Irrational fear of the Ninky-Nonk – alternative tv progs?

[MillionPramMiles]

We?re trying to encourage dd (14 mths) to watch In the Night Garden in order to survive a 250 mile car journey. It was going well until she developed a fear of the Ninky-Nonk. Every time it comes on screen she starts bawling. She loves all the other characters and laughs/claps/dances etc when they come on but it?s interspersed by bawling every time the NN comes on screen.

Is there an alternative prog. that 14 month olds might enjoy that we could download onto the iPad? Dd only really likes things with singing. We tried Waybuloo but it didn?t grab her. Recommendations gratefully received, am already dreading the journey...

have you tried just sticking on ceebeebies and seeing what she fancies? my chap loves postman pat and bob the builder but he doesn't mind if you suggest we watch something else (because I'm a bit tired).

will there be another passenger to entertain her? we took little toys and all sorts of tat on a 4 hr plane journey. the cheerios were the best distraction, ate half a packet during the flight.

Teletubbies is quite similar, or zingzillas?

Thanks both - we've been trying not to put the tv on at home otherwise sometimes she screams when it goes off. Will see if we can download ttubbies or zzillas and give them a go.

It's a regular journey we make and we've previously tried toys, singing, music, snacks on tap etc. They just don't work any more, dd just wants to get out of the car seat and screams when she can't. We try to get her to nap with a dummy after a meal but that usually only lasts 30 mins. Any normal baby would sleep most of the way :)

My DS is a bit older but he has been enjoying Raa Raa the Noisy Lion recently. It's also in CBeebies, has quite a bit of music in it, no scary characters, quite chilled out for kid's TV! Unlike most of the stuff DS loves, I actually don't mind watching it myself!

He loved Kipper at that age, although not sure if that would be available to download.

My daughter really likes those gentle old "Mary, Mungo and Midge" cartoons from the 70s. They are all up on Youtube and thence easily downloadable with a site such as keepvid.com.

They are very gentle, simple and sweet.

My DS loved baby Einstein (on DVD or probably available via iTunes) and a selection of them kept him entertained driving through France when he was 18 months (but he watched them at home from much earlier). I would definitely recommend. He wasn't really interested in normal tv until a bit older.

I hesitate to recommend this, as exposure has lead to ds's obsession with this programme....but Peppa Pig seems to be universally appealing to little ones! We will be putting some episodes on the iPad for an upcoming flight survival tactic. It has the bonus of being vaguely watchable as an adult for the first 10 times anyway

Oh, and Peppa's always bloody singing...

My DS is 2 and loves Peppa Pig too. He also loves watching Postman Pat - he likes singing along to the theme tune, lol. Ben and Holly's little kingdom, Charlie and Lola, Pingu all of which you can find on youtube. He's happy to sit and watch theme for a while and I'm happy to watch them too.

Have you tried cloudbabies. DS uses 'babies' when he wants to watch ITNG or cloudbabies!
He loves Postman Pat too (he's 21 months)

not sure if you can download, but 3rd and bird has lovely songs in it. Check it out on YouTube. Let us know what you have success with.

I second Cloudbabies, my ds loves them, and Rastamouse he adores. The other is Baby Jake, it's quite strange and the rabbit looks evil but my ds is totally captivated and squeals with excitement???

Thanks all - as an experiement we put on CBeebies this morning - dd didn't like Bob the Builder but did like Baby Jake. Will be doing more research...
Have previously tried Charlie and Lola (no interest, maybe dd's a bit young yet). Cloudbabies sounds like it might be a hit though, dd likes looking at other babies.