Television for an 11 month old

Ashley - posted on 08/16/2009

I dont feel its bad as long as its educational. I have my son watch Baby Einstein and if its within your budget, I strongly suddest buying the "Your Baby Can Read" my son loves it!!! Dont be hard on yourself.

Laura - posted on 08/16/2009

I turn on NOGGIN for my 7 1/2 month old and he loves it and I'm able to get the cleaning and everything done that I need to. He loves the colors and now he's started to pick out his favorite shows. He'll play with his toys and if something comes on that catches his attention or if they are singing he'll watch it and if it doesn't then he'll play with his toys. Plus most of the shows on NOGGIN he'll learn from. So yea I think your over reacting just a bit.

Donese - posted on 08/16/2009

I think it is ok. My son is 14 months and I'll turn on PBS for him in the morning. Every once in a while he will stop playing and watch what is on. He loves Elmo and Little Einstiens on Disney. He likes the music and colors.

Jenny - posted on 08/16/2009

hi Sarah, dont worry about letting your child watch the tv too much, my middle daughter,Ashleigh is 4 and she has always loved the tv, it has helped her with speech, colours, shapes, animals, alsorts. Shes got an amazing immagination because she gets lost in films and cartoons

Kelly - posted on 08/13/2009

I don't think a little tv here and there is so bad. You can't shelter your children from everything.

Crystal - posted on 08/13/2009

Oh, maybe I should mention what I do with my 15 month old while I get things done!

My baby loves books (she already knows the entire alphabet! Well, the upper-case letters anyway) and will sit and page through one after another. There is also a toy basket with fun, attention-grabbing things in there. If I'm in the kitchen, there is a drawer at her level with child-safe tuperware things, measuring cups, etc. that she will pull out and play with. She loves that drawer, haha!

Crystal - posted on 08/13/2009

I am in the minority of America (along with Jamie) on this one - study after study has shown that children under 3 should not watch TV, as it not only is not beneficial, but is detrimental. Heck, France has already taken the initiative and totally banned any TV aimed for children under the age of 3. Why? It poses several risks, including passivity, slows language development, it interferes with sleep and concentration (hello ADHD!) and can put an early dependence on screens, not to mention the more TV time a young child has, the more likely chance of obesity.

With all this, it is safe to say that my baby will not be watching one minute of TV any time soon!

Sorry, no links, but if you do a basic Google search you will come up with tons of researched information and articles.

Jennifer - posted on 08/13/2009

It's definitely ok I have 3 children and 2 out of 3 can't get enough. My youngest is 6 mos old and even enjoys some TV. Listen if it's what you have to do to get things accomplished then so be it. You'll be happier and in turn so will they. By the way my eldest that is glued to the TV is unbeleivably gifted her sister who isn't into TV much was the one diagnosed as being speech delayed. So as I said go ahead put the tube on.

Brandi - posted on 08/13/2009

I hear that.. my daughter is 3 and I still need a littlt help for noggin or pbs sprout..I think she has picked up a lot for the shows she watches..a little tv wont hurt..

Cindy - posted on 08/13/2009

You are not a bad mom. If all it takes is a tv for you to get stuff done. Do it.

My youngest has his own TV and my eldest has his DVD player. Quiet time is both of them watching the boob tube while I get my stuff done.

There is nothing wrong with your kid watching Kid shows. If you were watching PORN that would be wrong.

Don't let the "super mom's" gang up on you. You're doing what you can with what you got.

Jamie - posted on 08/13/2009

There is no reason for an 11 month old to watch TV. So no I dont think its ok. Your TV is not a babysitter.

Jaime - posted on 08/13/2009

I worried about it for awhile too. This summer, though, I started letting my son watch a little bit of tv so i can get some stuff done. He is 2. He loves the sprout channel, if you get that it is great too. It is geared towards toddlers and is a PBS channel. He also loves Dora and will try and repeat the Spanish words and will talk to the character to interact with them when prompted.

Ashley - posted on 08/13/2009

I think you're doing perfectly fine. Noggin is a great channel. It involves the kids to learn things. Both my sons watch and love the channel. I have a 1 year old who also loves the colors and all that's going on but I have a 5 year old who is involved when the channel asks questions. It's hard to do everything when you stay at home with your children and a little help every now and then is necessary!

Marta - posted on 08/13/2009

We usually have tv time in the morning (I'm not a morning person and it usually takes me about 2 hours to come to my senses in the morning...I know pretty bad hey?) I'll usually get up feed the baby, make breakfast for me and the kids then turn on the news for about 1/2 an hour then I turn on PBS kids for the boys and they watch Curious George, Sid the Science kid and Superwhy. That becomes my time to play with my daughter (only 3.5 mos. old) and check e-mails etc. Nap time is when I clean and workout.

Sandy - posted on 08/13/2009

As long as it's only for short periods of time (definitely not 2-3 hours!) and it's educational, there's nothing wrong with it. I started my daughter watching an episode of Barney each day when she was 10 mo old so I could get things done too. By the time she was 1 year old, she knew her colors! By 18 months, she could count to 10, knew shapes, sang the alphabet, was singing/dancing along with the characters! Granted, I worked with her also, but since she was watching 30min-1hour of barney (sometimes we watched a longer movie) and lots of times I'd sit with her, she got a learning experience out of it too! Now, a friend of mine had her kid sit in front of Nickelodeon and his favorite was spongebob. Understandably so, he only knew how to sit and stare at the tv and then hit his mom/dad when they tried to turn of the tv. (Yes, I HATE Spongebob with a passion -- totally pointless show).

As long as it's quality tv and limited tv, go for it! Us mom's need a break once in a while too!

Stacey - posted on 08/13/2009

I think ur over reacting a lil. As long as he is totally fine watching tv then let him n get ur stuff done. I still do that. My son loves Noggin too! It harms nothing n my son is very independent n can entertain himself. It could just be his personality but I think him watching tv n doing his own thing helped alot. My son is also alot smarter than most kids his age. Just seeing him interact with other kids is amazing.



I bought my son crayons at 15 months old n what he did shocked me. He colored..for like an half an hour! He didnt eat the crayons like the other kids or get bored n find something else to play with. Now I can give my son a coloring book n turn on Nogin n do my chores in peace. Although he did experiment with drawing on the walls but hasnt done it since i disciplined him.



I think what ur doing is great! If he needs something he'll let u know.

Lisa - posted on 08/13/2009

i hear you there! my son is 20 months old, and it is still just as impossible to get stuff done as when he was a newborn! i don't see anything wrong with a little tv, esp. if u are turning on educational programs. If he pays attention (which my son only will for 2 min at a time-LOL) then it will help him to learn! There's nothing wrong with that, in my opinion. As long as you keep it moderate. There are also some great learning DVD's that you can buy.

Jessica - posted on 08/13/2009

of course it is! i do believe they learn all sorts of stuff from the children shows.

Kandace - posted on 08/13/2009

A little TV won't permanently damage your son. The Backyardigans is a great show for young children. Both of my children really love it. If you need to find a distraction for him and he's not doing anything that will hurt him, TV is a reasonable solution.



Those daily chores and important phone calls are essential and sometimes you can't get stuff done. I understand. I don't think that you're doing anything wrong.