My sister called me the other day. We talk often comparing notes about our newborns. Her baby, Von, was born 1 month before Willow. She could barely talk she was so excited to share her news. I thought it would be gossip from our hometown, but instead it was about something she had heard on Oprah. First, you have to understand that my sister lives in Chicago where Oprah is a huge celebrity and one of the city’s only celebrities. Second, my sister was asked to be on Oprah years ago- not as an audience member but as a panelist. She refused, but we got free audience tickets and had a roaring good time. So, she has great thoughts about Oprah. I, however, do not. However, when she told me the show she watched was about "that woman that tells you the 5 sounds of a newborn and what they mean." I knew who she meant and wanted all the information as fast as she could breathlessly spill out.  She started to tell me each of them so quickly that I grabbed a pad of paper and started scribbling.  When she was finished I brought the phone over to Willow who was crying in her bassinet. 
"What is she saying?" I said checking my pad of paper. Willow’s cry sounded like a big WAHHHHH to me- not a neh, eh, owh or any of the prescribed cries.
"Listen, listen, " my sister said. And I did, more carefully this time.

It sounded like "eh, eh, eh". I checked my pad. "Eh" meant gas.  My sister said, "it sounds like ‘eh’ to me and that’s supposed to mean gas". Sure enough, we agreed.  That was the sound.  And the meaning fit. I hadn’t been able to get a burp out of Willow after the last feeding and I knew she had some gas in there somewhere.

Papa Tree and I just finished listening to a snippet from that Oprah episode on YouTube. This woman (Priscella Dunstan) is really right on.  I am posting it here so that you can check it against your newborn’s cries.  I think you will be blown away!  (Apparently, all these sounds only applies for 0 to 3 month olds).

Priscella Dunstan on Oprah November 13, 2006.

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