Television

[Spectra]

I've heard on the news that tv for babies under the age of 2 years old is a bad thing, but I thought I'd ask the real parents here.  Is it a bad thing??  My DD loves to stare at the tv when I am holding her and it keeps her calm.

[Diegos Mama]

Hi there,

You're likely to get a wide variety of answers.  I didn't introduce my children to the TV before the age of two.  I'm very conservative with the TV though and limit it a lot with my four year old.  My almost two year old will watch all of three minutes of Barney before heading off to play with something -- and in my personal opinion -- that's the way it should be.  I want my children more interested in the world around them than the TV. 

If you baby is very young, she's probably drawn to the flashing lights.  That in and of itself, is what the research your talking about claims is detrimental.  You'll hear lots of folks say, 'rubbish' to that.  Guess you have to go with your gut and what feels right for you as a mother.

[Spectra]

Do you know why they claim that it is detrimental?

[Nikki~Nathanamp;Danielle]

I know that the American Academy of Paediatrics advises against TV watching - not sure of their reasoning, haven't checked it out.

There was a study done a few years back where they (researchers) found a possible link between ADHD and TV watching. It's not so much the content being inappropriate (ie scary or violent), but more the fast pace of the images flashing across the screen, jerky motion etc.

[Judy]

Yes it's the supposed link to ADHD.

I found it a lot easier to keep my first from watching tv prior to the age of 2 than my current 1year olds.  Obviously if the tv is on they're going to see it - but they don't pay it any attention - at least not for long.  They have come to know the songs they hear on it - as in the LOOK when they hear the DORA songs but they don't *watch* the tv.

[Erin M]

It seems to me that if all she's interested in is the flashing lights, you could get some sort of toy or mobile that would do much the same thing.  We have the Ocean Wonders Aquarium by Fisher Price and my DD LOVED to stare at that thing when she was your LO's age.

[Marisa's Mom]

I really should look into this further. We don't really let DD watch too much TV, however, she is definitely exposed to it when it happen to be on in the room (regardless of whether she is actually looking it at). The most she ever watches is one, maybe two episodes of The Wiggles. It's the only thing on TV she watches. She doesn't really pay as close attention to the TV when I pop in a Baby Einstein DVD (however, she was much more interested in Baby Einstein when she was younger, when she was sitting up, but not after rolling around or crawling).

So how much or little TV do you let you LOs watch per day?

[Judy]

I don't provide *any* tv for my 1 year olds  -  but as I said, if it's on they can *see* it but usually I'm playing with them or they are playing with each other or practiciing walking so they aren't really interested in it.

As for my 2.5 & 4yo - I let them decide that.  I was tired of the battles and struggles that got worse and worse as time went on, over turning off the tv.  So they've got their own videos and dvd's and I just let them watch as much as they wanted and they watched 3/4 of the day for about 3 weeks and now they put it on *maybe* a few times a week and it usually only lasts one video and they often walk away even before that is done.  Again I go with the theory that if something is turned into that ever desirable 'special treat' controlled by parent - it looses it's all consuming magic.

[maggieruth]

i tend to keep the tv off when my ds is awake and would get rid of tv entirely if it was not for my tv addicted dh!  i haven't done my homework here but have heard about the not before 2 recommendation, the links to add and adhd and also my mom (an info junkie) told me that it actually rewires their brains  !
i have heard that with everything being so fast paced that it does make it more difficult for them to learn to pay attention properly and would not be surprised at the fact that the advertisers play to the lowest common denominator in the attention sweeps so make adverts more and more snappy and less attention consuming!
anyone read up on this?  i would love to know more!

[Spectra]

Thanks for all your input.  I think I will look into something like the Ocean Wonder's Aquarium.   

[Marisa's Mom]

I think I will look into something like the Ocean Wonder's Aquarium.   

I don't have the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders aquarium, but I do have the Fisher Price Flutterbye Dreams Lullabye Birdies Soother. I was trying to decide between the two, it was a toss up. I decided to go with the Flutterbye because I liked the option of having the ceiling light show. I liked how Ocean Wonders had 3 things (button, etc) for baby to play with; Flutterbye only has 1 button for baby to push.

I wasn't sure about Flutterbye at first, it seemed to work (at soothing baby) on 2 occasions, and then it didn't work & she wasn't interested. But then a few months later she started to notice it, and loved to look at it while it is turned on. But it wasn't until a month or two ago when she finally figured out how to push the button herself to turn it on/off! And now the Flutterbye is really paying off cuz she will turn it on herself at night when she is trying to fall asleep (shortly after we put her to bed), when she wakes up in the middle of the night, and also when she wakes up in the morning. It's great in the morning cuz she'll self-entertain for a while. And we get a heads up in the morning when we can hear the Flutterbye music, it gives us a few minutes to slowly wake up before we have to go pick her up. It's kinda like hitting the snooze button on an alarm clock, LOL.    Sorry I went into "ramble" mode about my experience with this crib toy...

