New TV Programming for Babies Worries Children's Expert
from The Children's Hospital (TCH) News, June 2006
Sharon Sables-Baus, right, and mom Suzanne
Gallagher check up on Gallagher’s son, Nicholas,
at Children’s.
Parents often make note of their baby’s first bath, first step, and even their baby’s first word. Now, parents are in a new era: BABYFIRSTtv.
The 24-hour, commercial-free programming is available on DirectTV. The audience for the new programming: babies.
The new station, geared for babies 6 months to 3 years old, worries Sharon Sables-Baus, Infant Development Specialist at The Children’s Hospital. The station contains educational programs claiming to enhance babies’ development. Although the program’s promoter said the program works best when mother and child view together, Sables-Baus is most concerned about the message.
“I am worried that parents are going to think their baby will learn by simply sitting in front of the television and watching the screen,” she said. But it’s not about the visuals on the screen; it’s about the relationship that is not existing when the infant is placed in front of the television. The most important thing parents can do for their newborn is interact with them and show them their faces.”
Children’s renowned programs and models in the Center for Family and Infant New TV programming for babies worries Children’s expert.
Interaction promote the best outcomes and relationships between families and their infants, particularly infants who have developmental challenges and/or special health-care needs at birth.
Every infant needs interaction and a relationship with consistent caregivers for healthy development, Sables-Baus said. She encourages parents to use Children’s models for healthy baby development.
“We can help families understand that the relationship they have with their baby is most important to enhance their baby’s development,” she said.
Children’s even offers the New-born Individualized Develop-mental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP), the only one of its kind in Colorado . Joy Brown, Director of the Center for Family and Infant Interaction and one of 16 NIDCAP training directors in the nation, leads the training program in Denver .
The collaborative program between Children’s and the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center teaches health-care professionals and parents to carefully observe an infant’s response to his or her environment and to interpret the responses.
During training, which lasts for a full year, professionals observe the infant and the environment starting with the parent’s entrance into the hospital all the way to the walls of the Newborn Center at Children’s. “It’s so important to study the environment around babies because it directly impacts them,” Sables-Baus said. “Many of the infants treated here are regulated by the environment around them, including the time they eat, when they can be held, and their sleep and wake cycles. We need to look at cues from the infant, the way they are reacting, moving and looking around. A lot of times, stimulation for infants, including TV, is just noise, which is why we have to look at how the baby handles stimulation. This program allows us to see that.”
Currently, there are eight professionals in the program including nurses, speech therapists, physical therapists and occupational therapists.
“There are so many disciplines involved,” Sables-Baus said. “It takes away the difference in how we approach things – with the training we can all see infant behaviors the same way. From a nursing perspective, this model helps nurses impact the baby – we can do simple things that help the baby have a great developmental outcome. It is so powerful that I can help change the outcome of each baby’s life and strengthen the relationship between infant and parent.”
