babies and tv?

keyshahart · December 2013

I have a 4 month old and it seems like the only thing she really enjoys is tv. Doesn't matter what is on whether its ellen or baby einstein. I play with her with her toys and in a jumper or exersaucer but it seems to only last 20 minutes at most and then she fusses and cries. But as soon as you turn the tv on she calms down right away. Ive read online no tv for 2 years but I want other moms opinions

trudibell · December 2013

https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/10/12/peds.2011-1753.full.pdf+html

Readers digest version for babies: AAP says to avoid TV before the age of 2, but there are few studies actually done on the effects of TV before that age. We don't own a TV (we watch most our shows streaming online) and we've made it 6 months so far with no TV for LO. My husband had ADD as a kid and we're just being cautious. Even if TV has no effect, limiting it or avoiding it does no harm.

taraleanne · December 2013

Nicb13 said:

This is a touchy subject for most people. We have the TV on in our house all the time and I didn't stress it when DS was a baby. True, TV can be overly stimulating but they get stimulation just from an outing to the mall. The main point is to not use the TV in place of actual one on one learning experiences with YOU. Don't depend on TV to teach your LO things as they get older. Babies and kids learn better from human interactions than they do from TV.
Not all kids will be negatively affected by TV so take the studies and research with a grain of salt, like all other advice. With all that being said, my DS isn't even 2 yet and has learned the entire alphabet from watching Super Why for 25 minutes before bed each night. I'm not bragging, just saying that TV isn't always bad like people think.

Agreed. And everything in moderation too right? Like seriously, a little bit of TV here and there isn't going to negatively affect your baby or a toddler for that matter, at least IMO and my own observations of kids. It's when it's used as a baby sitter consistently. For example, my cousin had 2 tv's - yes TWO(!) in her family room. One was for the adults and one for the kids (ages 1 and 3 at the time) and both TV's were constantly on and the kids were always, always parked in front of their TV.

I wouldn't be too worried about your 4 month old looking at the TV for a while, I let mine watch for a while if we're lounging on the couch after a feed or whatever, at 4m old they love the lights and colours and sounds. It will be easier for them to entertain themselves around 6m (at least in my experience) with toys and stuff. When my LO is older I will certainly let him watch certain programs here and there as well, I just won't be using it as his main source of entertainment.

steelerbaby29 · December 2013

Our TV in the living room is pretty big so it's not hard for my son to watch occasionally while we are feeding or playing. I try to make a point of turning him away if I notice he is watching and when he is on the floor I face him away from it. I don't think watching it here and there is bad but if I can avoid him from focusing on it I do.

[Deleted User] · December 2013

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PrimRoseMama · December 2013

Not the devil box! :P

Bunnyfer · December 2013

My LO is just fascinated by the colors and lights....My DH says when he watches wrestling, she looks at the TV during the entrance parts, then could care less....She chills with me usually after a feeding and we watch Animal Planet together....At most she will look at it for 5min, then usually turns away and goes back to eating her hands, and yelling at her toys

alijeff2313 · December 2013

dani_brewer said:

I think the issue with tv is when parents use it as a babysitter for their kids. If your lo looks at the tv for a while, but you are also doing interactive stuff throughout the day then its no big deal in my opinion.

Exactly this. My LO loves the tv. She likes the bright colors. Do I recommend leaving your child infront of the tv for hours and not intereacting with them, no. But am I going to turn my tv off just because some article says to...nope.

Mom38673 · December 2013

I honestly think it depends on the kid. We never emphasized the tv or used it as a babysitter by any means. My daughter loved it. Now, she's 9 and hardly ever wants to watch tv ( unless we are at the theater ). She loves being outside, and doing things. TV is not good for babies and kids, but in moderation will not hurt in my opinion.

keyshahart · December 2013

Thanks everyone for your comments..still not sure what to do. I dont put my baby in front of a tv intentionally but sometimes she can be in the middle of a screaming fit and nothing will calm her down except for this one coloring show. I dont think its right to just let her cry when I know something that makes her happy. So its hard to have absolutely no tv when its the only thing that will calm her down sometimes. So confused on what to do

ILMomma · December 2013

keyshahart said:
Thanks everyone for your comments..still not sure what to do. I dont put my baby in front of a tv intentionally but sometimes she can be in the middle of a screaming fit and nothing will calm her down except for this one coloring show. I dont think its right to just let her cry when I know something that makes her happy. So its hard to have absolutely no tv when its the only thing that will calm her down sometimes. So confused on what to do

I think what ur doing is fine. Dont worry about it. U dont use it all the time or as a substitute so i dont see the problem. Go with what u feel is right and what u feel comfortable with.

