His first cry usually means ‘ow’

But as you get to know your baby better and better, you could soon realise that many of his cries actually have meaning. Useful meanings that can help you in your parenting. Here’s how it works. When your baby starts to need something, reflexes in his body start to express themselves in sound. For example, the Dunstan Baby word for hungry, “Neh”, is based in a large part on the action of sucking.

It’s the rest of the cries that prove to be very valuable, and very, very interesting.

Combining sucking, the position of the tongue on the roof of the mouth to simulate breastfeeding, and the movement of the muscles along the throat makes the word “Neh” be vocalised.

It’s completely natural. All we have to do is learn to listen to it. So, when you hear that sound inside all the other babble and bubble your baby makes – hop to it. Little one needs nutrition.

Because the truth is though, many cries your baby makes mean nothing at all. Your baby loves the sound of their own voice. So when they are happy and content, they are simply experimenting with their tongue, vocal cords the shape of their mouth. But happy can quickly turn to anxiety and upset. We’ll teach to identify that critical moment so you can take action straight away, and head off any uncontrollable screaming that might have been brewing.

This is the reason why tuning in to your baby is so important too. And it’s why we dedicate so much of our course materials to this skill. In time, you’ll learn what sounds to ignore, and which ones will cause you to spring into action.

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