US babies watch television, video and DVDs much more than pediatricians recommend.
More than 1000 families were randomly included in telephone survey conducted by Frederick Zimmerman of the University of Washington. The survey shows that 90 percent of babies under 2 years and 40 percent of infants under 3 months watch TV regularly.
"We don't know from the study whether it is good or bad. What we know is that it is big," said Frederick Zimmerman.
Babies under 3 month watch TV for an hour per day and by 24 months they already watch one and half hours per day. Survey conducted by American Academy of Pediatrics says that US babies spend four hours at television daily, but they recommend that children under age 2 don't need to watch TV at all, and older children are allowed to watch TV not more than 2 hours daily and only high quality special baby programs. Researchers advise to completely remove TVs from bedrooms, because watching TV in bedrooms also has bad impact on babies.
Researchers say that most parents believe that educational TV and DVD programs are useful for babies. 29 percent of parents are sure that educational programs help babies to get smarter.
"Parents are getting the message loud and clear from marketers of TV and videos that this is good for their kids. That it will help their brain development ... None of this stuff has ever been proven," said Zimmerman.
"I don't blame parents,'' Zimmerman added. "A little over a quarter of parents believe it's really going to be good for a child's brain.''
Another survey says that watching to much TV will lead do lack of attention and will cause learning difficulties. Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons researchers studied 678 families in New York during 20 years. They found that babies watching too much TV have poorer chances to go to college than the ones who don't watch TV too much.
"Kids who watched less than one hour of TV per day were twice as likely to go to college as those who watched three or more hours per day," they say.
Children who didn't do homework are only 12 percent of those who watched TV less than an hour daily, 21 percent of those who watched TV from one hour to three hours daily, and 27 percent of those who watched TV more than three hours daily.
Teens who get bored at schools are only 22 percent of those who watched TV less than an hour daily, 35 percent of those who watched TV from one hour to three hours daily, and 42 percent of those who watched TV more than three hours daily.
So researchers advise parents to be more watchful to their babies: babies need to have more fun at outdoor, swimming pools, zoos, and less watch TV.
By Ruzan Harutyunyan for HULIQ
Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.
