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'Smart baby' videos may set tots back
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no television for children under 24 months.

Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington in Seattle, told the Los Angeles Times, "I would rather babies watch 'American Idol' than these videos," explaining that there is at least a chance their parents would watch with them — which does have developmental benefits.

By Greg Toppo

Sitting your infant down in front of one of those $20 Baby Einstein videos may not make him a genius, but it can't hurt, right? . . . Right?

But bright colors, soft music and soothing narrations aside, the experience may actually set very young children back a bit, a study in today's Journal of Pediatrics suggests: For every hour spent watching, infants understand fewer words than those who don't watch.

Researchers used random telephone surveys of more than 1,000 parents, asking how many words from a list of 90 or so their child understood. For older kids, parents said how many their child used.

For babies ages 8 to 16 months, every hour each day spent watching videos marketed for brain-building translated into six to eight fewer words understood, compared with kids who didn't watch. Whether parents watched alongside their babies didn't matter.

For older kids--1 1/2 to 2 years old -- the smart-baby videos showed no effect.

The data don't track long-term progress, but it does suggest the benefits of more hours of face time and fewer videos, says lead researcher Frederick Zimmerman of the University of Washington school of public health. "If parents can avoid them altogether, I think that's good."

Parents spent $2.5 billion in 2005 on infant brain-building products, Fortune magazine says.

Zimmerman, co-author of the 2006 book The Elephant in the Living Room: Make Television Work for Your Kids, says the new findings challenge makers of Baby Einstein, Brainy Baby and other videos to produce research--not just parent testimonials--showing their products' benefits. "None of them have done any research to date," he says.

Representatives of the two companies did not immediately respond to requests for interviews.

— Greg Toppo
USA Today
2007-08-07


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