Mom38673 · December 2013

I believe the news reported it right this morning about this subject. Phones, computers, pads, and TV's are everywhere. This is what the kids are growing up with, and you can't really avoid it. It's how you interact with your devices and raise your kid as to how they will treat and use them as well. (i.e. if you ignore your kid and stay on your phone, your child will most likely do the same to you and/or others). If you use it as an occasional learning tool or entertainment piece like it's intended to be used, your child will see it as just that. Granted there are always exceptions, but I don't think you are doing anything wrong.

Mom38673 · December 2013

RedheadBaker said:

I believe the news reported it right this morning about this subject. Phones, computers, pads, and TV's are everywhere. This is what the kids are growing up with, and you can't really avoid it. It's how you interact with your devices and raise your kid as to how they will treat and use them as well. (i.e. if you ignore your kid and stay on your phone, your child will most likely do the same to you and/or others). If you use it as an occasional learning tool or entertainment piece like it's intended to be used, your child will see it as just that. Granted there are always exceptions, but I don't think you are doing anything wrong.
There are no demonstrated educational qualities of television before age 2. There are, however, negative effects in sleep and attention spans.

I agree. What I was stating is that if you were to use them or have them around, you would be teaching the appropriate usage of the devices.

Shoecrazysarah · December 2013

Actually, it seems as if most here are missing the negative affects of having a TV on regularly.

Language development is delayed even if you just leave the TV on for background noise. The average parent says 940 words per hour. Studies show that when a TV is on for background noise that number drops to 770 words per hour. As we all can agree, the less we talk to our babies/toddlers the less they will learn.

Furthermore, studies show that when a child is at play in a room with the TV on he/she will look up at the TV approximately every 20 seconds. Even when it is adult orientated programing, which is distracting to their focus on whatever activity they are taking part in.

Last, "in a study focused on word recognition in the presence of background speech, it was discovered that a 7-month-old infant was not able to distinguish words he was familiar with against the background noise. In this study, a woman spoke familiar words at the same time that a monotone male voice spoke in the background. Unless the female voice was at least 10 decibels higher than the male voice, the child did not understand the woman's words. When experimenters attempted to teach toddlers new words in the presence of white noise, the children could not differentiate between “b” and “ch” sounds at the end of a word, learn new words, and retain new words they had been taught. Researchers concluded that the background noise prevented the children from hearing different sounds in the words and prevented them from paying attention and retaining what they learned."

I understand that my LO may want to stare at the TV. He also wants to crawl off the changing table really bad. I don't believe that television can benefit LO at all, so to avoid the risk of any potential damage we are certainly willing to sacrafice our TV time.

LittleNugget93 · December 2013

I didn't read through most of the comments so I apologize if this was already said!

I notice that my daughter will calm down once placed in front of the television as well. However, she also calms down if she is laying on her play mat underneath the twinkling lights that play above her head. I think it's just the lights that help distract and calm at this point. I wouldn't be too worried as long as you put other activities first. It is only a real problem once children start using it as the main source of entertainment, thereby leading to less exercise and less activities that encourage brain development. TV should always be a treat, in my opinion. I personally wouldn't even own a TV if it weren't for the fact that we are living with my parents for the time being.

Mom38673 · December 2013

shoecrazysarah said:

Actually, it seems as if most here are missing the negative affects of having a TV on regularly. Language development is delayed even if you just leave the TV on for background noise. The average parent says 940 words per hour. Studies show that when a TV is on for background noise that number drops to 770 words per hour. As we all can agree, the less we talk to our babies/toddlers the less they will learn. Furthermore, studies show that when a child is at play in a room with the TV on he/she will look up at the TV approximately every 20 seconds. Even when it is adult orientated programing, which is distracting to their focus on whatever activity they are taking part in. Last, "in a study focused on word recognition in the presence of background speech, it was discovered that a 7-month-old infant was not able to distinguish words he was familiar with against the background noise. In this study, a woman spoke familiar words at the same time that a monotone male voice spoke in the background. Unless the female voice was at least 10 decibels higher than the male voice, the child did not understand the woman's words. When experimenters attempted to teach toddlers new words in the presence of white noise, the children could not differentiate between “b” and “ch” sounds at the end of a word, learn new words, and retain new words they had been taught. Researchers concluded that the background noise prevented the children from hearing different sounds in the words and prevented them from paying attention and retaining what they learned." I understand that my LO may want to stare at the TV. He also wants to crawl off the changing table really bad. I don't believe that television can benefit LO at all, so to avoid the risk of any potential damage we are certainly willing to sacrafice our TV time.

