This video is a segment Oprah aired about a woman named Priscilla Dunstan who claims to have discovered a language found in all newborns. This theory is now referred to as Dunstan Baby Language.
Dunstan, having special hearing abilities from birth, discovered that her son made very distinct sounds every time he had a certain need. The sounds were made before a full cry (which was only reached when the need was not understood or responded too). She soon began to realize other babies were making these sounds. Not their own sounds, but the exact same ones. She identified five "words" for five different needs: hunger (neh), discomfort/changing (heh), sleepiness (owh), gas pain (eairh), and burping (eh).
Dunstan has her own website where she offers products (somewhere between $50 and $70) and classes that help parents respond to these "words." I'm not sure about the research on this; most of it appears to have been her own, although her site states that she's been working with different universities. A thorough Internet search doesn't find any research besides her own out there. Some parents give it rave reviews and others claim their child isn't making different sounds. According to news articles they were supposed to do clinical trials with Brown University but chose to work on creating and marketing a product instead. With regard to lack of outside research, it seems similar to Dr. Karp's Happiest Baby on the Block. Again, some swear by it while others claim it doesn't help at all. Is the science invalid or are some parents doing it wrong? Hard to say. Happiest Baby taught me a few things that really helped calm my son.
I think Dunstan's idea of it is definitely interesting and thought-provoking. It speaks to the idea that babies seem to understand each other. The language, she says, only applies to newborns, though, and children seem to lose the words after three months. She mentions in the video that some children might retain the words if their needs are consistently met when they make the sound. I only wish I'd learned this sooner so I could have listened for it with my son. Maybe the next one?!
Anyone have any experiences with this?
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