I watched Oprah last night (26/06/2007, The secret language of babies), and I was awed by what some Australian woman, Priscilla Dunstan, had actually spent time and probably money to research… The language babies talk!
She has researched over a 1000 babies around the world, (would they be referred to as samples?). Did this research reach Africa? How similar would a Zulu, Sotho, Afrikaans and Pedi baby talk or cry be? Is this language so universal that a baby in Asia and Africa would use the same cry or talk? Did she concentrate on Europe, USA and Australia?
This woman has a special gift that was discovered in her early childhood and she is making money with it… She has what they call a photographic memory for sound so she remembers sounds quite well… Her baby guided her to this secret language! She went to a mall and heard other babies cry the same!
The babies have very limited words, as expected, but amazingly they do let their mothers know that what they want… “Burp me!”, “Feed Me!”, “Painful Gas!”, “Tired!” and “Discomfort!” I was amazed and shocked that I did not find out about her 27 months ago when I was expecting Prince K!! It would have made my life so much simpler! All I needed to learn is 5 words, after all! Just 5! How bad could that be? I speak fluent Tswana, have taught myself a bit of Zulu and Xhosa,( but would not dare speak it in public) – What could make 5 baby words hard to learn?
Get this, the “words” are made by sound reflexes. Regardless of race and culture, all babies speak the same “words”. Apparently babies have the same sound reflexes and if you listen hard enough – at the beginning of the cry, NOT when the poor baby is screaming their lungs out you will know what they want. At hollering scream stage, it is too late – just try everything (this is my advice). The babies speak this language between 0 – 3 months! So, you pop the baby and poof1 they can talk! How great is that?
Of course, if you can’t get the sound – your baby will stop talking the secret language, they will just holler! So listen close to the pre-cry for these “words”, react fast enough and your baby will keep talking!
Here are the “words” of the secret baby language
Neh="I'm hungry"
Owh="I'm sleepy"
Heh="I'm experiencing discomfort"
Eair="I have lower gas"
Eh="I need to burp"
You know, true Oprah style… She had to have some moms come prove Priscilla right and sing her praises. They were all amazed and endorsed her concept. Life has gotten much better! Priscilla has a DVD to help mothers with the language. I truly wonder what is on the DVD? Could it be different tones of cries and dialects? How different do the cries really sound? Do you think you can just tell by hearing the pre-cry whether it is an “eh” or a “heh”?
What do you think? Could she be pulling a fast one on all of us?
I know I want that DVD!!