I strongly disagree with your position on teaching babies sign language. I researched this fairly well after my twins were born, bought a book titled " Teaching your baby sign language" (I think) and decided to try it with Kevin and Caitlin. It is well known that children understand language long before they can speak. For example: most 10-12 month olds have a pretty good idea what "no" means, but can not necessarily speak the word. I surmise that some of the irritation young kids have is their inability to communicate effectively. Yes, there is non-verbal comm., but why not give them the tools to communicate even more clearly if you can? It has also been shown that babies who have been taught sign language begin speaking earlier and have a temporary advantage in language as well. My kids learned "more" first, and were able to "tell" me that they wanted more of what they were eating. Sure, they could do this by pointing and grunting, but learning and using actual words or symbols that represent words is nice and beneficial to learning overall. Quickly after mastering "more", they learned "please" and combined the two very effectively, something that takes much longer to do verbally. These learning times for a new word were usually just one day. One unexpected advantage came when at about 15 months, Caitlin signed "hurt" and pointed to her ear. She had no fever and no runny nose, I hadn't suspected a thing. Sure enough, she had an ear infection. (One of many to come, unfortunately) I abhor the "Baby Wise" mentality as inhumane and worse, but this tool is just that and not necessarily part of an agenda designed to turn babies into grownups over night. It is easy to condemn everything associated with the "Baby Wise" program, but just because most of it is awful (IMHO), doesn't mean that 100% of it is. Please consider the possible benefits of teaching a child a way to communicate that is developmentally feasible for them . -- Denny Rice, RN, IBCLC Dallas Texas USA *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html