Sticking a baby in front of the telly

[WoodyAllenJesus]

I'm a first-time parent so please bear with me if this is a daft worry...

My 3-month-old has developed an obsession with a film that was on over Xmas. Whenever my DH is looking after her (e.g. if I go for a shower) I will invariably find that he has put the film on to keep her quiet and happy. He doesn't seem to want to interact with her in any other way e.g. playing with her, but that's another story.

When I am looking after her I don't want her to just be watching tv all the time. This is partly because I'm not sure it's good for her eyes but mainly because I read very negative things on here about people who just shove their kids in front of the tv. I do struggle to find things to do with her, we play and read books but I think she finds it all a bit frustrating as she's not really able to interact with things a lot but I do persevere. She gets impatient with books and I must admit it would be easier to just put a film on for her but I don't want to be using it like a crutch or something?

Is it ok for a 3-month-old to watch so much tv or is that frowned upon or wrong in some way? My DH thinks I am being ridiculous and I should just put the film on on a loop...

Sorry if this makes no sense we are going through a period of severe sleep deprivation :(

Probably a really stupid question, but to what extent did you keep your babies away from seeing the TV?

Did you have it off while your baby was in the same room as it, even if you were feeding/they were dozing or playing on their toys?

Or did you just make sure not to put them in front of it and keep them stimulated with talking/singing/playing instead?

Well I am one of those who have let their babies watch a small amount of tv (Baby Einstein dvds mainly, when all else failed!), but if they're not watching it, it goes off. This still applies to DS1, who is 3.5. He is allowed about 1/2 an hour a day of tv, but I absolutely never let it be on in the background. I occasionally watch something if I'm bf DS2, if DS1 is not around, but other than that I don't have it on for myself either - IMHO slipping into the trap of letting the tv be on all day in the background is much worse that letting small children watch the odd thing.