Recordings that claim to stimulate baby brain development may actually slow vocabulary development in infants if they are overused, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.[/p] For every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants aged 8 to 16 months understood an average of six to eight fewer words than babies who did not watch them, Frederick Zimmerman of the University of Washington and colleagues found.[/p] "The most important fact to come from this study is there is no clear evidence of a benefit coming from baby DVDs and videos, and there is some suggestion of harm," Zimmerman said in a statement.[/p] "The bottom line is the more a child watches baby DVDs and videos, the bigger the effect. The amount of viewing does matter."[/p] Zimmerman and colleagues conducted random telephone interviews with more than 1,000 families in Minnesota and Washington with babies and asked detailed questions about television and video viewing.[/p] Parents of the 8- to 16-month-olds were asked how many words like "choo-choo," "mommy" and "nose" their child understood. Parents of the toddlers were asked how many words like "truck," "cookie" and "balloon" their children knew.[/p] "The results surprised us, but they make sense. There are only a fixed number of hours that young babies are awake and alert," said Andrew Meltzoff, a psychologist who worked on the study.[/p] "If the 'alert time' is spent in front of DVDs and TV, instead of with people speaking in 'parentese'-- that melodic speech we use with little ones -- the babies are not getting the same linguistic experience," Meltzoff added.[/p] "Parents and caretakers are the baby's first and best teachers. They instinctively adjust their speech, eye gaze and social signals to support language acquisition. Watching attention-getting DVDs and TV may not be an even swap for warm social human interaction at this age. Old kids may be different, but the youngest babies seem to learn language best from people."[/p] "The evidence is mounting that they are of no value and may in fact be harmful," says Dr. Dimitri Christakis a pediatrician at Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute who worked on the study[/p]
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[a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070809/sc_nm/babies_videos_dc"]http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070809/sc_nm/babies_videos_dc[/a]
[hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"]Duh, have we become so isolated as a society we can't even talk to our newborns?
Yeah, I know the baby shouldn't pay the price, but in a way it's fitting.
I mean, let a baby be a baby. Parents get so obsessed with making sure their kids find "success" in life.
You can't micro-manage everything. Babies should be rolling around on the carpet sh*tting themselves, not learning how to read.
I SO agree with you Monkee. Along with everything else, it has become a competition. Frankly I'm surprised there isn't a reality show based on this. "My Baby's Smarter Than Your Baby...Nya nya, nya nya nya nya."
And that is why my kids watch the microwave these days.......
I bought one of those Baby Einstein DVD and I can't stand the stupid annoying thing. I don't get how kids are supposed to become 'genius' watching these shows. It's a lot of images and music, really stupid. Not one of my kids watch it for more than 5 mins.
And the stupiest part is some parents actually (YES!) look down on your kids if they don't take into the Baby Einstein idea. They look at you as if you're a moron and your kids inherit the idiot genes. Meh.(http://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Other/1.gif)
as the study says on certain amount of time during the day that babies are 'attentive' and instead of interacting with the parents they're watching a tv. weird.
"[FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff40"]The results surprised us, but they make sense[/FONT]. There are only a fixed number of hours that young babies are awake and alert," said Andrew Meltzoff, a psychologist who worked on the study.
I found this comment hilarious! Why start tv for baby's? Watching the DVD is no different than watching some cartoon show. It's mindless and brainless. I bet parents use this as a "babysitting" technique. Baby is quiet watching this Einstein DVD = more peace for mommy and daddy. Baby needs interaction. Needs to crawl around and be active and mobile. But hey, what do I know. I'm not a psychologist.
exactly. Instead the babies are becoming mindless blobs with no people skills.
uh, how do babies develop people skills? i didn't know that was important for a baby?
people interaction. That's what this whole study was about. You set babies in front of a tv when they're awake they hinder development because instead of being talked to by their parents some tv screen is doing the talking.
you mean breast interraction/intervention? ;)
lol. no I'm about parents to child interaction.
but babies are all about momma to breast in the first year (give or take)
true. but tv's mess up with babies brains. Its too much at one time for them. Their brains aren't ready for it.
I don't believe all tv shows are that bad for babies and toddlers. I find TreeHouseTV and PBS. Kids (some programs anyways - Sesame Street) pretty educational for kids. Some good points and bad. I guess, it's all about moderation. Too much is bad.
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And they say we don't learn new words everyday. LOL.
What's the PBS equivalent in BC? Is it Knowledge Network?
One excerpt from one of a million studies that all contradict each other.
"Young children who watch television face an increased risk of attention-deficit problems by school age, a study has found, suggesting that television might overstimulate and permanently 'rewire' the developing brain. For every hour of television watched daily, two groups of children - ages 1 and 3 - faced a 10 percent increased risk of having attention problems at age 7.
The findings bolster previous research showing that television can shorten attention spans and support American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations that children younger than 2 not watch television."
I think as in anything else, it all boils down to moderation.
So I'm ADD because of the tv. brilliant
Yeah this is pretty much a fact. Babies brains aren't developed and tv's give off so much 'woah cool' to babies they become over saturated