Baby Crying Decoded (as seen on Oprah)

Dec 14, 2007 12:05

I don't often watch Oprah, but previews for yesterday's show caught my attention ( Read more... )

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melytha December 14 2007, 17:14:31 UTC
That's interesting but I always thought babies had their own unique cries. Could those be coincidental and just those babies that she was examining? I'll look at the clip; I'm sure I'll find it interesting too, but I guess I'm a bit skeptical.

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kruszer December 14 2007, 17:25:50 UTC
i just edited with a link to a video clip of the show as well.

No she's studied over 1000 babies from all over the world. She says all babies have 3 - 5 reflex sounds that they make when they're hungry, tired, need to be burped, have gas pain or in general pain/discomfort.

Of course the sounds will vary from child to child and some will be harder to distinguish, but the theory make a whole lot of sense when you consider that the sounds they're making are related to what they're feeling (needing to push out air, they'll make an eh-eh sound; neh is connected to the shape of their tongue and lips when they suckle etc).

Actually this isn't such shocking news. Even my brother admited that his fincée's cat meows different depending on what he's after.

I was at the mall after watching that show and heard a baby fussing and I said to myself "that sounds like the discomfort cry". Sure enough, the mother changed her position and she stopped fussing. :)

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melytha December 14 2007, 17:29:02 UTC
Well, yeah, I didn't think it was that shocking or surprising either. ;) I always figured that parents would be able to learn their own children's cries just by listening to them, and of course the same thing goes for cats. My family has had a lot of babies, and a lot of cats. ;) I suppose that possibly the main difference with this woman is that a new parent who hasn't learned to recognize his or her children's cries yet could maybe know right away by listening to the cries that this woman has studied.

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kruszer December 14 2007, 19:08:58 UTC
useful for us childcare providers too who don't know the baby at all and would take even longer trying to figure out what he/she needs.

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