognised and responded to they lose this 'language' and every cry begins to sound the same.

Hopefully people understand what I am saying here - but this bit of info - that if you do not respond to the baby's needs, leading to them stopping trying to communicate - this is not explicityly linked to whether the caregiver knows the "baby language" or not. Whether they know the baby language or not, the baby's needs will be met by an attentive parent, hence the "language" and an attempt to communicate, would continue. If you ignore their needs, not relevant to whether you knew the "language" or not, they will stop trying to communicate...

I think that what she found there is evidence that babies need their needs met. And she found that the Baby Language can help you to do that, rather than knowing the language being what caused the language to continue in itself.

Do you get what I mean?

ie how would the baby know whether you know the "language" or not? They only know whether you respond to their needs or not.

That could also be evidence that not meeting a baby's needs effects their language and communication skills. Was this a proper study does anyone know?

Baby language is such an interesting thing. I have heard a bit about the Dunstan method but haven't bought the material so I don't know if it works/is accurate.

I know, however, that there is research that shows that babies understand patterns of language from a very early age. A baby can even hear different patterns of language to the extend that a 10 month old will know when it is hearing a different language to its own. And if a infant learns another language it can increase the connections between the left and right sides of the brain. I have also read that talking to babies in a sing song goochy goo voice actually helps them hear and begin to desipher patterns in speech which allows them to begin to understand language. So if someone tells you not to use baby talk when communicating with bub you don't have to listen to them wink.

I think if the Dunstan method works it could have helped me as a first time mum as I had no idea what I was doing. But I kind of agree with Windmill, that ideally you would get to know your baby and his/her own cues. With my third baby I feel like I pretty much always know what he needs - it is kind of like I can feel from his cry or just his body language what he wants or what he is feeling. I can tell when he wakes at night whether or not he will go back to sleep if I leave him for a few minutes or whether there is no point. Obviously, I make mistakes but generally I just feel really in tune with him - I hope that doesn't sound corny!