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Lessons of motherhood, No. 8:
The unknown words in a baby cry
By Errin Stevenson
February 28, 2008 | There are many words a baby could
be speaking as they cry. I am hungry, I am tired, or
I am over stimulated are just a few. How do we know
what they are saying?
Tracy Hogg, a British nurse who cared for over 5,000
babies and author of Secrets of the Baby Whisperer:
How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby,
gave great advice on this in her book. She gives us
moms four simple ways to detect your babies' cry with
a method called "SLOW."
First, she says to Stop. Stop and observe. Clear
your mind of others advice and look for your own objective
on how to help your baby. Second,
Listen. What cry is your baby crying? Crying
is the babies' body language.
Third, Observe. What is going on around your
baby? Did a car just honk the horn? What has been going
on before your baby started to cry? What is your babies'
body language?
Fourth, What's up? Going through your daily
routine on what the baby could need or want, act upon
your instincts from listening and observing. She gave
these suggestions to help us moms on how to find the
cure to our babies cry. For me, it has worked great!
Sometimes we forget to just go slow and listen. Our
babies give us cues; we just got to watch for them.
Priscilla Dunstan, an Australian mom who has a special
gift for sound, says there is five sounds that babies
make who are 0-3 months old when they cry. Priscilla
says. "Babies all around the world have the same reflexes,
and they therefore make the same sounds."
The five sounds she says they make are:
Neh: I'm hungry - the sucking reflex produces this
sound.
Owh: I'm sleepy - The sound is produced from the same
reflex as the yawn.
Heh: I'm experiencing discomfort. Your baby may be
too hot or too cold, needs a fresh diaper, or just needs
a change in scenery.
Eairh: I have lower gas Lots of babies experience
lower gas problems. The Eairh comes when the air gets
trapped in the stomach. Mylicon is an easy and simple
medicine to give your baby with gas problems. It really
worked for my son. You can also rub your babies' baby
clockwise in big circles.
Eh: I need to burp - This repeated "Eh" cry tells
you that there is air in their chest that needs to be
released. Simple put your babies arms over your shoulder
and pat their back. If you don't get a burp, Tracy Hogg
suggests to lightly rub the lower left side of their
stomach in an upward movement. This worked great for
many friends and I.
Listening to your babies cry can be hard. Sometimes
I would think to myself, really? I can detect my baby's
cry? I would feel that all the steps and information
was not working. But, if you simple listen and go slow,
I promise you that you will understand your babies cry
and it will be a wonderful expertise that you will have.
Both Tracy Hogg and Priscilla Dunstan have written
great books! I advice you to check both of them out.
Good luck on getting to know your babies cry.
MS
MS
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