Have I let my baby watch too much cocomelon

[Roseyrhubard]

Had a right few days with my 7 month old recently. We’ve put it down to teething as all the signs are there. However he has been throwing some serious tantrums and the days have been long. He is very whingey at the minute. He’s always been a little like this, at 4 months he used to cry at people a lot but he grew out of it so I’m hoping this will soon go too.

ive always let him watch tv from probably about 8-12 weeks old. Started with the dancing fruits and then cocomelon. Now I often put it on when I want to get stuff done around the house. (He does go in his jumperoo a lot too). I know you aren’t supposed to let them have a lot of screen time but it keeps him quiet and I still have a house to get on top of. Just read something that popped up online that links cocomelon to tantrums and now I’m massively over thinking it? Shall I take it away completely? Not sure how I would get anything done though. I often pop him in the high chair with toys have it on in background etc. I just feel like there’s so much pressure on being this perfect mum, i would love to sit and play with him all the time but I still have 1000 other things to do.

Don’t even worry about it, miss Rachel on YouTube is good, my little one seems to find her entertaining and it’s educational 😁

Sometimes you just have to get things done so don’t feel guilty for that 😁

Good suggestions!

Can a 7 month old have tantrums?

I don't think babies need or should have tv! You've got the jumperoo of you need to pop baby somewhere safe for a short period.

Hope they work for you 😊

If baby does watch tv, Ms Rachel is truly incredible. Her speech and language tools are amazing for baby’s development, and she teaches signs too which are proven to enhance verbal speech.

Around 7-9 months seperation anxiety starts to rear its ugly head so it might be that causing the mood changes. Saying that screen time does have a noticeable effect on my toddler. He throws big tantrums if I put it on when he is starting to feel tired or if he watches more then an hour

Ohh yes didn’t even think of that.

You are absolutely fine. You NEED time to do other things as a Mum and whatever you can do that will help distract your child safely while you do the dishes and whatnot is valuable. You NEED that time not only to get things done but also to just sit and read a book or do something for YOU for 5 ins.

You have to remember that on Mumsnet you have the competitive parents who preach on about spending 24/7 365 with their kids interacting and doing and playing and being in their face CONSTANTLY. But its just NOT realistic or even factual (or even healthy for the parent OR child). They are on par with Instamums and should be taken with a pinch of salt because so much of what you see here is a BS glimpse of life or what other Mums here want you to see.

What I would suggest though for your own sanity in the coming months is trying other programmes while you still can. We did the same with our wee one with Baby Shark and Cocomelon and he got to a year old and was refusing to watch ANYTHING but those. Until about 3 weeks ago when I finally cracked and would only let him watch cBeebies for some variety! Trust me

Aw thank you. This has definitely made me feel better but I will take everyone’s advice on board. No one wants to do anything damaging to their child, I only wanted to get a few jobs around the house and then panicked reading bits online. Although I aren’t letting the negative comments get to me too much - as I am trying to take away advice rather than criticism - I can’t help feeling like I’m going to bed feeling a little deflated. We are all just trying to do our best aren’t we!

I’ve not read any of the comments as there’s so many so apologies if this has already been said but cocomelon is far to overstimulating. The noises, colours, fast moving animation, constant singing provides a lot of stimulation. Tv isn’t so bad, but I do think there are much better programs for kids to be watching. Our eldest is highly active and never sits still for more than 3 seconds however, if cocomelon was on he would be transfixed. Wouldn’t move a muscle it was as if he was hypnotised. At first we thought yay, we have a solution to get some peace but after a while it seemed to unnatural. Then I looked into cocomelon and it’s stimulating effects and it made sense. We let him watch tv stil but we just steer clear of our old friends cocomelon 😂

Screen time makes children’s behaviour much worse. I think it’s because, while they’re watching, they’re feeling lots of emotions but not getting any human interaction to help them process those emotions, or model how to behave.

