Target is the primary retailer for the items in the U.S. Other Sesame Beginnings licensors include Crown Crafts (bedding), Fisher-Price (infant toys), Children's Apparel Network (department and specialty store layette, newborn and infant apparel), Hamco, Blue Ridge, Baby Boom, and A.D. Sutton.
With the Sesame Beginnings DVDs, we're providing parents and caregivers of children under two with content specifically designed to use media as a tool to further adult/child interaction.
"[1] The same "underviewing" of Sesame Street is what had earlier inspired show producers to add in the very young-targeted Elmo's World segment.
In 2007,[2] researchers at the University of Michigan conducted a study on the efficacy of different infant-directed videos to promote parent-child interaction.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under two be kept away from screen media and Sesame Beginnings has been criticized by a number of early childhood development experts who point to research suggesting that television viewing by infants can harm language development and sleep patterns.
However, one of Zero to Three's original founders, noted pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton, was among the signatories of a letter of protest that was submitted to Zero to Three calling on the organization to disassociate itself with the project.