My daughter did watch some TV. We have it on most of the time while home (not in every room). She has a very large vocabulary. She spoke early and in full sentences. Reading and vocabulary have been her strongest subjects in school. Again, it depends on the kid. Eventhough the tv was present in our day to day goings on, I still read books with her. I did a lot of the normal learning / developmental things with her. Not all studies/results are a definitive answer. It's up to parents to pay attention to their kids and adjust their activities to help them to grow.

XmasDivine · December 2013

My mum sat me in front of a TV at 2 weeks old. I'm a nurse practitioner completing my doctorate degree.

Little bitty babies have no idea what they are even looking at. It's just colors and noise the same as most of the vtech toys out there.

Shoecrazysarah · December 2013

Mom38673 said:

shoecrazysarah said:

Actually, it seems as if most here are missing the negative affects of having a TV on regularly.

Language development is delayed even if you just leave the TV on for background noise. The average parent says 940 words per hour. Studies show that when a TV is on for background noise that number drops to 770 words per hour. As we all can agree, the less we talk to our babies/toddlers the less they will learn.

Furthermore, studies show that when a child is at play in a room with the TV on he/she will look up at the TV approximately every 20 seconds. Even when it is adult orientated programing, which is distracting to their focus on whatever activity they are taking part in.

Last, "in a study focused on word recognition in the presence of background speech, it was discovered that a 7-month-old infant was not able to distinguish words he was familiar with against the background noise. In this study, a woman spoke familiar words at the same time that a monotone male voice spoke in the background. Unless the female voice was at least 10 decibels higher than the male voice, the child did not understand the woman's words. When experimenters attempted to teach toddlers new words in the presence of white noise, the children could not differentiate between “b” and “ch” sounds at the end of a word, learn new words, and retain new words they had been taught. Researchers concluded that the background noise prevented the children from hearing different sounds in the words and prevented them from paying attention and retaining what they learned."

I understand that my LO may want to stare at the TV. He also wants to crawl off the changing table really bad. I don't believe that television can benefit LO at all, so to avoid the risk of any potential damage we are certainly willing to sacrafice our TV time.

My daughter did watch some TV. We have it on most of the time while home (not in every room). She has a very large vocabulary. She spoke early and in full sentences. Reading and vocabulary have been her strongest subjects in school. Again, it depends on the kid. Eventhough the tv was present in our day to day goings on, I still read books with her. I did a lot of the normal learning / developmental things with her. Not all studies/results are a definitive answer. It's up to parents to pay attention to their kids and adjust their activities to help them to grow.

I do understand that not all babies are going to be affected by TV the same. The same as every baby placed on their tummy to sleep will not subcomb to SIDS.

The studies show that there is increased risk by exposing those under two to tv. Really, there is no way to know in advance so the reccomendation is to avoid it. In addition, since I am the worrying type, even if my LO excelled in the areas yours did I would still be concerned he had a greater potential that I dulled by the overuse of television. On the other hand, if he did end up struggling, I would never forgive myself.

But that's just me.

Mom38673 · December 2013

People should pay attention to research and studies. It is important and gives valuable information: however, I do believe people are too quick to make studies, reports, and guidelines the Law. Humans conduct these studies; therefore, they are subject to human error. The Tv doesn't do anything, we do. It is the parent's responsibility to watch and give the next generation the tools and support to excel. If you see your young child paying too much attention to a TV and not interacting, then do something about it. It's what we teach them that is important, because we can not control all factors in their environment at all times. We can teach them how to react to factors in their environment. (i.e. Not advocating TV, but studies were wrong about introducing peanut butter before a year. Now, it has proven to increase chances of allergies.)

vintageutopia · December 2013

I chuckled at the "devil box".
While I think it is important to limit the amount of time in front of the TV, I also don't think it is going to scar your child if they watch it before two. My oldest two both watched it before two and neither one LOVES to watch TV now, has trouble sleeping, etc.
I will say, I think it matters WHAT they watch. The concern has to do with the rapid fire movement between screens. Both of my kids really like the Classical Baby videos produced by HBO. They are slower moving, relaxing, and colorful.

babies and tv?

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