Calm the Crying

April 1, 2013

Dunstan, who has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, amongst other highly visible media outlets, claims that her eponymous baby language will teach parents to "hear, understand, and know exactly what [their] baby needs and how to attend to those needs quickly and effectively." The author, who had a colicky son herself, studied classical and operatic singing and claims to hear more than most people and to have exceptional pattern-recognition skills. She describes 18 "words" that she says are a universal baby language: Neh means I'm hungry, Eairh means I'm gassy, Gen means I'm teething, and so on. Her research has never been validated, however, and while she seems to appreciate the scientific method, she is forced to use terms like "control type situation" to give credence to her technique, which is mostly aimed at parents of infants under 12 weeks. VERDICT Desperate parents will try anything to soothe a crying baby, and who can blame them? There are definitely distinct infant cries for different needs, but claims to have deciphered their cryptic mysteries are a bit much. Nonetheless, this title may get some media play, so libraries might consider purchase from a circulation perspective.

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