@christianwomanljc My daughter loves Magic School Bus!
T.V. in living room with newborn, is this bad?
- Thread starter zman0101
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myownmynativeland
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@myownmynativeland Oh yes our son LOVES him some Little Bear. We just treat our house like a 90s house and it’s great
dariusz1990
New member
that my son will not know Bluey or Cocomelon but he WILL be raised on Rugrats, Doug, Under the Umbrella Tree, Little Bear, etc.@zman0101 I have a 6 week old and we are trying to limit his exposure to screens and I was panicking a little because I will be staying at home with him. A friend who has a 2 year old sent me this and it set my mind at ease.
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2020/04/cover-kids-screens
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2020/04/cover-kids-screens
@saeglite Just read this. Thank you for that. This article does give me a sense of relief in some ways! In others not a ton, the thing is- they really don’t know much. But also, it sounds it’s more
About what they are watching, what you do with them when they aren’t watching tv… but less tv is better overall
About what they are watching, what you do with them when they aren’t watching tv… but less tv is better overall
katescrima
New member
@zman0101 My baby is 5 months old and I’ve noticed he’ll stop and STARE at the TV if it’s on. We try to limit the TV so he’s not staring at it all the time, but we do let him watch a little bit here and there. It’s inevitable because our main tv is in the living room and we spend a lot of time in there. He likes hockey because of all the movement, so on hockey nights we allow a little more screen time.
@frisco176 That’s exactly my issue. Our tv is in our living room. We have 1 tv in our room and one in our living room. Our room is right next to her room
And we literally whisper at night because we don’t want to wake her up, that’s basically our only tv and when you live in Michigan and it snows until April… there is very little to do. When the weather is nice I took her on walks every day and tried the carrier with her (she didn’t not approve) and basically every other day I take her to her grandmas house and she gets a lot of interaction that way. I don’t have a lot of mom friends, so it’s been basically her and I and the hubs excluding grandma. I hope to get more confident as a mom to get her out and see more.. bur for my sanity the tv has been necessary. Otherwise it’s so quiet and to be honest, I feel such pressure to entertain her, as she’s a gremlin and doesn’t sleep during the day. So she just stares at me… it’s like, “GO TO BED!” Like there is only so much I can do with you? Like what, are we going to play cards and go to the playground? No. Like I can’t spend 12 hours a day talking to you and holding you and saying “look at the trees, look to the snow, look at the lights”. It’s exhausting day in and day out, so the tv gives a sense of relief!
Clearly, I needed to say this.
And we literally whisper at night because we don’t want to wake her up, that’s basically our only tv and when you live in Michigan and it snows until April… there is very little to do. When the weather is nice I took her on walks every day and tried the carrier with her (she didn’t not approve) and basically every other day I take her to her grandmas house and she gets a lot of interaction that way. I don’t have a lot of mom friends, so it’s been basically her and I and the hubs excluding grandma. I hope to get more confident as a mom to get her out and see more.. bur for my sanity the tv has been necessary. Otherwise it’s so quiet and to be honest, I feel such pressure to entertain her, as she’s a gremlin and doesn’t sleep during the day. So she just stares at me… it’s like, “GO TO BED!” Like there is only so much I can do with you? Like what, are we going to play cards and go to the playground? No. Like I can’t spend 12 hours a day talking to you and holding you and saying “look at the trees, look to the snow, look at the lights”. It’s exhausting day in and day out, so the tv gives a sense of relief!
Clearly, I needed to say this.
wagonmaker
New member
@zman0101 i would have the tv on until my son was about 6 weeks old. he’s 9mo now and doesn’t watch tv/have screen time. we don’t have the tv on at all if he’s awake. it’s like a treat after we put him down for the night, we get snacks and everything lol. people have commented on how alert he is, he’s always looking around and watching everything that’s going on. i think it helps that he doesn’t get distracted by screens at home, we keep him engaged or give him physical things to distract him if we need to (spatulas, teething toys, our water bottles, whisks, etc) and he seems endlessly curious. i was told that tv/screens can cause some developmental delays, and even if it’s just a tiny bit true, i don’t want to risk it. he depends on me to give him the best shot at life that i can, so i’ll do what it takes… even if it’s boring as shit sometimes lol
@wagonmaker lol I love that you were honest at the end there… boring as shit. I guess that’s the price we pay, we put them first.
