3 1/2 Month old-Barney

The experts usually say not to let children under 2 watch tv.

If it's something innocent like Barney (hate that show though!), a few minutes a day is fine, moms need to cook dinner and take showers after all! Try Baby Einstein, it's made for babies. Just keep it in moderation.

switch to music, a pet bird, anything...but tv - please!

With my daycare, we watch 1 show/day....if that. Once you get into the habit, it's easy to provide non-electronic entertainment. Makes life so much simpler....& enjoyable.

Baby Einstein was the only way I could take a shower without my daughter screaming the whole time! TV did not hurt my kids at all. Both of my girls are ahead of where they should be in school, and are happy, well-adjusted kids (they are 6 and 9 now). That being said... everything in moderation. You don't want your baby parked in front of the TV all day every day, but for a little while here and there, so you can get things done? Absolutely fine, in my opinion.

You are going to get a LOT of different answers on this one. From one end saying absolutely NO TV before 2 to eh does it really matter?? For us (3.5 ds and 20 mo dd) we watch TV when they ask for it. My kids have never been the type to just sit and watch unless they are very tired or having a snack. At your daughters age, I would limit it to a half hour here and there. Do I think it will damage here? No, mommy needs to get stuff done and Barney and others let that happen. Would I let him stare at the TV for hours? No, I wouldn’t. Some of the shows are interactive. Trying watching with him to talk things through. Good luck!!

I doubt you are hurting her by a little TV. I think the problem is when kids sit on front of th etv all day long. I have no problem with my kids watching tv, as long as it is not all day. Usually they prefer learning stuff anyway.
My 5 month old goes nuts over Bubble Guppies on NickJr.

The American Paediatrics Association says NO TV for kids under 2. Now that is not realistically possible so at least no fast moving shows like cartoons for older kids.........studies have been done that showed that babies that watched fast paced cartoons had trouble focussing afterwards.....we got baby einstein dvds for our little one....you can get these at the library or half price books and their site will also tell you which ones are appropriate for which ages.....we would let our little one watch the dvd once a day (30 minutes or so) and that is it.....this actually helped him recognize some colors and other objects......hope this helps.

The official answer - TV is bad before age two. In our house my husband started watching Sesame Street with our then 11 month old. Earlier than that and none of it held his attention. My husband actively watches the show with him and sometimes they branch out to Cat in the Hat or Dinosaur Train. It's probably at most a half an hour's worth of TV per day. The watching involves them both singing to the songs (making up their own words or babble when they don't know them) and dancing. My husband gets into Sesame Street with my son and they enjoy their 15 minutes of morning fame as I put it. I figure this is like all things in life - it's about finding the right balance for your family. My SAHD husband gets a bit of a break by not having to create entertainment but he is still involved while recharging his batteries. Good luck.

Yes, TV is really not good for children, especially babies. My health insurance (kaiser) says that children under 2 should not watch any tv. I believe that includes computer activities.
That being said, in a pinch, tv can be the best thing ever! I would defiantly not do it more than twice a month.

I highly doubt you're harming her with a LITTLE television. My 10 year old was the fussiest baby, but would calm down when watching Baby Einstein (at the same age as your baby). Did I let her watch a little bit each day so I could get a shower or stop listening to the crying? You bet I did. She outgrew the crying at about 9 months, and then we would go longer stretches with no TV. She is now 10, in 5th grade, and earning straight A's. Do what you need to do!

Please heed the American Academy of Pediatrics. Children this young should not be watching TV or any kind of screens.

Go to their web site at aap.org and search the term "children and media" in their search box. You can read their statements on why television or other screen media are not appropriate until at least two years old. Overstimulation is just part of the problem. I hope you'll check it out.

