Study: Screen time bad for baby

Parents feeding their babies a steady media diet of DVDs such as Baby Einstein might want to reconsider. A new study from researchers at the University of Washington reports an unfavorable link between heavy media intake by babies less than two years old and slow language development.

In fact, the study reports that every hour infants and toddlers spend watching DVDs or TV shows such as Barney translates into a weaker score on standardized vocabulary tests than children who don't watch media. Every hour of screen time turns into six to eight words lost on the test, according to a study by Frederick Zimmerman, Dimitri Christakis and Andrew Meltzoff, published this week in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Why is this concerning, given that institutions like the American Academy of Pediatrics have previously recommended no screen time for children less than two years? The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a nonprofit, said it's worrisome because several children's DVD makers still say on their packaging that their videos can be helpful to babies' brain development.

"The number one reason parents allow babies to watch television and DVDs is the mistaken belief that the programming is educational and, or good for brain development," Susan Linn of the CCFC said in a statement.

"This important study is the clearest indication yet of potential harm caused by the false and deceptive marketing of television programming and DVDs that target babies," she added.

[Olu070]

A bit dramatic don't you think?

Hmmm, so let's do the math. If a child watches one hour of
TV per day for the 1st 2 years of their life they would have
lost (or not acquired) some 4-6000 words? Bullsh*t. The
average english speaker only uses that many words daily
and may have a total of 10-20,000 words in their entire
vocabulary.

[morphware]

good today bad tomorrow good again the day after.....

I truly believe that a great deal of this "research" is purely the opinion of the individuals doing the research. They through their research try to impress their personal ideals on everyone else because they have the opportunity to.

Look at the vitamin argument for example, one day its beneficial, another it?s dangerous, then another it?s not going to make much of a difference whether you do or don't.

Our daughter lives for DVDs that are aimed at her age group as the audience, (she is 16 months) and I have to say she is far more advanced than most if not all other infants I have seen her age or slightly older. (And no I'm not saying that just as a proud dad.)

Maybe if you just sat your child in front of a TV 24/7 and didn't interact with him/her in the slightest way there would be developmental issues. I really can't say for sure, all I know is that from all the research on all the different things they do research about your damned if you do and your damned if you don't. So use your own best judgment and don't believe 100% of what you read.

[Mommy of 2 boys]

Baby Einstein Movies

I am a firm beliver in this. We watched baby einstein movies with our son with encouragment from his doctor on this brain stimulating series of movies for babies and toddlers. My son who is 4 now has language development problems and vocabulary problems. We belive that this is one of the problems. Our son is very bright. For his age he knows more that most 4 year olds educational wise, but being able to talk in sentances and express himself is very frustration and hard for him. When we saw this study, my husband and I almost feel out of our chairs. We pushed the baby enistein movies and feel very ill about this finding. We have thrown out all videos and are using strickly books and other activities for learning activities. I really wish we would of never used the movies.

[BabyDriver]

lazy parenting

According to the opinion of someone who cites a Parents magazine article in his opinion at http://www.babiesandtv.com, parking a baby in front of the screen is a lazy approach to parenting. How hard is it to interact with a child? Even if you're exhausted, as many parents understandably are, love should prevail, not convenience!

[meoc]

I too completely disagree! My Son knew the planet's, by sight! no one told him what there names were with shape & color when he was 18 months old! Thanks to Baby Galileo! he also knew his Alphabet when he was 18 months old! he is 4 years old and his vocabulary contains 8 & 10 letter words! he is very intelligent and is using Spanish as a second language and knows math like a 2nd grader! Add & subtract..Very Smart! these videos were not put out so the parent could put the child in front of the TV, they should be used as a tool to help develop your childs senses, awareness, vocabulary, and thought process! and the PARENTS should be in front of the TV WITH THEM EVERY STEP OF THE WAY! it's not a Babysitter, it's an educational tool! I believe in this product and highly recommend it!