These “Baby Development” Videos Aren’t What They Claim

I recently came across the newborn sensory stimulation video trend on YouTube. Now, I had no idea it existed until a few days ago. So as someone who specializes in newborn and sensory development, I was pretty curious to find out what it's all about. I wanted to understand what the perceived benefits are, why so many parents seem to be using these videos, and of course, what the reality is in terms of the effects these videos have on babies. In case you haven't seen these videos, essentially they're videos that are highly stimulating for babies. They use lots of bright, high contrasting colors, lots of movement, as well as music and audio to provide further stimulation. So what are the potential benefits? Sensory videos are often seen as entertaining babysitting tools which parents can use so that they can complete other tasks like have a shower, prepare a meal, or simply have some downtime while also assisting with the baby's overall development. According to the titles and descriptions of many of these videos, when a baby watches sensory videos, their visual and auditory stimulation is being enhanced and it is helping to also develop their eye control. Also, if your baby chooses to dance along to the music, the video is helping to develop their gross and fine motor skills. Now, I do think it's important to acknowledge that sometimes as parents, we do need some time where our babies are entertained while we get other things done. But the question is, do these videos actually deliver in regards to assisting a baby's development? Unfortunately, the research indicates that this is simply not the case. In fact, current research indicates watching screens before the age of 18 months may be causing more harm than good. Now, you may be thinking this must be an over-exaggeration. Surely, letting a baby watch TV which has been developed for babies would not have a lasting impact on their development. But it's important to consider two factors here. In the first three years of your child's life, it is a really critical time for their brain development. In fact, during the first three years, your child's brain will triple in size and will have reached 80% of its adult volume. This extraordinary brain growth is due to connections being formed between the brain cells in response to learning. Babies, as well as toddlers, learn through interacting with people, exploring their environment, and physically interacting with items and objects. It is through participating in these real-life experiences that they develop their cognitive, language, motor, and social-emotional skills. And secondly, for a video or TV show to be developmentally beneficial for any child, they need to understand the content of the program and pay attention to it. And unfortunately, children under 12 months of age simply do not have the cognitive ability to make sense or meaning out of the pictures or the dialogue coming from those videos or TV shows. So although an infant may enjoy staring at the bright colors and changing motions on the screen, as well as listening to the music, they can't comprehend what's actually going on in order to learn anything from it. It's simply a massive amount of sensory stimulation that doesn't provide any educational or developmental benefit. We also know that babies learn through physically interacting and playing with items and people. With these things in mind, it's very understandable that excessive screen time can have a negative impact on a baby's development. In fact, research indicates excessive screen time under the age of two can negatively affect a child's language development, executive functioning, and attention span, as well as their fine and gross motor skill development. So let's explore how it can negatively affect the development of each of these areas, starting with language development. Current research indicates parent-child interaction and play is critical for early language development. But watching television or shows actually reduces the opportunity for a child to play and interact with others. And this has a direct impact on language development. This was demonstrated in a study completed by Frederick Zimmerman and team, where they found that with every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs or videos, the infant actually learned six to eight fewer new words than babies who never watched videos. Another study from the Hospital of Sick Children in Canada published in 2019 followed 893 children between six months of age up to two years of age. And what the researchers found in this study is that at the 18-month-old checkup, toddlers who were exposed to more handheld screen time were more likely to have delayed expressive language skills. The study also indicated that every 30 minutes increase in handheld screen time per day resulted in a 2.3 times increased risk of expressive language delay. Furthermore, researchers also found that having the TV on in the background is enough to delay language development. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, on average, a parent speaks 940 words per hour when a toddler is around. However, when a TV is on in the background, the number of words actually drops to 770 words per hour. And we know that the more an infant is spoken to or hears words, the more words they will say. Therefore, the reduction in words a little one hears when the background TV is on will have a direct impact on their speech and language development. By the way, if you're hearing me mention all these different expectations in terms of milestones and what to expect from your little one at different ages, and wondering how you're meant to keep track of it all, I actually created a free resource to help you with that. You can download a copy of my free developmental milestone checklist by clicking the link in the description box below this video. It shows you everything to expect in regards to your little one's development in their first year of life, so you know when to be concerned and when not to. Now, let's look at the impacts of screen time on fine and gross motor development. Research also indicates that watching screens can have a negative impact on the development of these skills. That's because children develop their gross and fine motor skills through exploring their environment as they move around, as well as engaging with toys and objects while playing. And unfortunately, when the TV is on, even if it's just in the background, researchers found that babies and toddlers are frequently distracted by the TV, and as a result, the length of time that they play with the toy is less. And this reduced physical interaction with toys and other items has a direct impact on the development of their gross and fine motor skills. But it doesn't end there. Let's talk about attention. Another study completed by Dimitri Christakis also found that the more television a child watched before age three, the more likely they were to have attentional problems. Here is what they found. Are you ready for this? This stat actually blew my mind when I read it. For every hour per day that they spent watching TV before the age of three, their chances of having attentional problems increased by about 10%. So, for example, a child who watched two hours of TV a day before the age of three would be 20% more likely to have attentional problems than the child who watched none. So what does all this mean in terms of sensory stimulation videos as a tool for newborn development? In my opinion, it's clear that based on the research and evidence we currently have available to us, none of it supports the claims made by many of these videos as being beneficial for development in any way at all. In fact, it shows that any type of TV or shows under the age of two are likely to negatively affect their development. It's also important to mention that the American Academy of Pediatrics also discourages screen media in children younger than 18 months of age, except for video chatting, and to avoid solo media use in children aged 18 months of age all the way up to 24 months. Now, if you do want to know what activities you can do with your newborn to accelerate their development, then make sure you watch this video next to find out four proven ways which will facilitate secure attachment and work on developing your baby's social communication, emotional skills, as well as their fine and gross motor skills. And before you go, if you've liked this video, make sure you hit that like button and subscribe so you don't miss the next video.