I've come to realize that my baby doesn't really have an interest in tv and we haven't had him watch any of the kids shows or anything, Sesame Street etc. I'm not against him watching tv, I just haven't sat him in front of it with the intent of watching a kids show. He will occasionally look at the tv if something catches his eye but that lasts a minute or so and then it's back to playing with his toys. The only shows that keep his attention are The Simpsons and the cooking channel. I'm guessing both are because of the bright colors.
Do you think babies at this age need to watch some tv to get some educational value out of it? Or should I just keep doing what I'm doing and not worry about it.
Re: Does your baby watch tv?
I don't think this is always the case. My nephew has learned a lot from his leap frog DVDs. The cartoon format just makes it interesting for him.
Married: 5/12/07
DD: 7/28/10
TTC#2: 10/2014
No, you don?t need to have your LO watch TV. TV is never a necessity. It?s a great distraction when you need to get something done, though.
DD sometimes watches what her brother is watching if it catches her eye, but she?s more likely to watch her brother and laugh at him when he laughs at the TV.
Around age 2-3 the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD is amazing for teaching letters and the sounds they make though. That is an educational DVD that I highly recommend. DS learned them in less than a week after working on them for months with me while playing.
I have him watch "My Baby Can Read" every so often, but it's not more than 15 minutes long.
Mine has no interest in the tv. He will sometimes glance at it while playing if the Bubble Guppies are singing something, but other than that he ignores it.
I sometimes keep it on for company while I'm home, but as I said he ignores it so I feel free to turn on whatever I want.
I don't feel he is "missing out" at all.
My pediatrician is associated with the University of Chicago, and she is working on a study to find out how the light rays emitted from TVs affect babies' brains. She has a hypothesis (yet unproven, as far as I know) that too much exposure to this kind of light can disrupt or slow brain development in babies.
So she advises all her patients' parents to keep TV to a minimum, zero if possible.
I don't know about all that, but if we have the TV on for more than an hour, Dana gets all irritable and crazy, so maybe there's something to it.
blog / birth story / my baby blues
I try not to let DS2 watch tv...but it's on occassionally for his big brother. I usually try to play with him instead of letting him stare at it.
I don't think tv is terrible, but I don't think there's any benefit when babies are this young, in fact I've read a lot about how it isn't really good for them. We didn't let DS1 watch tv at all until he was over 1 and we limited it to certain shows. Now that he's almost 3 he does watch a bit more and I do think he's learned from shows like Sesame Street.
DH and I really don't have the tv on grown up shows during the day unless there is a hockey game.
I agree that there are no real educational DVDs for babies. Two of us mentioned Leap Frog which are more for preschoolers, not babies. So it was in disagreement to your statement that there is no educational TV [period], but not in disagreement with these links that say there is no educational value in TV for babies. I think that was probably your original point since it was a post about babies watching TV, not about preschoolers.
I was thinking the same thing!
We have the TV on all the time even when no one is watching it, it's a bad habit of ours. DD looks at it now and then, but I have never seen her really "watch" anything on there. We don't put on kids stuff specifically for her to watch either.
I swore I wouldn't expose DS to TV while he was under the age of 1. MIL showed him Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I turned it on once while I was getting ready for work and Gideon was in a clingy mood.
**cue the angels singing Hallelujah chorus**
I was able to blow dry my hair, get my make-up on, eat my breakfast in the 24 minutes it was on. He doesn't "watch" it constantly like when I watch TV, but he will play with his toys and look up when they call for Toodles, grin really big, and then go back to playing with his toys. He also loves the Hot Dog dance.
Some TV shows DO help reinforce the basic stuff parents should be teaching their toddlers (like counting, ABCs, colors and shapes) but TV is not supposed to be the main source of education interaction.
Exactly. He loves Nina Totenberg.
I'm not really concerned he ISN'T watching tv yet, I'm just making sure I'm not missing something that he should be doing to learn. I don't really have any friends with kids this age so I don't know what is the appropriate age to watch things like Sesame Street and stuff. Is he behind? I personally don't enjoy kids shows so I'm putting it off as long as I have to and since he has no interest in the tv it all works out.
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