Dunstan Baby Language

When Juniper was about a week old my friend Kristin told me that she saw Priscilla Dunstan on the Oprah show, a woman who figured out the language of newborns and could teach it to other moms. I thought it was an interesting idea, but didn't investigate it. Last week Kristin was visiting again and she showed me Priscilla Dunstan's website, and we learned that there is a DVD/booklet that you can buy at Target. The next day I was looking at the videos at a parenting lending library that I belong to, and I found the Dunstan DVD! So I brought it home and watched it and I think it will be helpful. Right away I recognized 2 of the 5 sounds or baby words that she teaches. The sound "Neh" for hunger is one that I remember Juni saying from her first day of life. When she wakes up after a nap, she usually cries "ahhh, Neh!" and to me it sounded like she was saying "oh, no!". It totally makes sense that the "neh" sound means hunger, because after that cry is the time when she would take the breast. The other sound I recognize is the "eh" sound, which to me sounds like a grunt, like the sound you would make in exertion while lifting weights, or to grunt as an expression of disgust. The "eh" sound by babies means that they have "upper wind" as Ms. Dunstan puts it, and the baby needs to be burped. That makes sense, too, because it is often during or after feeding that Juni will say "eh". I think it is great that someone took the time (8 years of research) to notice the correlation of these sounds to the baby's needs. Each sound is made because of the baby's instinctual reaction to a physical need. For example, the "neh" sound is made because the baby is touching her tongue to the roof of her mouth in an effort to suck. That tongue movement in combination with a cry makes the sound.