Baby Einstein

I tried to post this question earlier today, but I don't think it worked. If it did, sorry for the double post!

My daughter received a few Baby Einstein DVDs for Christmas this year. She seems to love them when I let her watch (as does her father!), but I just don't feel right plunking her down in front of the television. I guess I wasn't at all impressed with the video itself, especially after all the hype I've heard on it.

I've been setting things up for her to look at since she was born (colorful books or blankets, swinging magnet toys and so on) and somehow that just seems better than those things on the television screen. Actually a few weeks after she was born I had a really hard time with how much 'entertaining' and such I should do. I read a lot of books about development and there was so much 'use it or lose it' that I felt as if she should be stimulated as much as possible to give her the best start possible. A call to my mother quickly changed my mind, and she was the one who suggested setting out visually stimulating items or playing music (after all, who in the world would want to be bombarded that heavily with various stimlui all day?), that way the baby could look but also be okay with spending time sitting on her own, another valuable skill.

So am I crazy for thinking that in some cases Baby Einstein could contribute to a tv-watching habit? Is it just that I'm rather new at this parenting thing and in a few months I'll be thanking my lucky stars for Baby Einstein? I'd rather her socialize or look out the window at the real world; that zombie look she only gets when the DVD plays is a bit frightening to me!

Shella

[SueC]

I have those tapes and I used them more with my first child than I did the second. I personally didn't feel too bad about using them--she was a fussy baby and it made her happy. Usually I still had to actually hold her in front of the TV because she wasn't the kind of kid that would sit in the swing, bouncy chair, exersaucer for any length of time (thank goodness she was the first baby, otherwise there is no way I could have catered to her that way). The second baby, I just never got around to digging the tapes out, otherwise I probably would have tried them with her as well. I don't think it matters all that much if you use them as long as you aren't plunking the kid in front of the tv all day. With the first baby I really tried to make sure she was getting enough stimulation and worked very hard to play classical music, read and sing to her, etc. By the time the second baby came around, I hoped that watching her sister and the other little boy I watched would be stimulating enough because I didn't have the energy or the time to worry about it! She is now 2 and a half and seems to be developing fine. I think with each successive child, you get more and more lax about that sort of thing (or maybe it is just me and my laziness and I'm just trying to make myself feel better!). Our next baby is going to be so deprived! Anyhow, I tend to go with whatever keeps you sane--if the baby will watch the tapes long enough for you to take a shower and brush your teeth, go for it!

[mommax3]

They didn't have those tapes when I had my first two kids. My third was born a month before my husband's brother had his first, and they got a whole bunch of those tapes. Nathan didn't see one until he was about a year old, but he LOVED it at that point (it was an animal one) so we got that one and two others. They have been a big help to me when he needs to be kept still so that I can get something done.

I don't think babies care too much about tv.....my oldest child started liking videos when he was about 9 months old, but only if they had real children in them, not animated. Since those videos only last about 25 or 30 minutes, I never had a big problem with my kids watching them once they got old enough to care about them/request them. Sometimes the promise of being able to watch one makes for a great bribe!

Don't throw your Baby Einstein DVDs away.....you are right that you may be very thankful for them at some point. Your baby won't develop a tv watching habit unless you allow her to, even if she does eventually have some favorite videos. By all means, keep stimulating her with real life stuff, but know that you and your husband are all she really needs right now.

Sally

[peggyfromwastate]

We love the baby einstein series. We have all the dvds now, and we play them in our car even. I found that I had to use something to distract the twins during the day, so at about 5 months we had a "baby einstein" station in our daily routine. They would sit in the exersaucer watching the video or watching each other or playing with the toys on the tray. The music is nice background music, too. Anyway, they still watch these videos in the car sometimes (this is a habit I can't break them of-- on our cross-country move last summer we bought a DVD player for the car, and it's a permanent thing screwed in and everything, so anyway...).

Anyway, my first baby didn't watch TV hardly at all, but I couldn't get away with that with the twins. They needed distraction, and I needed a break from being the only source of entertainment. I have not seen that they are less creative, they certainly are more verbal than I expected them to be, given that twins are usually a little behind in this department, and all in all they are developing great!

One thing I appreciate about Baby Einstein is that the creator doesn't actually think the videos make the babies smarter. She sees the videos as a tool for the parents, too. My kids love the Baby Santa DVD. They jump and dance and mimic the other kids' motions. That is probably their all time favorite!

Anyway, don't beat yourself up over a 25 minute DVD. Don't give yourself mommy guilt about that! It sounds like you are spending lots of good time with your baby! And I totally agree that a TV habit only happens when the parents allow it. My daughter has friends (other 8-year olds) with TVs in their rooms and free reign on the TVs. She was shocked to learn that some children live this way, and a little bit miffed when we made it very clear that she was never going to have a TV in her room!