When I visualize a parent or caregiver interacting and talking to a baby, I see that baby’s brain light up, neurons popping and wiring all over the language center. When I visualize that same baby watching TV, I see the same language center monotone, quiet, no connections being made. Why? Characters on TV are speaking words, singing, telling stories. Why is a baby’s language center quiet? Because babies need real world language interaction – real words from real people.

TV can interfere with babies learning the sounds he or she needs, to form those first words and then those first sentences. A study in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found that not much talking was happening between parents and their six-month-olds in front of TVs. Is this a problem if it’s 10 minutes? No. Is it a problem if it’s a half hour or an hour or two hours a day? Probably yes.

Babies’ brains grow at such a rapid rate during infancy.  A rich language environment wires babies’ brains with the letter sounds or phonemes they need to be successful later in speaking, reading and writing. It all starts in infancy with the sounds they hear from those who love and care for them. When are your favorite times to talk with your baby?

-Dr. Dave