Letting babies watch TV

[mandy55555]

My little girl is just shy of 5 months and is really struggling with teething pain 😢
We both needed a little break so ive put some disney on (i know shes got no clue whats happening 😂), and shes calmed right down.
Is that bad for her? Cant find any guidance onlibe except for from america.

There are baby sensory videos on YouTube which have dancing coloured squares that gave me a few minutes of peace with my daughter.
Once she was a bit older she loved the masked singer.
Finding engaging images and music for short spells isn't going to be overly detrimental it's about balance.

I generally try to avoid high tempo children's programmes -cocomelon as an infant and now she is bigger things like paw patrol are rationed.
She is nearly 4 now and her preferred shows are Lego masters and the pottery throw down (the life modelling episode had to be turned off though!)

We're in the depths of teething, do what you have to do for a break.
As pp, high temp stuff isn't good and we do watch the dancing shapes.

Anbesol liquid is meant to be amazing. I'm counting down till she's 5 months for it haha/

The recommendation is zero screen time under two other than video calls with friends or family. Obviously you as a parent decide how viable that recommendation is for your family

If you are going to watch tv with a young child aim for something where the frame rate/number of changes are low. Older TV shows like sesame street are better for this than the likes of Paw Patrol which is all very exciting or Baby Einstein which is largely puppets and classical music.

It's the quick scene changes, busy backgrounds etc that are bad for preschoolers attention spans

I've not watched it but I don't see why life drawing would be damaging to a 4 year old. If anything it shows that nudity is not all about sex. Artists through time have been fascinated by depicting the human form. Unless there was innuendo or something else inappropriate?

OP when dd1 was tiny I was quite sanctimonious about tv and horrified when a slightly older baby knew the names of In the Night Garden characters. Honestly a tiny bit of screen time is not going to do harm. Especially you choose stuff aimed at babies, baby sensory etc.

I found heybear dancing fruit on youtube to mesmorise almost all babies.

Its also not too offensive to watch or listen to yourself.

Mine at that age used to have little Einstein's on in the background. Hes never been one to sit and watch, just occasionally glances at the screen. If your little one is in pain and grumpy and a bit of TV helps her feel better go for it. Many kids grew up watching alot more TV than kids do now and they all survived

There were 3 full on zoomed in shots of the man's penis in the space of a few minutes. Had it been the occasional shot of the full body with penis visible I would have been left on but I didn't think a program solely focused on the penis was appropriate for my 3 yo! It was the frequency and the fact it was the sole focus that was the bigger issue rather than the naked form in general

God I really wouldn't worry about this.

I didn’t do screens but more so by default than . I did use a lot of music, all genre, and em the washing machine. Mine always calmed watching it😂.

Geez, don't watch baby TV at that age.

Watch whatever you want to watch - mine watched Mad Men and Grey's and ER. They like the moving lights regardless. One of mine was obsessed with the Sky news ticker. You have enough years of awful children's TV ahead of you, embrace them not understanding adult content!

Google YouTubes of old TV programmes for children from the 50s and 60s ... they are very gentle and charming.

The Woodentops, Rag Tag and Bobtail, Watch with Mother, Bill and Ben, Andy Pandy ... look for the original black and white versions.

Mine were fascinated by the Simpsons at that age. They've grown up fine 😉.

Screens are only an issue if a child is placed in front of them in place of actual parenting or engagement for long periods. Short bursts of TV are fine.

Do what you need to do! I know the WHO say not before 2 but unless you’re very strict then any 2nds, 3rds etc. are going to exposed to their siblings’ TV choices from day 1 and it doesn’t do them any harm! It’s only an issue IMO when if the amount is excessive and it becomes a substitute for proper parental interaction and playing together.

@Mabelface Simpsons is quite 'good' for little ones in the fact mostly the background stays stationary and each scene is fairly long lowering the sensory input and nervous system response.

Mine used to watch the cricket.
loved it.

The world health organisation clearly states that screens are very damaging to children under 3 years old. It over stimulates their brains and essentially freezes the child.

And because the real world can't provide the same stimulation, they become itritable, they get withdrawals, and so the screen is the only thing that calms them.

And so it becomes an addiction. Please do your own research. Your baby needs you, not a screen. They don't learn anything from a screen, it won't actually help them.

The guidance is very clear on screens and tv for babies and children. You can ignore it if you want to.

There's some very grizzly stuff on some Simpsons episodes. Learned the hard way!

TV is better than you being snappy from frustration. But not ideal.

I'd just dose her with Calpol. Walk in the pram, a bit of a sing, a daytime bath etc would be better distractions.

But if it's a choice between telly or going doolally, telly is fine.

That's all very well and good but when you've got 4 other children that need dinner, laundry needs folding, dishes need doing, 15 mins with baby sat in a bouncy chair in front of Peppa Pig can be a life saver. Everyone knows that it's not good to leave a baby in front of the telly all day, not many mothers would do that. But we haven't all got unlimited time to sit and play all day. Congratulations to you if you do, but you're unrealistic.

@haveatye oh I know, I'm just talking about the animation style. It's mostly slow and not to busy a bit like old Tom and Jerry's or Flintstones.
I would have it on if others wanted to watch it when DD was very small and too little to know any different and then she didn't watch it properly until lockdown when she was 10 and even then some of it was a bit touch and go, I didn't remember it being so gruesome other than itchy and scratchy

What do you think our grandparents did?

I view screens for children the same way I view giving whisky to children to shut them up.

You've taken the facts about the damage screens do to children and said "yeah but I need them to shut up, so".

Great parenting 👍

FYI I've been a childminder and never needed to use screens. Kids had toys to play with and boundaries. I could prepare meals and wash up all the same.

I agree.

Plus they never learn to play properly.

When my son was 6 months and I needed a bit of piece I would put him in his cot with his cloth books, teddies (anything he couldn’t hurt himself with) and he would happily roll around with them.