Priscilla Dunstan, the person behind the "Dunstan Baby Language", has produced a 2-DVD set to train parents in her baby language, but it seems that the most important elements are summarized in this quote from oprah.com:After testing her baby language theory on more than 1,000 infants around the world, Priscilla says there are five words that all babies 0–3 months old say—regardless of race and culture:
* Neh="I'm hungry"
* Owh="I'm sleepy"
* Heh="I'm experiencing discomfort"
* Eair="I have lower gas"
* Eh="I need to burp"
Those Canadians must need to burp alot, eh?
All the mothers on the show thought the system was a complete godsend. There are a series of testimonials available on the web too. I think it's wicked, because I have no experience with newborns, and I'll take any tips people give me -- particularly the kind of tips that Oprah dishes out.
Apparently, not everyone is a fan. There is a description on Wikipedia of the Dunstan System which includes some criticism. Mainly, they say that she has used some inaccurate terminology, has not conducted quantifiable empirical studies, and has not published her findings in a peer-reviewed journal. Critics also question her credentials as a expert in this area. They may have a point. What do Australians know about babies, anyway?
I read the research section [broken link] of her website and I have to agree that the data is pretty sparse. You wouldn't expect much more on a marketing site, but it would be nice to see a more thorough treatment of her research somewhere to please the critics.
[August 21, 2008: The research section of the site has been updated with a new link.]
I don't think we'll order the $60 DVD package, but we'll certainly listen for the 5 basic reflex sounds to see if Mrs. Dunstan is correct.
10 comments:
After watching the clip, my response to that is: whatever. I'd test it out for you, but I guess my baby is too old. I have to go now because Neh.
I saw that particular Oprah show. I know that the moms were all giddy about their new knowledge, but I am not quite sure how you tell those sounds apart.
I just raised you kids on the "hit and miss guessing system". If you cried, I changed your diaper, fed you and burped you and put you in bed for naps. You all grew up to be functioning adults, so it must have worked !
J came home and told me about the show. J and a friend tried it with H with little success. Can't tell these magical sounds apart!! Maybe with more practice and after purchasing the DVD you too can hear like her, but I am skeptical. But hey if you can try it for free do it. From our experience the 5 S's work well at calming the kid, and you just watch the clock and can usually guess what is up.
Doesn't work. I watched the show with a friend and had Hayden on my lap. We tried to distinguish his sounds but it was impossible. I even tried listening at times when I knew he was either hungry or tired to hear if I could pick out the sounds, but still no luck. Mostly I just hear, "Mah"?!
So... the question is... are you using this now D?? I want a follow-up post with your experience. Is this baby language stuff a scam or what? :-)
Eric,
I've started listening more closely, and it all sounds the same to me. I'll have a follow-up post in the near future.
excellent! :)
Here's your follow-up, now that it's been several months. We listened for the sounds without any real success, but we weren't very methodical about it.
Several times we have found ourselves guessing why he's crying, which is fairly frustrating. Generally, the loudest persistent crying that doesn't fit with his feeding schedule turns out to be gas (ie: he needs to burp). We have figured that out with experience, not from any specific audible cues like Dunstan talks about.
I am no Stanford scientist, but that is my experience.
All I can say is that I don't believe babies are trying to communicate, their brains don't have the development. The neural pathways are not developed enough to communicate. I believe we train ourselves as parents to know what our babies need. It's much more parent training then baby communication.
Anon from Jan 2010 - I have to disagree with you. The very act of crying is a form of communication. And the more we respond to their attempts of communication the more they will try and expand on their abilities. When my 2 month old is smiling back at me he makes a "huh" sound that he only does in that time. Then a few days ago I handed him off to his dad and he began crying immediately. I took him back and he stopped....in other words my baby communicated that he didn't want to be held by dad at that moment.
Babies do communicate - their language may or may not be universal, but parents need to be open to learning what their baby is saying.
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