The language of babies

Way before I became pregnant with Mia, I watched an episode on Oprah that discussed how babies have their own universal language.  I remember being intrigued by the episode and always kept it in the back on my mind for when I had my own children.  When Mia was days old, Mike and I looked up the video and watched the clip again.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgkZf6jVdVg

Dunstan's baby language consists of five universal words which are: (source: good ol' Wikipedia)

• Neh (I'm hungry) - An infant uses the sound reflex "Neh" to communicate its hunger. The sound is produced when the sucking reflex is triggered, and the tongue is pushed up on the roof of the mouth.

• Owh (I'm sleepy) - An infant uses the sound reflex "Owh" to communicate that they are tired. The sound is produced much like an audible yawn.

• Heh (I'm experiencing discomfort) - An infant uses the sound reflex "Heh" to communicate stress, discomfort, or perhaps that it needs a fresh diaper. The sound is produced by a response to a skin reflex, such as feeling sweat or itchiness in the bum.

• Eairh (I have lower gas) - An infant uses the sound reflex "Eairh" to communicate they have flatulence or an upset stomach. The sound is produced when trapped air from a belch is unable to release and travels to the stomach where the muscles of the intestines tighten to force the air bubble out. Often, this sound will indicate that a bowel movement is in progress, and the infant will bend its knees, bringing the legs toward the torso.This leg movement assists in the ongoing process.

• Eh (I need to be burped) - An infant uses the sound reflex "Eh" to communicate that it needs to be burped. The sound is produced when a large bubble of trapped air is caught in the chest, and the reflex is trying to release this out of the mouth.

After watching the clip, we started listening to Mia's cries to see if we could differentiate them.  Sure enough, she used this universal baby language.  Neh and Eh are by far the easiest ones to identify and she stills uses them.  Mike would come to me and say she needs you, she's Neh-ing.  However, her cry for discomfort sounds more like Meh than Heh to me.  It was amazing knowing what she wanted and being able to respond to her quickly from the start.  

When people meet Mia, they usually comment on how content/happy she is and how she does not cry.  I attribute part of that to the fact that she has always been able to communicate her needs to us and we responded appropriately using this baby language.  Which is awesome!

The only downside of this baby language is that it usually ends around 3 months of age when the reflexes fade away, so now we are looking into baby sign language.  We have already started signing daddy, mommy, milk, and play to Mia.  We will have to see how that goes!  

Here are some pictures of our happy baby from the past 2 weeks or so...