Flutterbye Soother
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002XO5TM/ref=pd_bbs_null_1/103-4814318-4806226?v=glance&s=books

Ocean Wonders
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007WWZKY/ref=pd_sim_toys_1/103-4814318-4806226?v=glance&s=books

[Spectra]

Wow, thanks on the info, it sounds better and better all the time hehe.  How old was your daughter when she started playing with it on her own?

[Marisa's Mom]

Wow, thanks on the info, it sounds better and better all the time hehe.  How old was your daughter when she started playing with it on her own?

Oh gosh, I don't remember exactly. She's been turning it on/off on her own for self-soothing in the past month. But she had been pressing the button to turn it on/off on her own during the daytime (not for nighttime self-soothing) for a while before that. So I'd say a few months now.  She's 13 months old right now.

[JanJ]

I had never heard of anything detrimental about watching tv.  I wasn't brought up with t.v. and had it restricted when we did get it, so I have tended to do the same, more because it is so much better for our kids to be active, and use their own imagination.  I will continue to keep t.v. at a minimum till my little one is 2 after reading what everyone has said. 
As a alternative to t.v. I have been putting my 6 month old in his rocker in front of the window.  He loves to watch the cars and people walking by.  He also likes to watch the clothes in the washing machine.

[Marisa's Mom]

He also likes to watch the clothes in the washing machine.

Oh, I hadn't thought of that! Great idea. We have a top loading washer, so there's nothing to see. However I can take DD to a local laundromat to see the clothes spinning around in a front loading washer...

[Erin M]

Katie found the on/off button on the Ocean Wonders aquarium pretty early on - I want to say 4ish months, but that seems too early -- maybe 6?  She used to wake up in the middle of the night and turn the thing on and go back to sleep - it was so funny to hear it over the monitor.  We had to take it out of the crib for a bit once she started rolling as she kept smacking her head on it (ouch!), but now it's back in again. 

[Maman_d'Adrien]

Hi

I have read the original scientific paper that finds a relationship between amount of TV watched by 1 year old and 3 year old babies and their "tendency" for ADHD  once they are in school. I am a biologist so I understand the methods, etc... It was important to me to read the first hand account so I would know if this is a scare or real. Unfortunately after reading it I would say it is real  . Of course the scientists do not claim that the hours of TV watched causes adhd, what they claim is that every hour of TV watched in a day raises the probability of having adhd by 10% (on average). The difference between these two claims are that one assumes that the relationship they see means that one causes the other, the second claim doesn't. For example, some other scientists looked at that result and said "maybe adhd-prone kids are more fascinated by TV in the first place so the cause of TV watching is adhd and not the reverse", but most scientists agree that it is probably the opposite that is going on. In any case, the suggestion not to let babies under 2 watch TV is a "precaution" one, a  "Better safe than sorry" approach. The exact reason why TV would cause adhd is not know, but it has been suggested that the rewards center in the brain for focusing on one thing are very active in young babies, which would help them to give a lot of attention to their parents talking and acting, which is how they learn to talk and do everything. TV would highjack these attention centers in the brain because of fast moving images, etc, and the brain would receive a huge amount of reward for being very attentive (to something "artificial" like TV) such that later, paying attention to a teacher or slow moving things like reading a book would not give enough rewards to the brain to stay focused (that is the "brain rewiring" hypothesis somebody else was talking about in another post).

[Marisa's Mom]

Does it help to balance it out with the availability of MORE books?  Would that sort of help counteract the effects of TV?
About half of DD's "toys" are books and magazines, and she spends quite a bit of time flipping through them throughout the day.

[Spectra]

Thanks Mamam for all that information, that's awesome!  I guess I have to make sure she doesn't look at it.  Must put blinders on her lol.

[maggieruth]

wow, thanks for all that (scary) information!  i feel better about lecturing dh to turn the tv off now! 

[*Nicola*]

Hiya guys

I just wanted to post to say that we do have the TV on a fair bit in our house and that Ciara does watch it. 

Sometimes she will choose to watch a whole programme (10-15 mins) of the wiggles, postman pat, barney or whatever.  Othertimes she will ignore the TV and play with her toys, read books, sing with us or whatever.  Othertimes she will play away and occasionally glance at the TV.  She is just as happy and content playing with toys, playing outside, reading books, threading, drawing etc etc as she is watching a programme.  She will sometimes ask if she can watch a dvd or programme and that is fine by me.  She doesn't tanturm to have her programmes on and doesn't bat an eyelid if I have the news on. 

In my opinion this is ok and I choose not to stop her watching TV.  Having said that, I would NEVER allow her to sit staring at the TV all day.  Ciara is almost 3, and I realise that this is different for small babies.

Anyway ... I just wanted to post our view, whilst being mindful of the advice/research above x