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Attachment Parenting
television and babies
Please link me to your favorite research about babies and television. We have an ongoing debate about this (I say no TV-- which includes video clips online, etc; DW sees nothing wrong with it). Our babies are 5 months old. It used to be sufficient that I said I didn't want it on around the kids, but now DW wants to see the research. I know I've seen some good links on here, but I didn't bookmark them. 
Help!
married 03/08/08 -- ttc with PCOS (dx 2005) & DS
IUI #3 gave us the best 2nd anniv. gift ever: 2 babies! (born 03/09/10)
Peanut and Little Man are getting so big! 2 years old already!
finally blogging again at This Will Be: An Adventure
IUI #3 gave us the best 2nd anniv. gift ever: 2 babies! (born 03/09/10)
Peanut and Little Man are getting so big! 2 years old already!
finally blogging again at This Will Be: An Adventure
This discussion has been closed.
Re: television and babies
I did a search on the commercial free baby site and this is hat popped up:
https://www.google.com/cse?cx=000969900843470783899%3Anpfb6j6zqai&ie=UTF-8&q=infant+television&sa=Search&siteurl=www-open-opensocial.googleusercontent.com%2Fgadgets%2Fifr%3Fv%3Dfffbf927a01c1573ec0acdcadfbfe574%26container%3Dopen%26nocache%3D0%26debug%3D0%26view%3Dhome%26lang%3Dall%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252Fcse%252Fapi%252F000969900843470783899%252Fcse%252Fnpfb6j6zqai%252Fgadget%26country%3DALL%26source%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fcommercialfreechildhood.org%252Fsearch.htm%26parent%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fcommercialfreechildhood.org%252Fsearch.htm%26libs%3Dcore%253Acore.io%253Arpc%23st%3D%2525st%2525%26rpctoken%3D745971111
full disclosure - Bunny "watches" roughly 30 minutes of video a day - signing time and then maybe a sesame street song or two on youtube. Neither of these are passive watching - I'm studying to be an ASL interpreter and "Put Down the Duckie" is fun to dance to. I also watch 45 minutes - 1 hr once or twice a day while he has "undirected play" or is napping and I fold laundry or play on the floor with him. But that's basically our tv habit anyway. We have never been "on in the background" tv people. And there are days when "tv time" is spent at the park, so it doesn't happen at all.
I agree that it should be limited, and there will be times when I do not allow it (ILs have a dvd player in their van that will never be on when bunny is in the car.) But I think none at all is too extreme for our particular lifestyle.
Anyway - there are good links in there. Good luck!
I let Emmy watch a tiny bit every day. Like the PP said- not passive watching, we dance together to Sesame Street. Sesame Street is the ONLY show she's allowed to watch (I would allow signing time too) and only 1 episode per day, total. Some days she watches none. She's not a big cuddler- the ONLY time she will sit still in my lap is if we are watching Sesame Street. She won't even sit in my lap to read a book. So, I enjoy the snuggle time....
I probably wouldn't like it if my DH came at me with a bunch of research articles about why not to do something- it would feel like preaching. I'd rather just discuss it together and come to a compromise (which may mean 10 minutes a day, or whatever). Oh, and FWIW- the problems that come from itty bittys watching TV really don't have much to do with what's on- it's the way the screen flickers. SO, no computer on in the room, either!
and here's a blurb version of the aap statement: https://www.aap.org/sections/media/toddlerstv.htm.
i agree with PP though. if you can, have a discussion with your DH and find a position you both feel good about for your LOs.
do you have research for this?
exposure to commercials raises risk for obesity.
https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/commercials-are-the-culprit-in-tv-obesity-link/
LCD screens don't refresh the way traditional tubes do. I've never heard of the flicker being a problem, but if that's the case, I doubt it's an issue with a flat-screen of any kind.
In any case, I don't think a 5-minute video clip will scramble their precious little brains. I am pretty anti-TV, but we do Sesame Street for things like haircuts (so he sits still in his high chair and I don't stab him in the ear) and daddy home late/mommy has to make dinner/crazy kid in the kitchen.
There's a time for everything, and even though DS is under 2, he has learned some crazy stuff from his three episodes of SS. He learned to count to three because Elmo was learning to salsa (also, he tries to salsa which is adorable!), and he can sing the alphabet, no joke.
LOL, I don't know quite how to parse your question, and I don't spend enough time on TB anymore to know for sure, but I'm pretty sure that this family has two DWs and zero DHs
(as if it has any bearing on how much TV these babies should watch)
The flickering has little if anything to do with the AAP's recommendation. They recommend no TV, movies, etc for children under the age of 2. They learn by doing and playing and moving around, not by sitting passively in front of a TV.
Here's a few links...
https://www.aap.org/sections/media/toddlerstv.htm
3. Pediatricians should urge parents to avoid television viewing for children under the age of 2 years. Although certain televisionprograms may be promoted to this age group, research on earlybrain development shows that babies and toddlers have a criticalneed for direct interactions with parents and other significantcare givers (eg, child care providers) for healthy brain growthand the development of appropriate social, emotional, and cognitiveskills. Therefore, exposing such young children to televisionprograms should be discouraged.
That quote comes from this article...
https://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;104/2/341
IUI #3 gave us the best 2nd anniv. gift ever: 2 babies! (born 03/09/10)
Peanut and Little Man are getting so big! 2 years old already!
finally blogging again at This Will Be: An Adventure
I've never been able to find anything that references the flicker/refresh info, but here's an article about the problems I've always heard:
https://www.whitedot.org/issue/iss_story.asp?slug=ADHD Toddlers
https://www.livescience.com/culture/090601-infants-television.html
A lot of the theory of problems with TV and infants is the unnatural motion on television and the difficulty/inability to track it. There's no natural cause-effect as things can appear/disappear and completely change worlds without any warning.
The lead researchers have a book about ways to use TV as a tool that is less detrimental with the realization that TV is a seemingly unavoidable part of modern society.
https://www.maketvwork.com/
HTH! M watches 5-10 mins of Sesame Street clips online each month while we clip nails. I figure the longer we wait to introduce it the less he and I both learn to rely on it and the longer the "norm" in our house is an off TV instead of one that's on. It's been healthier for all of us.
I also try to not let them see the computer (there have been a few unavoidable instances, but generally if a computer is on in the room they're in, they are faced away from it). The computer thing for me is more about the bright light than anything. My concern about TV/videos is the way the images jump from scene to scene in a fractured/not-true-to-life way. I read something a while back that indicated that it contributes to ADD/ADHD.
I'm not a total purist, though. When DD was in the hospital this past week, I was the one who pulled up the Wiggles "Hot Potato" video on my phone so she could watch it while they connected the EEG leads to her head.
IUI #3 gave us the best 2nd anniv. gift ever: 2 babies! (born 03/09/10)
Peanut and Little Man are getting so big! 2 years old already!
finally blogging again at This Will Be: An Adventure