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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

i've started watching babytv with dd 5 months

46 replies

theresalwaystomorrow · 14/02/2011 19:28

she likes it, alot. should i be teaching her not to watch tv for when she is older?

OP posts:

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Crispmonster · 15/02/2011 11:51

My 3 year old loves Something Special and now does a lot of Makaton having learned it purely from watching it.

Is this really a bad thing?

trixie123 · 15/02/2011 12:00

i have the TV on all the time when I am home with DS (now 18 months). He loves the weather reports but otherwise pretty much ignores it. Its company for me until he can hold a conversation! As others have said, I wouldn't bother with kids TV yet (DS is just starting to show an interest in that) as its just colours and noise so it might as well be something interesting for you (in as much as daytime tv can BE interesting!)

schmee · 15/02/2011 15:44

I'm not normally so direct but I would say that having the tv on all the time, especially if it's adult tv, is not good for babies' language development.

Agree with you Crispmonster - Something Special and In The Night Garden (half of, because it's quite long) were the only things my two really watched before they were one. One of them started signing before he could talk because of that.

CinnabarRed · 15/02/2011 16:09

I was a bit militant about no TV until 2 with DS1. He's now 3.2 and he's allowed to watch TV first thing in the morning (while I'm getting the rest of the household up and dressed!) and last thing at night.

Of course, that means that DS2 is also exposed to significantly more TV than DS1 was at the same age. I just make up for it with loads of other sensory play during other 95% of the time he's awake.

FWIW, I've found BabyTV's nighttime schedule invalable for calming a poorly child while waiting for painkillers to kick in. DS2 has an ear infection, and it really helped to be able to distract him with gentle, undemanding music and colours sometimes.

schmee · 15/02/2011 16:21

Wasn't there some research that said a child's pain was numbed more easily by watching telly rather than a mother's hug!!

2cats2many · 16/02/2011 19:28

@schmee- why would having the news on in the same room as your baby be bad for a baby?

I think you are missing the point. IMO it's far better to have your baby engaged in rolling around and exploring it's world while you watch a bit of tv than putting them in front of Baby TV because it's 'good for their development'.

I'm certainly not saying that every mother should be totally absorbed in their baby's every waking hour. God knows that babies can be really quite boring at times. I just think that the marketing pitch of companies like Baby TV should be taken with a very hefty pinch of salt.

gabid · 16/02/2011 20:46

My DS did want to be involved in every minute of my waking life! He was constantly crying, moaning ... unless I engaged with him - but he wasn't interested in TV much either. He got over it, but still doesn't watch much TV at 6 - I don't encourage it, he can watch a bit when he asks and that's a couple of times a week.

DD (2) was a much easier baby and keener on the TV, more DVDs than TV, she always watches the same over and over. Repetition is not a bad thing, as long it's not too much screen time.

Background TV all day I would have a problem with - how can you learn a language if you have so much going on in the background?

2cats2many · 17/02/2011 13:01

Is anyone talking about background tv all day? I wasn't.

My two have grown up with background radio while at home for most of their lives and it hasn't affected their speech development in any way.

sugarbea · 17/02/2011 19:55

How does anyone manage to get any housework done without the help of special agent oso?? (we're not baby tv fans here).

I have a very active 13 month old and it's about the only 7 minutes of the day I get to run around like a headless chicken while she's not "engaging" in the world around her.

FYI ds now 6 also had tv in moderation and has absouluetly no problem engaging in life, talking or in his development AT ALL. And in fact can speak a bit of spanish thanks to handy manny.. :)

I think a bit of tv is fine OP XX

schmee · 17/02/2011 20:04

2cats2many - I didn't say BabyTV was good for a child's development. You were quite direct in saying that television is harmful to children, yet you would quite happily have images of war, etc on screen while your attention is directed towards them rather than your baby?

As to your other question - yes, another poster did say that they had background tv on all day. I don't think anyone thought you said that.

Glad to hear that the background radio hasn't affect your two's speech development.

findingthepath · 17/02/2011 20:30

I did watch adult tv when my child was a baby but only for 2 hours aday - csi, ncis and criminal mind, the news for the first 2/3 months as i was breastfeeding and i just sat and feed him everyday for hours.

Then i would have the tv off and read a book and let son roll and then sit,cralw and stand by 8 months. I had the news on as something big happened and i saw my son looking at it so i ban all adult tv in my house. Son is now 2 and watches one or two progammes per week.

They use tv/dvd in school to educate children my is it bad for younger children? I think somethingspecial is very good for young children.

Its also good to do painting,drawing,gardening,reading,playgroups and tumbletots and days out.

But i have to admit that i go wild when my inlaws babysit and they have the news or a soap on and i have to tell them not to. In the end they diudn't listen to me so i simply unpluged the tv and told them it was broken when they babysit.

Even the type of child show i think has an effect. They do not know it is not real at 2 so everything is scary and i think this is where the problem is.

The lenth of time spent watching
The type of show
Other activities children do

My 2 year old can hover, get a cloth and wipe the floor, put the clothes in the washer and knows that rubbish goes in the bin. I think he see's me cleaning too much

trixie123 · 17/02/2011 21:38

I was the one who said I have normal tv on lot when home with DS. If he sat there entranced by it I wouldn't but as I said, he ignores it and I don't watch it rather than interact with him. We also do a lot of baby group type things so its not all day every day. I think when you go from working full time in a busy noisy environment to being home with a young one by yourself the quiet can be a bit offputting and lonely. As with everything, a certain amount of common sense needs to be deployed and I would rather rely on that than "studies". Children are all SO different in terms of development you'd never get a sample group big enough to be statistically relevant, eliminate all the other factors and be sure the parents were telling the truth.

YouCantTeuchThis · 17/02/2011 21:40

baby tv when you are exhausted is trippy man ...

Especially during the night...

YouCantTeuchThis · 17/02/2011 21:41

findingthepath your 2yo can HOVER???

findingthepath · 18/02/2011 12:29

I'm such a bad mum - he is getting good at it too.

I'm a bit concerened because if he does not get a go he will cry and shout at me

findingthepath · 18/02/2011 12:33

I have just re-read this and i'm lol

Sorry i'm dyslexic

If my son could hover it would be great as we could change people to watch and get loads of money

findingthepath · 18/02/2011 12:38

gerr - charge people money not change people's money

amandamumy · 18/02/2011 17:27

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet.

peppapighastakenovermylife · 18/02/2011 17:37

As with anything it is a happy medium. TV is not bad, tv is not good. Seriously chill out a bit - banning all tv, being paranoid and instructing others not to watch it is probably more likely to cause issues than the tv itself!

breatheslowly · 18/02/2011 17:59

I am careful to ensure that DD watches some TV, as I think it will be useful to be able to sit her down for 10 min while I MN take a work call. We watch Cbeebies as we don't have cable/satellite.

schmee · 18/02/2011 18:31

Amandamumy - are you a plant for babytv?

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