JERUSALEM – Is Mozart good for babies?

A group of Israeli doctors have plunged into this long-running debate with a small study that found the soothing sounds of the 18th century composer may help premature babies grow faster.

Doctors at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center measured the energy expenditure of 20 infants born pre-term while listening to Mozart in their incubator. They compared that figure with the amount of energy they expended without the music. But the scientists did not test a control group to measure the energy used by babies who didn’t listen to Mozart at all.

Among the babies in the study, the findings showed Mozart lowered the quantity of energy they used, meaning the babies may be able to increase their weight faster.

“While listening to this specific music, a baby can have a lower energy expenditure and hopefully he will gain weight faster than without music,” said Dr. Ronit Lubetzky, one of the main researchers in the study, which was published in the current issue of the medical journal Pediatrics.

The researchers used as a starting point a controversial 1993 study that showed college students improved their IQs by listening to Mozart’s sonatas for 10 minutes. Those findings sparked a craze that saw droves of parents buy Mozart CDs in a bid to boost their children’s brain power.

Later studies challenged what became known as “the Mozart effect,” saying classical music can’t increase basic intelligence among children or adults.

The purported positive effects of Mozart’s music is what drew the Israeli researchers to the topic. In their article, they note that the repetition of the melody in Mozart’s compositions, which resonates with a particular part of the brain, is less frequent among other classical composers and may account for the potential benefits stemming from his music.

Each of the 20 babies was played Mozart for 30 minutes, and the amount of energy they spent was measured simultaneously. The next day, the energy expenditure of the same 20 babies was observed, but without the music.

With Mozart, the energy use was reduced by at least 10 per cent for each baby. Data from two of the infants were not counted because of unrelated variations that could have skewed the results.

The study did not measure the infants’ weight gain and only speculated that its findings could translate into a quicker weight increase.

Lubetzky said the reasons the babies used less energy listening to Mozart aren’t entirely clear, but it appeared to have relaxed them.

“They might be more calm while listening to music, or they might have fewer stress hormones. All those things mean they have a lower heart and respiratory rate,” she said, meaning they spend less energy.

Prior research studying the effect of music on premature babies has been conducted using other sounds, including live music and harps.

But this study is unique because it appears to be the first to have quantified the amount of energy spent while listening to the music, one neonatologist said.

Dr. Arthur Eidelman, a retired former head of pediatrics at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek hospital who did not participate in the research, praised the new study but did not credit Mozart for the positive results.

“What’s unique about Mozart is it’s rhythmical, the range of decibel level is minimal,” Eidelman said. “One could almost make the case that appropriate rap music may do the same thing if you have it within the right range of volume.”

Lubetzky and the other researchers plan to conduct similar studies in the coming months that will test the effects of other music genres – anything from ethnic tunes to Israeli pop – on premature babies.

SEATTLE – Parents who thought their preschoolers were spending time in home-based day cares, taking naps, eating healthy snacks and learning to play nicely with others may be surprised to discover they are sitting as many as two hours a day in front of a TV, according to a study published Monday.

When added to the two to three hours many parents already admit to allowing at home, preschoolers in child care may be spending more than a third of the about 12 hours they are awake each day in front of the electronic baby sitter, said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle and a researcher at the University of Washington.

That’s double the TV time he found in a previous study based on parental reports of home viewing, according to findings published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. The study is the first to look at TV watching in child care in more than 20 years.

The figures come from a telephone survey of licensed child care programs in Michigan, Washington, Florida and Massachusetts. Christakis said he thought television use was probably underreported.

Of the child care programs surveyed, 70 per cent of home-based child cares and 36 per cent of centres said children watch TV daily. The children were watching TV, DVDs and videos. The study did not track what kind of programs were shown.

“It’s not what parents have signed up for,” Christakis said. “I’m not sure how many parents are aware of this.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages any television viewing of any kind in the first 2 years of life and recommends a daily limit of 1 to 2 hours of quality programming for older children.

Children go to day care to develop social skills, build on cognitive abilities and enjoy imaginative play, as well as allowing their parents to work, Christakis said.

“We know what’s good for children and we know what’s not,” Christakis said. “High quality preschool can make a very, very positive difference. We’re so far from meeting that, that we really have a lot of work to do.”

His research found a difference between the amount of TV watching at home daycares and larger child care centres, although both reported some TV time.

The study found that among preschool-aged children, those in home-based day cares watched TV for 2.4 hours per day on average, compared to 24 minutes in centres. Toddlers watched an average of 1.6 hours in home care and about 6 minutes in centres. Only home-based day cares admitted putting infants in front of the TV, for an average of 12 minutes a day.

“It’s alarming to find that so many children in the United States are watching essentially twice as much television as we previously thought,” he said.

Other research has connected excessive TV watching during the preschool years with language delay, obesity, attention problems and aggression.

Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston, wasn’t surprised by the findings in this study but he was forgiving of the parents and child care providers who put kids in front of the TV.

“In general, we still have a culture that sees television as benign,” said Rich, who is also an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard University. “This is an area where we’re learning more and more all the time.”

He compared society’s growing knowledge of the impact of TV on child development to the early days of seat belt use. Today’s parents and child care providers grew up on TV, Rich said, so it’s understandable that they do not recognize the problem.

“We can always do better,” he said.

Christakis said one of the main problems with TV for young children is that it takes away time that could otherwise be spent playing outside, being read to, playing with blocks and talking with adults and other children.

The study did not include passive TV time, when the TV is on in the background but no one is actively watching it. Christakis said any time a TV is on, children speak less and adults interact with them less frequently.

Instead of urging parents to turn off the TV, President Barack Obama might want to start sending the same message to child care providers, Christakis said.

“Hopefully this will serve as a wake-up call,” he said.