When you have a baby you can have a clean tidy house OR a happy child. You can’t have both unless you hire help. Give up teying to ‘get things done’ is my advice to you. If you get one load of laundry done, you’re winning!

Try a week with zero screen, you’ll be amazed at the difference in behaviour.

It isn’t just babies either. If I let my preteen have more than an hour of playstation he’s an asshole for the rest of the day. If I do a couple of days no screen he is absolutely lovely.

Cocomelon compared to drugs…
www.herfamily.ie/toddlers/expert-says-cocomelon-is-like-drug-396860

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I was unwell when my eldest was 15-17months. We watched more Cocomelon than I would have liked. I do actually think he was addicted to it. He would ask for the wheels on the bus over and over again and it impacted on his behaviour. I read articles about the over stimulation and decided to stop watching it. We went cold turkey from all tv for a few weeks then reintroduced more gentle, slow paced shows but not every day and only for half an hour at a time. Bluey and the Julia Donaldson adaptations were (still are) favourites.
I still sometimes put cocomelon on my phone but hide the screen and we just listen to the music and dance cause I think the songs are good.

yes, very noticeable of bad tantrums after letting my baby watch tv.
we all know what is right and wrong but can't help ourselves if some things can make your life easier.

We had Cbeebies on all day from ds being the same age, it didn't affect his behaviour, eyesight or intelligence, if anything it improved his speech & concentration. He is 19 now & hardly ever watches television.

Their teeth are a bother at this age too

This. They’re addictive.

I'd try and stop the TV OP. I've recently let my DC watch TV (about half an hour max occasionally, mainly YouTube where they read stories) and I'm finding my 18m is already getting addicted and wanting to watch TV. I wish I never started!

I’m all for tv to distract kids it’s great to give you downtime but no way at just a few weeks or months old.

As someone else said, 7 month olds don’t have tantrums so something else is going on. You should be able to put your 7 month old in a playpen / travel cot on their back / tummy and they can play with toys like rattles, teething rings etc. by 7 months your baby should be able to play alone for a few mins with you in the room…..

St this age I made ds a treasure box. I got all kinds of crap from round the house if diffrrrnt shales and safe textures. Put them in a box and let him take them all out and explore. Say a bean bag, a hairbrush, a ribbon, a shaky egg, just random stuff. Happily kept him busy and learning for a good twenty mins. Could you try making one of these as another entertainment idea?

I totally agree with pps who think you need to lower your expectations of yourself a little it sounds like you're putting yourself under a bit of pressure. Do you have any family etc who can take little one for an hour or so to let you get bits done? Do you have a partner and do they do their share of housework? (Sorry haven't read ft)

I don't tend to use TV during the day because I'm a bit over paranoid about it but I put my wee one in his jungle gym with music on in the background or I use his nap times to do bits and pieces. I tend to focus mostly on him during the day and when dh comes home he's excited to see him so he takes the lead apart from feeding until bedtime and then when wee one goes to sleep we both try and blast the housework. There's no way I could do it all if he wasn't there taking 50% of the load and the way we look at it- I'm on maternity to bond with baby/ recover from birth and provide childcare not act as housekeeper. And we're back to 50/50 parenting as soon as dh walks in the door. So I'll do things relating to baby during the day and the rest we split between us in the evening. And sometimes I do no housework and I have a nap or watch TV or scroll on my phone because we need breaks too! I think a playpen and some toys is a good shout. I also wear mine in a wrap/structured carrier when he's really clingy and means I can do things like dishes etc easy enough. I also recommend a good walk in the pram and then let them snooze on in it when you get home if you can lay it flat and just lose a layer. When i need to clean the bathroom I put lo in the (dry) bath with his bathseat and toys and just do the bath separately at night. If i need to do things in the bedroom he goes in his crib with a foldout picture card to look at or I'll sing to him and make sure he can see me. I think just scale back your expectations a bit and go easy on yourself and call in some babysitting where you can or divide and conquer with partner if you have one.