How long did it take all you ladies before you could recognise what your baby was crying for? Before i gave birth I got the impression from the reading i'd done that it would be just 1 or 2 weeks, but i can honestly say it was a good 7 or 8 before I could tell the difference between "I'm hungry" and "I'm tired", and those are still the only ones that she seems to use, although the "I'm hungry" cry could best be described as "I'm uncomfortable and require attention, please" as it seems to include everything from dirty bum to can't find thumb.

did anyone else find it took this long?

Yep definately!!! It took us about 8 weeks but there is definately no mistaking them now! And what was annoying sometimes was that my mum seemed to know what was wrong which was a bit discouraging when I didn't, but I suppose that is just experience. But as you say, ante-natal literature does tend to imply that its something which occurs more quickly. We had to just gp through the hit-list of hunger, nappy, wind etc. To be honest though we read up so much before having Lucas, and half the stuff you read is rubbish, doesn't work or just doesn't suit your baby.