Taken from Canadian Health - Fall 2009
If your two-year-old is still using a baby bottle, she’s probably also watching too much TV. Recent years have seen growing concern over the subsequent negative health effects — from ADHD to obesity — of high levels of screen-viewing time in very young children. Now researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto have found that toddlers who still use a baby bottle at age two are more likely to spend more time in front of television and computer screens than two-year-olds who’ve kicked the habit. Led by pediatrician Dr. Jonathan McGuire, the investigators studied 96 healthy pediatric patients, ages 24 to 30 months. They found that bottle users clocked almost double the screen time per day than non-users (60 minutes versus 34 minutes) and were almost three times as likely to eat their meals with the TV on. “Sometimes parents use bottles to pacify their children, and they also use television for this,” says McGuire. “These are two unhealthy behaviours that intersect and can lead to lasting health problems later.” According to current recommendations, he says, children should not use the bottle beyond 15 months, and those under age two should not watch any television.