Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Baby video and little boy smiles

The February issue of Babytalk magazine has a great article on the Dunstan Baby Language DVD. Did you happen to see Priscilla Dunstan on Oprah? I did and was so impressed with her that I had to buy her DVD.

If you aren't familiar with Priscilla Dunstan, she has identified five cries that a newborn makes during the first three months of his/her life. She teaches you how to identify the cries so that you know what your baby needs. The five cries are:
I'm hungry = Neh
I'm tired= Owh
Burp me=Eh
I'm uncomfortable=Heh
I have low gas=Eairh

The system was fun to learn. Karen and I got to practice recently at a family restaurant. There was a very young baby nearby who was starting to cry. She very clearly made the "neh" sound. Karen and I grinned at each other and said, "Hungry!". Of course, the real proof will be whether or not this training helps us quickly decipher Kylie's cries once she's born.

But mostly I was impressed with Priscilla's story. She is a former classical musician in Australia who has a "photographic memory" for sound. She created the system by interpreting her newborn son's sounds and then tested the system with over 1,000 babies before creating the DVD. What a cool thing for a stay-at-home mom to do!

The DVD is a bit pricey (at $60 in you live in the States) but overall I'm pleased with the purchase. And if it works, I'll be happy to loan the DVD out to new parents who live in our area. If you want more information about Priscilla and her DVD, you can find it here.

And if you've used the systsem with your little one, please let me know how it worked for you.

In other news, I've had a stuffy head with runny nose for the past two days. I think it might be allergies rather than a cold. I'm hoping it will clear up soon. And little Elijah loved his scarf. Hurray! The smile in the picture his mom sent to me made all the work worthwhile.


-Wendy
[31w,2d]

4 comments:

Ethan Barry's Momma said...

I'm glad that you found the DVD so useful. I didn't see the Oprah episode until after Ethan was already over 3 months, so it no longer applied to us.
Congrats on the little happy scarf wearer. He's adorable.
Hope you feel better soon. I hope that it is just allergies and Ethan didn't give you a cold.
Love,
H

Dee said...

I can't wait to hear how the DVD works. I'm very interested in it.

Ethan looks so happy. Those long hours worth of work must be worth it to see a smile like that!

Jen said...

Look like you made Elijah one happy little boy. That scarf is so cute!
I saw the clip of the baby talk episode on Oprah.com and was absolutely fascinated. If it really works, how wonderful will it be to know what your little baby is communicating to you?!
My sister-in-law taught my niece sign language beginning at about 6 months if I remember correctly. It's been so wonderful knowing what little Ellie wants. Apparently some think that teaching sign language delays speech but it has not had that impact on her in the least. She turned 2 in January and talks up a storm and even corrects her own grammar. She still does her signs too though.
I'll have to look more into the baby talk thing when I get preggers! Take care.

SassyFemme said...

Never heard of Priscilla Dunstan (and rarely watch Oprah), but it sounds absolutely fascinating!