prayingmama
New member
@wagonmaker lol my kid also loves whisks and wooden spoons to play with…fwiw if I’m really bored I will put my earbuds in and put on an audiobook while we sit together on the floor and play
wagonmaker
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@prayingmama yeah, it’s hard to not be mind-numbingly bored sometimes. i’ve been doing light workouts next to him, a lot of stretching and some yoga. carrying him around has done a number on my back, so i’ve been using that time to try and loosen my body up so i don’t snap in half. he also thinks it’s fun to climb on me or thinks it’s a game, which keeps us both entertained. baby giggles are the best
prayingmama
New member
@wagonmaker Love this idea! My son is around the same age and I hold him sometimes and do squats haha…I’ve also found that I can put him in his carrier facing out and do certain chores, like washing dishes or folding laundry on a table. He especially loves when I vacuum while wearing him, he loses his little baby mind when I turn the vacuum on
@wagonmaker Our tv is almost on in the evenings, even though I’d prefer it not be sometime… with that said, daycare workers have noted how observant and smart my 5 month old is… granted he is at daycare 5 days a week so he’s really only around the tv in the evenings and on weekends. I think every kid is different and there are so many factors at play-
@wagonmaker This is very interesting to me because we have our TV on in the background for several hours during the day (hubby works from home and I’m on mat leave), and have done that pretty much since our son was born. We always got comments on how bright and alert he was when he was younger, and at his 7 months checkup we were told he is closer to 9-12 months level in his developmental milestones.
wagonmaker
New member
@newmove that’s amazing! i love hearing how well babies are doing in all environments 
i wasn’t saying that no tv is the only way or that babies around tv aren’t bright and alert, it was just my take on why mine might be that way. i know when i was a kid in the 90s, i watched cartoons/tv quite a bit and im pretty sure i made it out ok, at least i hope lol
i wasn’t saying that no tv is the only way or that babies around tv aren’t bright and alert, it was just my take on why mine might be that way. i know when i was a kid in the 90s, i watched cartoons/tv quite a bit and im pretty sure i made it out ok, at least i hope lol@zman0101 Our pediatrician told us to limit screens because babies tend to just zone out when they could be having more productive time.
So no, I don’t have the TV on constantly because my baby does like to fixate on it. We turn it on for a bit in the evening but try to block his view from it.
You can decide how much screen time to allow. If baby has had a day filled with stimulating activities, then a bit of TV time is perfectly fine.
So no, I don’t have the TV on constantly because my baby does like to fixate on it. We turn it on for a bit in the evening but try to block his view from it.
You can decide how much screen time to allow. If baby has had a day filled with stimulating activities, then a bit of TV time is perfectly fine.
lozzymagoo
New member
@zman0101 In our family we do zero tv or screentime, we decided to do the AAP recommendations of no screen time before 2 other than video chatting. I know that’s not sustainable for some families but it works well for ours. We were never big tv watchers before anyways. We just wanted our baby to learn to be a person first before watching tv.
So what that looks like in practice is just having the tv always off. Sometimes we’ll watch something after the baby is asleep. But I know for a fact I talk and interact less when the tv is on, and I never want my baby to think the tv is more important than them.
Also, to address what your mom said, there is research to confirm that children this young can not learn/benefit from screentime. I forget when the AAP research said it can begin to have benefits but I believe it was 18 months.
So what that looks like in practice is just having the tv always off. Sometimes we’ll watch something after the baby is asleep. But I know for a fact I talk and interact less when the tv is on, and I never want my baby to think the tv is more important than them.
Also, to address what your mom said, there is research to confirm that children this young can not learn/benefit from screentime. I forget when the AAP research said it can begin to have benefits but I believe it was 18 months.
katrina2017
New member
@lozzymagoo thank you, same.