The Uncanny truths about Motherhood- Crying

I remember, oh probably 3 years ago, maybe even four, about a lady coming on Oprah. She talked about baby cries. I didn’t have a baby at the time so while I thought it was interesting; I didn’t really pay too much attention to the information. When Boo Boo was born last year, I thought, now is the time to find out what that lady was talking about. I googled what baby cries mean, and found the Oprah page and then had to search a little more to find the five different cries. Priscilla Dunstan is her name and her findings I found were pretty amazing and interesting.

It's hard to hear your baby cry. It's even harder to not know what they want or need. It can make you feel overwhelmed, stressed and even more exhausted. Understanding what your baby is saying to you, is sooo neat that once I read them I was ready to put them in effect.

I quickly wrote them down and listened closely to my baby the next time he cried.

#1 Neh= “I’m Hungry”—listen for the “n” sound. If you hear it, you know that your baby is hungry. Offer to nurse or give them a bottle at this time.

#2 Owh= “I’m sleepy. “ This is the time to swaddle (if you swaddle) and lay your baby down for sleep. Or rock them to sleep. However you have decided you are going to do it.

#3 Heh=”I’m in pain or discomfort.” Listen for the strong “h” sounds in this cry. They are cold, hot, want a diaper changed, or what a different position.

#4 Eair= “I have lower gas.” This may also be accompanied by the infant trying to bring his knees to his chest. You can assist the infant, or push their legs up to help them get that toot out of their tummy. I honestly don’t remember hearing this one to often in my baby. He didn’t have problems with gas to much unless I ate something that didn’t agree with him, but I knew that ahead of time, and stayed away from what bothered him. Mylicon works GREAT, in my opinion, it helped get rid of any gas that he had almost immediately.

#5 Eh= “I have to burp.” The sound almost sounds like they are trying to get something out of their throat. At least it did for my little guy. After a few taps, he would burp and be content again.
These cries were lifesavers for me. Seriously. Between the feed, wake, sleep schedule and knowing the cries, I felt like the hardest things were dialed in for me, and it made the beginning months so nice and pleasant.
Some of the cries sound very similar. Try to listen when they first start crying and not after they have gotten worked up and/or are hysterical. With the Neh, and Heh, listen to the first letter and see if it is present. It’s so nice to be able to understand your baby’s communication and now what they need. Again, it made things so relaxing and calm for me, to not be trying to figure out that they needed, try everything, be exhausted from it and still have a fussy baby. Within a day, I understood his cries and could understand what he was telling me. It was dreamy…