lms86

I'm writing a paper for my ASL class and I'm curious of a couple of things. If anyone can help me, I'd appreciate it. First, how can you tell if your baby is crying if you are in another room? Second, what do you do if your child wakes up afraid from a nightmare and wants to get your attention? And third, many hearing parents say they can tell the difference between whether their baby is hungry, wet, hurt, tired, etc. by the sound of the cry... how can you tell the difference without checking each option if you are deaf? Thank you for responding.
~lms86

Deafness

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Matilda

By having a portable baby monitor light and have it wherever you are in the house. That goes too for the child having a nightmare, the light will alert you and you peek in the child's room to check the problem and go from there. Our light blinks according to the child's cry .... if the cries go on & on, then it's time to check on the baby depending what hours of the day/night it is, but if it's only sporadic cries, then leave the baby to sleep on its own.

It's true in my opinion that we cannot tell the differences in babies' cries .... my hubby & I couldn't tell whether the baby was hungry, tired, wet or ill .... we just eliminate each thing one at a time by checking if the diapers are wet or dirty, if the baby doesn't have a temperature, etc and go from there until we sort out the problem. On the other hand, we women have a maternal instinct of knowing what the problems are.

jillio

The process of elimination is one that many hearing parents use as well, Ozzie. If one thing doesn't work, try another. We are not able to know by instinct what our babies cries mean. The only time that it could be useful is when a baby is crying in a very high pitched tone that would indicate pain. But then, there are visual cues that go along with that, as well, so we don't always depend on the sound of the cries only. Likewise, a hungry baby is likely to be just fussy with intermittant crying. A deaf parent could easily pick up on the subtle differences there too.

Matilda

Gee, Jillio, why do I get the feeling that I am some sort of a naughty child facing the school principal so why don't you shoot me down in flames while you're at it?
......... (I'm only new here )

deafbajagal

I was reading Jillo's statement...it sounded to me that she was just reinforcing/supporting what you were saying about the process of elimination.

deafbajagal

I have baby cry lights that I ordered from Harris Communication (they have a website you might want to check out for your paper). I also bought a TV monitor that lets me see the girls as they are sleeping, just for my peace of mind. The lights will flicker whenever they cry out. I usually figure out what is going on because I have a good routine set up for them. If it is around feeding time, then I have a pretty good indication that she is crying because she is hungry. Both of my girls started signing as early as 6 months (for real) especially "milk." That helped minimize much of the frustrations they may have. I was pretty lucky - both girls' first years were pretty good for us. We had that routine to the point that I almost always could predict their needs before they even ask for anything.

Babyblue

I agree. relied on visual cues along with the cry sounds.
Such as sucking on hand /rooting (hungry)
squirming (diaper change)
and the rest you just have to try different things to figure out. Sometimes they just want to be held and loved on. And sometimes they just cry out of frustration when their day was overstimulating.

Most parents eventually learn the difference in the Infants behavior and cries.

I had a Sonic Alert that allowed me to know the baby was crying. but it also flashed when they cooed or played.

VamPyroX

Dealing with a baby is pretty much the same for hearing and deaf parents.

Hearing parents use sound to determine what the baby wants. Deaf parents use expressions.

It's the babies that are learning how to make demands. If they try one thing and the parents don't respond in a way the baby expects, then the baby will probably try something different.

There are stuff that deaf parents can use, such as flashers and vibrators.

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jillio

You have misunderstood. I was actually agreeing with you, and only illustrating the fact that the way a deaf parent inteprets their babies cries is not so different from the way a hearing parents does the same. Please tell me what part of my post caused you to think that I was diagreeing with you, so that I can correct myself.

jillio

You have misunderstood. I was actually agreeing with you, and only illustrating the fact that the way a deaf parent inteprets their babies cries is not so different from the way a hearing parents does the same. Please tell me what part of my post caused you to think that I was diagreeing with you, so that I can correct myself, and make apprpropriate apologies.

jillio

Thank you. That was exactly what I was doing.

Matilda

It's ok, Jillio .... I've got to realize this forum is like a debate with words expressed in various opinions.

I agree with mostly what you said, Jillio but for most of us, we couldn't tell if a baby was crying in high pitched tones at all ... out of our range. It's very difficult to express in words what I am trying to convey but I don't doubt I will succeed as I go along with time.

No apology is needed, so thanks Jillio

jillio

Good! Glad we got that straightened out. No offense intended.

Chase

Whew! Sure is nice when two people you like and respect fix a brief misunderstanding as publicly as it happened.

I think it's called character, and maybe that's why I liked and respected 'em in the first place.

jillio

Babyblue

*smiles* This proves that small misunderstandings can be resolved in a proper manner through R E S P E C T.

Jolie77

Agreed. By using the expressions, We are also relying on our instincts as well. For instance, by having a routine helps and if you noticed something out of the norm then that is when you rely on your instincts to find out what is wrong with the baby. If the baby is crying more often than he/she normally does then you'd know something is wrong. Call it a hunch if you like but it helps in a sense.

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horselover61

I had a sonic boom to alert me when my son was crying and now he is 11 yrs old and he will come to me if he need me.

When he was a baby I have set up the routine so I know what he need and get it done the right way. I normally feel the need from him and I didnt have any problem with that at all. It was a breezed for me for a year and I enjoy it very much. Once you settle the routine then you are all set.

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GarnetTigerMom

You asked us how do we knwo when the baby crying and tell by the body langauge. I use a baby crier alert system that lets me know when my baby is crying while I am in the other room or any other parts of the house. I also use a baby viedo monitor as well. I can tell if my baby crying when she wet, hungry, rubbing her eyes when she tired and laughing and being silly. it all in the facial experessions. :-)

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cterry7799

I bought the alertmaster baby cry system, which as everyone else said, alerts you to cry or, basically any other noise that lasts an extended period. I didn't find it very effective personally, just because of my son's personality. My son likesd to go from a soft cry to a crazy maddening scream, 0-60. I think the cry alert personally work better for the cries in between that area. Also, I bought a "whycry baby cry analyzer" it tells you the most likely reason your baby is crying. It was right about 50-66% of the time, so maybe as good as or slightly better than the educated guess. but it was really more helpful if you're personally stressed out and you have to deal with hearing people in your house trying to come take care of your baby everytime he cries cause they think that you can't. fewer guesses=less time baby crying=less likely some hearing relative will come try to take over.