Understanding your baby's babble

Fri 22/12/06

By Elise Mooney

Like many mums, Priscilla Dunstan initially struggled keep up with the needs of her new-born son.

But instead of resigning herself to sleepless nights and embarrassing situations, the 30-year-old Aussie mum set about decoding the meaning of her baby's murmurs and moods.

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• VIDEO: Baby talk

Priscilla was a violin virtuoso as a child and had a well-trained ear — a gift she used to start 'listening' to her baby talk.

After an eight-year investigation, she says she has cracked the code of baby-speak.

"The first word that I learned was 'neh', which was the world for hunger," says Priscilla, who is now dubbed 'The Baby Listener'.

She says all babies make the same sounds, regardless of which country they come from.

"Because it is based on reflexes, and all humans and all babies have the same reflexes, it is universal," she says.

"Wherever you are around the world, if your baby is aged between zero and 12 weeks your baby will be saying these words.

Priscilla has since taken her message to the US, making appearances on the Today Show, Fox News and Oprah.

But do her techniques work? We checked in with some of the mums and dads who met Priscilla six weeks ago, during Nine's Look Who's Talking special.

Parents Duncan and Amber say they've gradually learned to distinguish their baby girl Elektra's sounds after using Priscilla's DVD.

"We found that one word was beneficial to us and that was to burp," Amber says.

"[If] we put her down and we hear the 'eh' sound, we pick her up and burp her to put her back sleep, and she is fine after that."

Cracking the code: Baby talk

Neh: "I'm hungry"
Owh: "I'm sleepy
Eh: "I need to burp"
Eairh: "I have lower gas"
Heh: "I'm uncomfortable"

To order a Dunstan Baby Language DVD, visit Priscilla Dunstan's web page.

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