Parents usually get shocked when they know that they should not allow their babies to watch TV or use tablet before they are 18 months old, as they are probably using these tools as the main source for entertaining their babies.
Some people think that their babies like watching TV as they can stare at the TV screen for several hours without getting upset or annoyed, but this is not true as babies get impressed by motion pictures & colors, but their brains are not fully developed to understand its meaning or link what they see with what is really happening in the real world, which makes them so confused.
What your baby really need at this age is communicating with the surrounding environment. This does not mean that you should prevent his grandfather for example from seeing him through video chat if he is calling from another country. But when it comes to daily learning, he has to touch things, move things around, throw them, & the most important thing is to see the person who talks to him face to face & hear him.
If my baby likes watching TV, what risks shall happen?
Mother sometimes use TV & tablets as a way of distracting their babies while preparing food or tidying the house, but take care as the negative impact of watching the TV at this young age lasts long after he grows up. The negative impact includes: delay in language development, poor reading skills, & weakness in short term memory. It also extends to sleep, focus, & attention problems.
The problem is not only about what babies watch on TV, but also what skills they miss during those hours. Let your baby sit behind you while you prepare food & give him spoons & plates to play with. In this way, you entertain him in a beneficial way.
This is not the case if your baby exceeds 2 years old, as by this age he can learn many new things from TV kids’ programs with the supervision of parents. But you should put into consideration the content of these programs & limit watching time to one hour per day even for TV or mobile phones or tablet till he became 5 years old.