The official recommendation from the AAP is no tv before age 2, as you read below. We followed that with our son and I'm glad we did. He's now 3 and unlike his cousins, who watch lots of TV, he could care less when it's on. My biggest reason for saying no TV was that I knew if he was watching TV then he wasn't getting interaction from us or learning from books or doing puzzles or other things. For me it was much easier to tell family who was caring for him that our rule was no TV. Saying once in a while was a slippery slope. Now that he's 3 we do the occasional movie night and it's a really special treat. I can't imagine it would be so exciting if we'd been putting him in front of the TV since he was 3 months old.

Kids do get excited when watching television, but you are right--there is a glitch in the learning process. Your daughter is laughing and cooing-- and trying to interact with something that simply cannot mirror her back or interact with her. Kids at her age learn so much from what we do, how we respond and what we do to continue that sort of fun play. We are their best, first teachers and playing with children-- or letting them entertain themselves, is one of the best gifts we can give our kids.

What I discovered in my years working with children is that TV has some serious drawbacks. If you choose to do the research, Google "young children watching tv effects". I think you will find a wealth of solid information.

We often don't watch tv at our house, simply because my son (now five) doesn't ask for it all that often. When tv is attractive, what else could we be doing instead? Right now, your daughter's task at hand is to learn about her real, immediate world. This should be her focus. Her brain needs to understand and decode what's going on in Real Life. She cannot understand the "not real" world of television and media.

Another thing to consider: is this a lifestyle/habit you want to continue throughout her life? I ask this because when we start youngsters out on tv early, they do get hooked. There is a lot of interesting chemical things that happen in the developing brain when young people watch tv. (Many detrimental effects affect the brain at all ages, incidentally.) It is worth being thoughtful about.

Lastly, Disney was successfully sued for their claims that Baby Einstein can "teach" a child. Time and again, educational tv has been debunked as being less than educational and counterproductive to actual learning. Many shows under that educational umbrella may also introduce social aggression and poor behavior that a child might not have thought up/encountered on their own. I'm not anti-tv by any means, but have come to dislike seeing children mirror many of the values that much children's media focuses on-- the most shallow parts of who we are. Children do learn quite a bit from tv, unfortunately, sometimes it is the very things we would prefer them *not* to have learned.

People can say what they want about Barney, but he is a great teacher. If she liked it, and she was quiet, how can it hurt? my oldest LOVED Wheel of fortune at that age, Why, IDK. But she still watches till this day, and shes 4. But Barney is a great learning tool. Letters, colors, nursery rhymes, being polite, manners, you name it.

Baby Einstein is awesome for this age of a child. Barney drives me insane. Blue's Clue's (found on Netflix) is amazing. My 2yo grandson has watched it over and over for over a year. I think it has helped him learn is ABC's and count to 15. Sponge Bob is another one of those annoying and useless shows IMHO. More for teens and adults. Sesame Street is wonderful as well.

But at her age, check out Baby Einstein. Netflix has some other shows I do believe. Dora the Explorer comes to mind.

I wouldn't put her in front of anything too much though. And don't forget playing music, they love that.

Idk what everyones hang up about the tv is. I learned the majority of my knowledge from the tv. Most of my history (history channel) and science (discovery channel) from tv. Programs like sesamee street and other pbs shows that only come on in the morning help with shapes, numbers, letters and social skills. There are computer games and learning things that also help. When my son was a new born I would watch/listen to you tube music, I discovered that he would be calm if we listened to the lion sleeps tonight song. He loved it till he was about three yrs old. He knows his shapes and we watch a lot of tv. Couple hrs in the morning and in the evening. I know for some it can take over there lives. And I do get alot more done with out cable. But it does have its good qualities also. Truly if your daughter enjoys it and it is stimulating her I see np with it (not to raise her but entertaing education )

We are conditioning our kids that they need to be entertained instead of learning how to entertain themselves. We are not giving them opportunities to become creative. As they get older, we hear, "I'm bored" or "School is so boring!" They look to their parents to make their life more fun. Now, in high school, kids can't concentrate because they have their phones with them! I can't imagine the cultures around the world that excel way above the U.S. ever put their kids in front of the TV.