4 1/2 month old TV addict

[auntynon]

I bought my dd a baby einstein video just before christmas which she seemed to enjoy. Now every day she gets to a point where nothing will pacify her until she is put in front of the tv to watch this video. More recently it is not just once a day but 2 or 3 times a day. Is it common for babies of this age to enjoy watching tv? Am I setting her up to be a couch potato? I am very patient and love playing with her, she has lots of toys but seems most content with 'baby beethoven'. Will this do her more harm than good?

Please don't feel guilty about using the video as a tool of entertainment, we all do it (apart from the Amish amongst us) she can't do much else but be a couch potato at that age and you certainly will be able to control her tv intake and stimulate her in other ways as she gets older

My 4 month old has just cottoned on to the teletubbies video and I'm over the moon, a little bit of spare time for me

A friend used the video to get a shower in the morning. Eventually the baby got bored witless with it - rather as we would if we watched even our favourite film every day. Now he won't watch it at all. I wouldn't worry.

Haven't seen baby einstein so I don't know how it compares but when dd1 was a similar age the Muppet Show was on every evening and she used to watch the whole thing perfectly happily every day. No videos then so that was her lot. She is grown up now and far from a couch potato!

Once your dd can sit up and do things for herself the TV attraction will probably wear off a bit.