Video recommendations for 13 month old

[mommy111]

Hi!
DD is 1 year old and had NEVER watched TV. Now, however, grandma will be babysitting her and I KNOW she will almost certainly turn on the TV to amuse DD. I am trying to pre-empt this by buying some good, educational videos or DVDs for DD that will teach her how to speak etc. Any recommendations? Also any recommendations on video/DVD watching, the risk of ADHD terrifies me (DH had it) and I want to keep things in check. Did any of you let your 1 year olds watch videos regulary and if so, what (???Sesame street, 'my baby can read????' I was a child soooo long ago I'm not familiar with very much else). I guess I just need someone to say, let her watch this, its educational and she won't be permanently harmed by this and you're not a terrible mother........please help!!!

[nfowife]

We love the baby signing times videos and also I've heard good things about baby wordsworth (from baby einstein).

[AmyZ]

No, you are not a terrible mother!! You are already way ahead of the game if you are concerned, and trying to limit and monitor TV watching. My DD enjoyed the Baby Einstein videos, along with the Wiggles, Signing Time, and Baby Songs (these are really nice and mild - cute Hap Palmer songs and kids dancing and singing - you can find them on Amazon). Sesame Street was too advanced, so it did not hold her attention. Elmo's World held her attention some of the time.
I wouldn't stress yourself over the pressure of having her "learn" from watching them. It'll just give grandma a break, and I'm sure she will enjoy the music and pictures. If it makes you feel better, you can say that someone with a Masters in Education (and Social Work)told you so! :-)

Amy Z

"Ma!" to Eliana May 2/5/04
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[BaileyBea]

I only let DS watch one show ..... Teletubbies on PBS. He's 10 months and he is waving and saying bye bye and Hello. I owe it to those wierd little alien creatures.

We have a learning 15 minutes twice per day. the first time we do the signing video and the second we read books.

So I don't think that all TV or videos are bad. You're not going to keep DD in front of the TV all day and therefore it's not bad. You won't be a bad Mom. It's okay. ;-)

[Momof3Labs]

IMO Signing Times is much better for learning sign language than Baby Wordsworth (we have both - DS is still a Baby Einstein fan!). But Baby Wordsworth is still cute from an entertainment perspective.

[hardysmom]

Yeah, at 13 mo, Sesame Street probably wont hold attention.

Teletubbies and Baby Einstein are the most universally loved and easy to find/TiVo.

Stephanie

[KrisM]

I'd start by getting some from your library. DS hates Baby Einstein and has never had any interest in it. We got one as a gift. But, he loves Signing Time.

[stefani]

I recommend Signing Time. DS's vocabulary exploded once he started signing around 17 months old. He loves Baby Mozart from Baby Einstein, too.

Borrowing from the library as one of the other poster recommend is a good thing. That way you can rotate them and you can see which ones you & your DD like.

I am impressed that your DD has not watched TV yet.

My DS watched TV (DVD) regularly because he had to be nebulized, and that will keep him calm. That's how I found Signing Time. We do not have broadcast TV / cable so only DVDs. I limit it to 1 hour per day, but he starts crawling /cruising away after about 15-20 minutes at 1 year. Now he can watch longer so I have to be more vigilant about turning it off.

HTH!

[kaylinsmommy2]

I agree with checking your library - I found Signing Time DVDs Vol 1-6 at mine this week and will check out which one DD likes the most. We've been watching the sample clips on their website and DD loves them, asks for them, and has learned to sign "monkey" "chicken" and "train" just from those sample clips.

I personally like Sesame Street for DD, she watches it a couple of times a week. DD loves Big Bird and Elmo. She started watchign it around 13 months. They do lots of counting and hide and seek. The stories are cute (and has given me a couple ideas for activities we'd do a thome) and they seem to have a big multicultural component - learning about different cultures, learnign about different languages, etc.

I don't think your DD will be permenently harmed by watching videos occationally. And you are a SUPER mother for being able to avoid TV for a full year already! ;)

Caroline
"ma meee" to Kaylin 6/5/04

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[mudder17]

Definitely check your library first, so you can see what might work for your child. But keep in mind that even if you find something she might love eventually, she may not watch more than 5 minutes initially. When we started Kaya signing times at 10 months, I think between 10-14 months, she might watch 10 minutes at most and then she would lose interest (so we would just shut it off). She did slowly develop a longer attention span for the Signing Times, especially once she figured out a few signs, and would soon sit/stand for the whole video. Kaya really loves Signing Times now and will ask for it by name. However, there are still days when she'll watch half of one and then decide she's had enough and will go do something else. Still, she has definitely learned A LOT of signs from it, and has even made up her own (balloon for example). I still limit her to 1 video a day (at most) and I attribute her long attention span to that (she'll go through days when she won't watch at all). In fact, the moms in our group recently commented that Kaya has an unusually long attention span for some things (like playing at the kitchen sink for an hour or playing with DH's shoes/shoelaces for an hour).

Eileen

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Kaya's a cousin! 10/1/05, 5lb13oz