Thursday, March 01, 2007

Oprah!

Here's an article about what was on Oprah today - it was absolutley amazing!

After testing her baby language theory on more than 1,000 infants around the world, Priscilla Dunstan 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 "words" are actually sound reflexes, Priscilla says. "Babies all around the world have the same reflexes, and they therefore make the same sounds," she says. If parents don't respond to those reflexes, Priscilla says the baby will eventually stop using them.
Priscilla recommends that parents listen for those words in a baby's pre-cry before they start crying hysterically. She says there is no one sound that's harder to hear than others because it varies by individual. She also says some babies use some words more than others.

Ever since I watched it, I have been listening to Kaiden's cries - and she is completely spot on! He's a pretty easy baby to understand anyway - he only cries when he needs something and usually it's pretty obvious what it is that he wants. But for people who have babies who are a lot more demanding, this could be a life saver. By far the easiest one to pick is "I'm hungry", the others seem to sound a bit the same. But with time and practice I'm sure they will be easy to define as well.
This woman is amazing, I'm sure a lot of mothers out there who have read about her theory will be extremely grateful :-)

1 comment:

Dee. said...

I have heard bout this lady and her theory I think I seen something on ACA, I'm hoping to try this on my 3rd but I have a ways to go yet :) Its wonderful to hear that it actually works.