watching tv...

how often do you let your LO's just sit in the swing in front of the TV? (watching noggin, baby einstein, etc?)

 

At that age, no time was spent in front of the TV. It would be on in the background (for me :blush: ) but I didn't put them to watch any shows. If they got really fussy, I'd put on the music channel and it would calm them down, but they weren't facing the TV.

 

At that age I would put BE on in the evenings when I was trying to cook dinner.

 

whenever the TV is on, they love it. they stare at it. i feel like a bad mom propping them up in front of it, lol. like i should always be 'doing something' with them.

 

Being under a playmat or tummy time is doing something. I think at that age television overstimulates a baby's eyes and brain and you may end up having trouble with them sleeping. My boys didn't watch tv until about 6 months and that was just their dad (who was deployed) reading them books. Probably around 15/16 months they started to like cartoons. BE never held their interest. I always had the tv on though for me and had them facing me in the swings or bouncy.

 

You aren't a bad mom. I believe everything is fine in moderation. Good moms don't always have to entertain their kids either! Teaching them that it's ok to have some time on their own, and having them learn to entertain themselves(not necessarily the TV!) is a great thing!

 

I don't sit them in front of the t.v. and have them watch shows. They don't understand them anyway and just laugh at the colors and movement. In more in the background. They watch baby einstein for 20 minutes a day before bath time and sometimes they will watch the yo gabba gabba cd, but only when they are really fussy.

 

I would try to put mine in front of the tv with a Baby Einstein DVD once they were old enough to be in an exersaucer/jumperoo. I don't know if they actually watched or not though.

 

At that age I never put the TV on just for them. From birth to about 4 months, I would watch TV (especially football while they were awake and in the room, but I quit doing that when they started paying attention to the TV. IMO, young babies can't possibly be getting anything beneficial out of kids' TV shows -- it is just noise and sound, and I agree with the research that says it interferes with the proper wiring of their brains.

Mine do watch TV now, but we didn't start allowing/encouraging it until they were old enough to actually get something out of it.

You don't have to be interacting with them all the time -- it's good for them to learn to entertain themselves -- but TV hinders that process rather than helping it.

 

My 2 don't watch TV, even now. Not that I'm really against them watching it (the older kids watch enough to make up for it!), they just aren't interested & never have been. ardon: But I did want to add, you don't have to entertain babies every second of the day. Learning to entertain themselves (even without the TV sometimes) is a life skill.

 

Mine are 8 months and I put them infront of the t.v. to watch baby eistein a few times in the very begining. Then my friend who is and OT and my Ped said No T.V. until 2 do to the Rapid Eye movement that it causes and it being linked to ADHD. Not sure if is true, but now I am paranoid to do it. At that age I would put them under the acitivty mat, in the bouncy seats, under the mobile, in the bumboo seat to entertain them. It gets easier around 4 months when the can really start to sit well in the bumboo seat,jumperoo and exersaucer and start holding toys.

 

Totally agree. I would love it if my boys would watch a bit of TV to have a bit of down time, but they could care less about it.

 

I try to plan my schedule so I shower and stuff during sleeping time but sometimes things just go wrong. So if I NEED a cheap babysitter so I can shower or make an important call or something I use the TV IF I need too. But even then a lot of the time they are happy with toys on the floor. It depends on the day, how much time I have, and the moods they are in (OK, and sometimes the mood Im in ). But other then that I try not to have it on.

I edited to add
I really don't let my older ones watch a lot of TV either, but this makes watching an afternoon movie a real special treat. I can make some popcorn and cuddle up with them. They think it's awesome. It's a simple easy cheap treat because they don't get it all the time. I don't know, just thought I'd throw that in.

 

Mine didn't watch TV at that age, but now they do watch and seem to really like Baby Einstein. They don't seem to like anything else. They watch it for maybe 10-15 minutes once or twice a day. Usually it's when I need to get something done or I am trying to put one of the babies down for a nap and the other baby is still up.

 

mine don't watch any tv. i have let them watch sesame street a couple of times when we were living in a hotel and i was at my wits end, but that's it. i just think that it is too overstimulating and they are 99% of the time happy playing with toys or crawling around getting into trouble.

 

At that age we didn't do tv but now we do, in the am for 15mins while i shower & prep breakfast and then in the afternoon before baths if were in. They only ever watch shows on the baby channel and they love them, they chuckle away like they get the joke lol it's so cute! I beleive everything is good in moderation!