Recommendation: Dunstan Baby Language

 

Dunstan Baby Language by Priscilla Dunstan

 

Throughout my pregnancy, I was paranoid as to whether my baby would suffer from colic, or whether she would just simply be a cry-baby (thankfully she’s not). So I came across a DVD compiled by a former mezzo-soprano (a female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices) Priscilla Dunstan who claims that infants’ cries can be categorized into 5 groups according to the sound of each cry. By recognizing the meaning of each cry, this approach aims at helping you as the caregiver to respond to the cry correctly before the infant reaches the stage of crying hysterically. Her claims are based on the idea that humans have reflexes (e.g. sneezing and hiccups) which creates a pre-emptive cry once sound is added to that reflex, thereby indicating what the baby requires (sleep, food, comfort, burp etc.).  She then shows the different ways of addressing the crying baby’s needs. Below are the five different baby cries and what they mean:

                “Eh” – baby wants to be burped

                “Neh” – baby wants to drink

                “Eairh” – baby has lower gas (flatulence or upset tummy)

                “Heh” – baby is experiencing discomfort (eg. hot or cold; need a nappy change)

                “Owh” – baby is tired

After watching the DVD and making notes in my “baby diary” (yes, I kept a journal of everything during my pregnancy from cravings to endless and unnecessary shopping lists of items that I would ‘need’ once baby is born lol) on the different cries to listen out for, I felt prepared for the worst. I must admit that when I read about the Dunstan Baby Language at first, the concept made no sense to me until I watched it and realised that there actually was a distinction between the different sounds of babies’ cries. Although Dunstan’s theory is not scientifically validated, thousands of moms have found the DVD to be useful on application especially during the early days of infanthood. Most first-time mothers find it difficult to determine whether their baby is crying because he/she has a wind or whether he/she was simply just tired, which is where we thank Priscilla Dunstan for making our lives that much easier. Even for a mother like me whose baby doesn’t feel the need to scream my ears off when she is hungry and/or tired, I learnt the different techniques for winding my baby. So in other words, I found it to be a good source of preparation before the little one arrives.

It is available on DVD and in paperback form. I see on the official website (http://www.dunstanbaby.com/) that it can now be downloaded as an application on your phone as well. I don’t celebrate Christmas (I am Muslim) but I thought for those who do, it can serve as a wonderful gift for somebody who is expecting. If there are any moms reading this who have tried the DBL, feel free to post a comment on how useful you found it and whether you recommend it. I, for one, most certainly do.