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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To let baby watch tv?!

134 replies

Wishfulmakeupping · 28/06/2013 10:37

My dd is 5 months.
We do stuff everyday babygroups/meeting friends/family/shopping trips in morning and go for a walk in afternoons as well as playing on play mat for couple hours.
But I do let her watch baby tv for about an hour-1.5 in morning while I'm getting ready sorting out bag etc and and another 30min to an hour at teatime.
Is this so wrong? People have said its too much tv and she shouldn't be watching any.

OP posts:

GobbySadcase · 29/06/2013 11:56

Blimey some people need to unclench...

mrsjay · 29/06/2013 11:59

It wasnt all it once the telly time was going to be split

Indith · 29/06/2013 12:05

At 5 months that's quite a lot. I've tended to keep my babies with me when getting ready. Bouncy chair on the bathroom floor while I shower, that sort of thing.

I confess my 15 month old does a little dance of joy when he hears the Octonauts theme tune . His older siblings are a little obsessed! These days he gets narked if I try to have a shower with him in the bathroom so he gets strapped in the pushchair in front of octonauts with his siblings instead . But that is just the length of one Octonauts and not an hour and a half! I wouldn't let my older ones watch that much TV either unless we were having a special treat of popcorn and a film.

TheToysAreALIVEITellThee · 29/06/2013 12:41

My TV is on pretty much all the time when someone is in the house. I have noticed though that the kids never seem that interested in it when its on, when its off however they want it on, but then it goes on, and they bugger off and do something else. Go figure

flatpackhamster · 29/06/2013 12:49

Our one (8 months) watches Top Gear on Dave most days. Presumably that'll make some heads pop in disgust.

theodorakisses · 29/06/2013 13:07

Flat pack, I love it! I love clarkson, I met him in Doha and he told me he liked my car! As I said, some of the stuff older ones pick up from radio 4 is far worse than a bit of peppa. Same in my house, tags on everywhere, even have a garden one but nobody actually seems to pay a great deal of attention

WafflyVersatile · 29/06/2013 13:26

on a link to a study upthread it said that when tested toddlers that watched a lot of tv had 7 or 8 fewer words that ones that didn't.

Oh noes.

It's not possible to have the ideal childhood and that would look different to different parents anyway. You have to weigh up tv time with how much less stressed the mum feels if she manages to get some housework done in peace, for instance. Stressed mum also has a measurable effect on baby's well-being. And also many other variables.

theodorakisses · 29/06/2013 13:34

What happened to those toddlers? Are they adults yet? Do they still have 7 or 8 less words? I haven't noticed any missing words in our house although please and sorry are few and far between after the age of 13

notanyanymore · 29/06/2013 13:41

Oh OP what your doing sounds perfectly lovely. My youngest is 4.5 months and loves a bit of in the night garden while I put the older 2 to bed. Thinking about it we seem to have cbeebies on all day and the older 2 also love looking up mickey mouse cartoons on you tube and sometimes show them to ds3 too! However, they also spend loads of time on the trampoline, drawing, painting, in imaginative play, baking, reading stories etc as well as swimming, ballet and trips to the park weekly. So personally I don't feel guilty and couldn't give a toss what people think. And if its effected their development at all they must have been born fricking geniuses as they're both right at the top of where they should be developmentally. (Infact I'm pretty sure some of the number/letter knowledge they've got is from numtums and squigglet, cbeebies is perhaps better at explaining these things then I am!)

WafflyVersatile · 29/06/2013 13:43

theodora they were all thrown off a cliff for failing the vocab test.

mrsjay · 29/06/2013 13:47

Our one (8 months) watches Top Gear on Dave most days. Presumably that'll make some heads pop in disgus

YABU and a terrible parent to expose your poor baby to jeremy clarkson

charlottehere · 29/06/2013 13:49

In my book it's fine. DS watches tv while I get on with essential bits and bobs. He is 7 months.

mrsjay · 29/06/2013 13:51

I am not sure there is any difference in the colours and sounds on TV than the colours and sounds on an electronic toy , to a baby it is just the same

WafflyVersatile · 29/06/2013 14:10

Not entirely. Toys are interactive and the baby learns about her effect on the world around her. That doesn't happen with tv, well not until they are old enough to operate the remote.

CreatureRetorts · 29/06/2013 14:13

Sorry OP. I know we all try our best. But you did ask.

I missed the post where it said not all one one go, but I would cut down if it were me. It is an easy habit to get into - I certainly did with my oldest when his sister arrives.

somewherewest · 29/06/2013 14:14

2hrs for a five month does seem quite a lot. Although I watched hours and hours from birth and now have a PhD (and the ability to recite the A-Team/Knightrider intros word for word ), so I obviously survived...

PS 18mo DS had his first exposure to TV recently when he was sick and in need of distracting. He LOVED Top Gear

ShadowStorm · 29/06/2013 15:45

It does sound like quite a lot of TV for a 5 month old. I think as a general rule, it's much better for babies and young children to be playing with toys or other people instead.

Although I don't think that small amounts of TV are harmful. I know I tend to put the TV on as a distraction for toddler DS when I'm doing things like cooking in the kitchen or wanting him to stay still for a nappy change.

pigletmania · 29/06/2013 15:51

Shadow they can't play without r adults every waking miniute of the day! There are times when chores need to be done, or a baby cannot be soothed by anything else

Stripedmum · 29/06/2013 16:22

I wouldn't

monicalewinski · 29/06/2013 16:44

OP, I would carry on doing what you think works for you and your child. There is so much you should be feeling guilty for already and there's so much more guilt to look forward to throughout your child's life.
There is NOTHING you can do that will please everybody and there will always be a study somewhere that says you are damaging your child in some way.
OP, stop overthinking things and beating yourself up over nothing.

TreeLuLa · 29/06/2013 16:47

Each to their own.

We don't have a TV and ours had no screen time until they were nearly 3.

I definitely wouldn't park a baby in front of the TV.

Thumbwitch · 29/06/2013 17:12

You know, I was going to say YANBU and you're doing plenty of other stuff with your baby - and then I watched the TED lecture. And I've kind of changed my mind a bit. I still think the length of time you're doing it for isn't going to be that bad, as you're offsetting it with all the other stuff you do with your baby; but it's certainly made me think more about what I do with my 8mo.

MrsHoarder · 29/06/2013 17:42

I save TV for illness/blood tests. Means my jobs take longer due to ds being underfoot, but that's life with a baby. At 5 months he sat and watched me happily from his bouncy chair or high chair.

TreeLuLa · 29/06/2013 17:44

Thumbwitch which lecture? I would like to have a look!

Tia

sarahtigh · 29/06/2013 17:57

I think the main problem with babies toddlers watching constant TV are possibly also watching inappropriate TV if the TV is on from 6am -11pm it is highly unlikely to be cbeebies all the time, also I think some TV is good for toddlers

I used to watch TV when breast feeding etc, personally I think subjecting a child to radio nursery rhymes all day is not particularly good either

OP my advice is do what suits you and ignore most opinions as part of being a mother is everyone thinking you are either doing it wrong or you could do it better

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