Understanding the language of newborns

Understanding the language of newborns

The day your baby is born is the day when two adults become proud parents, and this major life change definitely has an impact on the couple's relationship, emotions and finances. Between the feedings and nappy changes, the sleepless nights and unexplained crying spells, fatigue and stress can quickly take their toll _ especially during the first three months when there's no getting around the baby's cries.

Annie Lertasadamongkol, second left, founder of the Baby Language Thailand by DBL Institute, with her students.

What most parents do not know or understand is that crying is how babies communicate their hunger, pain, fear, a need for sleep, and more. When babies cry, tension rises, not only with the new parents who have no idea of what to do, but also in the babies themselves.

Some paediatricians may suggest checking the baby's diaper first before feeding and winding. A lot of times this doesn't work and the crying gets worse and takes longer to stop.

The result of a prolonged period of crying is, of course, negative. This is because during the first year, a human's brain develops over 100 billion cells. After that, the number of brain cells will no longer increase but expand rapidly in size and connecting fibres. According to a study published in Psychology Today, when babies are stressed their bodies release cortisol, a toxic hormone that kills brain cells, into their systems.

Studies at Harvard, Yale, Baylor and other prestigious institutions also showed that killing off baby brain cells can lead to a higher probability of low EQ, poor academic performance, and anti-social tendencies.

So, parents have a vital role in providing a safe, loving and unstressful environment for newborns to grow up healthily. The first year of life is so crucial to determine the child's future success and potential to become a quality human being.

Academically, baby cries are considered a language and it may take a good four to five years to develop into speaking language. Crying is a tool babies use to communicate their needs to their parents. If parents can understand or recognise the particular crying sounds that their babies make, they will be able to respond to the needs correctly and directly, and the child will feel safe, protected and loved right from the beginning of their lives. How nice would it be to know a constructive way of understanding "baby language".

Now we do, thanks to Priscilla Dunstan who, back in 1998, when her son Tomas was born with a colic condition and cried non-stop, decided to find out what those cries meant. Dunstan, an accomplished violinist and trained opera singer with a "photographic" memory for sound, tried to find ways to understand her son's needs. Guided by her father, a retired academic from the University of New South Wales, she embarked on a rigorous sound journey and was able to decode various types of baby crying.

Another decade of research has been spent to validate the Dunstan Classification of Infant Cries (DCIC). She then introduced the world to "DBL Baby Language", which proved that communication between parents and their newborns can be cultivated from the very first moment they are together and offers tremendous benefits to the baby's brain development.

The research confirmed that there are messages encoded in every infant's cry. There is a direct correlation between five sounds and five biological needs. Each sound is assigned a phonetic descriptor _ "Neh" means hungry, 'Owh" means tired, "Eh" means need to burp, "Eairh" means lower wind pain, and "Heh" means physical discomfort.

Another 10 years of cross-cultural research was conducted among infants from 30 nationalities. This revealed a universal baby language that transforms guessing into accurate and effective communication. From the study, 70% of mothers reported that their babies settled faster and experienced reduced stress and higher self-esteem. While 50% of mothers reported that they had more uninterrupted sleep and developed closer attachment to their babies. Fathers also reported reduced stress and improved marital relationships.

Studies also show that babies whose distressed needs are met with sensitivity are more likely to be securely attached and become better learners.

Recently, the Dunstan Baby Language course has been introduced in Thailand by Dr Annie Lertasadamongkol, a certified Dunstan Baby Language educator and founder of the Baby Language Thailand by DBL Institute. The course, aimed at new and expecting parents, is available in Thai and English. Parents will learn to recognise babies' five basic cries associated with their biological needs, as well as 25 other recognisable sounds and also good parenting.

"Baby cries are natural reflexes," said Dr Annie. "If parents listen carefully and try to recognise their differences, they can be interpreted into the baby's needs.

"The method has been proven by over 10 years of research by Dr Priscilla Dunstan at Brown University, USA."

According to Dr Annie, who holds a PhD in Educational Psychology, Baby Language Thailand by DBL is the country's first classroom to teach parents the five cries all babies use to signal their everyday needs. This course is also useful for carers such as grandmothers, aunts or au pairs. Video clips of different babies are used to practice the sound-recognition pattern.

Sirinporn Nuammee, an expectant mother of a second child and attendee of the Baby Language Thailand by DBL, shared her views.

"I find the course very helpful. To understanding a baby's cries is very important as it helps us to know what our baby wants and facilitate the speed of response to the needs. When parents can respond correctly, stress and anxiety are reduced greatly in the house.

"However, what I find very insightful is the part that encourages parents to nurture the brain cells of the infants from their first year of life by stopping the brain cell killing process provoked by prolonged crying," Sirinporn said.

"I'm now very close to having my second child. I feel excited and eager to use some of the knowledge from the Baby Language Thailand by DBL to understand what my new infant will try to communicate."


For more information, call 086-516-6466 or follow Instagram @dr_annie #babylanguagethailand #loveenglishschool.

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