to let my 28 week old son watch T.V whilst I make lunch/dinner?

[frankieb70s]

It hardly goes on in the day but when I'm making breakfast, lunch and dinner I have started putting on the children's channels for around 20-30 mins at a time, which distracts him. I vowed I would never use the tele as a 'babysitter', but it does make life so much easier when I need to get food prepared. Do/did you?

Oooo I never have - good thought! He loves animals - that may work...

DD fell in love with mickey mouse clubhouse at the grand old age of 16 weeks - she wouldnt get stimulated by anything else on TV. DS is 11 weeks and hasn't discovered TV yet, but he loves white noise on youtube, so when I want to cook/clean I swaddle him, put him in his bouncer and put my iphone next to him with white noise playing. He literally goes to sleep within seconds.

Wait til you have to watch an hour of American Shite on Nickelodeon. 2o mins of Waybaloo/INTG is nothing.....I honestly would not stress about. TV is bad if that is all they do all day.

I was going to get rid of the TV before we had the baby, now at 14months she passes me the control and says 'Mickey' ... I might have failed as a parent but she knows what a remote control does, something she would never have learned if we had gotten rid of the TV

I put DS in front of the Simpson's on Friday so I could get his bottles sterilised...not feeling so guilty now other people do use the tv every so often!

It's quite hard to look after DS all day sometimes as DH doesn't get home til 7pm and only FIL nearby to babysit, but he works 6 days a week so we are planning to ask him to babysit once a month for a couple of hours so DH and I can have a 'date night'.

I too used to vow that my kids would not
Watch tv. I have since come to the conclusion that staggering
Into dd (5)s room at 6am on a Saturday morning, putting on a
DVD and collapsing back into bed is in fact a perfectly ok parenting choice.

YABU for describing your child's age in terms of weeks once they're past ~twelve weeks old. But telly's fine.

Has to be better than sticking them in a pram and leaving them to scream at the bottom of the garden?

Which is what my GM used to do so she could get the housework done

ds had no interest in tv other than to occasionally slap the screen, usually if there are people on it. Until last week when he discovered he could turn it off. Now he finds it great fun switching it on and off. I think its going to kill our old TV quite soon... He won't watch an actual programme though.

28 weeks? How old is that in simple numbers?

My DCs have had chicken pox this week. We have watched a lot of TV while they lay on the sofa under a blanket feeling like crap. DS announced we had seen too much TV, turned it off and immediately asked to see Numtums on iplayer on my phone. Cos the size of screen changes everything?

It's not that hard to work out how many months 28 weeks is! It's your 4 times table - 7 months....

I can't get my 17 month old to watch the damn thing (that is not a twattish stealth boast) I have tried the Gruffalo, ITNG and a few others, she will watch the Peppa pig theme tune.

My 7 month old has an activity table which he sits in and it's the only thing that will keep him entertained for more that 30 seconds. When I put him in that in front of cbeebies I get a shower AND breakfast!

Sootie- not every month is 4 weeks. 28 weeks is actually 6.5 months, depending on DOB of course. My DS turned 26 weeks today, so he is exactly 6 months old (born 24/09/2011).

In answer to OP, it is something I feel strongly about, and will not allow my DS to do. But that's because I'm a natural worrier, and I worry about how all those flashing lights and scene changes will affect his still growing and developing brain. I also studied developmental neuroscience. I worry about how it will affect his attention and concentration as it is rapid changes you don't get in real life. There is a lot of scientific literature on it.

But each to their own.

Scheherezade, I never put DS (7 months) in front of TV for the same reasons. I do worry about the effect it has. He sees TV when we watch it - but I very rarely watch it in the day when I'm alone with him and try and face him away from the screen. He has never seen children's TV and I intend to hold out for as long as I can. Knowing about the very cynical way that television programmes are used to market to children, I hate the idea of exposing DS to it intentionally.

YANBU. Mine is 24 now and has a BSc (Hons). The TV didn't do him any harm. Nor did him watching the washing machine on fast spin which he also seemed to love.....

I used to put my son on my back in one of those "soft" carrier things, it was nice and it was the only way I could do stuff in the kitchen. At 6 months you could still do that.

When my DD was a very little baby, I used to put 'Kilroy' on while I did the essential cleaning,washing and sterilising.
She loved his voice and sat concentrating intently (I'm told very young babies don't focus well)

So now she's tainted isn't she and will marry a dodgy perma-tanned politician with a dodgy accent

Actually, when I do put DS in front of the TV, it's only to watch DVDs of TV shows from the 1970s (the Muppets, Sesame Street, we have an old Paddington video). The old shows aren't so hyperactive and backchatty I do worry about ADD as it runs in the family and don't want to encourage it if I can help it. Possibly I'm being paranoid but I really don't like the TV too much (unless DS is really sick, in which case I think fair enough).

I`ve also found snooker very good, the quiet gentle voice of the commentator,trying to keep their eyes on the balls watching the action always very popular with the babies ooh and I love the washing machine too.

I put Cbeebies on for my ds who is 8.5 months. I also thought I wouldn't!
Dh thinks I put it on for me though as I sing along v loudly to Chuggington & Zingzillas :o
Do what works for you. If it means you can have a coffee or bung some washing on,do it!

I feel guilty about ITNG every evening and Tommy Zoom on a Sunday morning. I think it's because we didn't have a telly when I was growing up so my parents disapprove slightly, and DS ADORES it

But really you can't interact all day! Stuff needs to be done :) although now he's 15 months mine is just as distract able with the Tupperware cupboard!

Am I the only one who thought the title of the thread referred to a 28 year old son and thought 'wtf?' but then went, 'hey, it's aibu...' :)

scherezade, we feel the same
Our Dts ha no TV at all until they were 2. (we don't have a TV).
They are now 2 1/2 and have an episode of Bob the builder, Peppa Pig or Something special most days.
Because it only plays one episode at a time, it's easy to limit it.