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A newborn baby cannot hold or even swipe at an iPad, but Fisher-Price is providing a way to keep infants glued to the device. The Newborn-to-Toddler Apptivity Seat for the iPad allows parents to strap a baby to the reclining bouncy chair and slip a tablet into an attached case that hovers several inches above the infant’s face. The seat is chafing parents and child advocates who say the introduction of screen technology so early is harmful to the health and development of babies. Fisher-Price’s seat seems to hit a new low, they say, but other retailers also are promoting holiday gifts that integrate tech into baby gear, even a potty-training seat with an iPad stand. Fisher-Price’s iPad seat is the “ultimate electronic babysitter, whose very existence suggests that it’s fine to leave babies as young as newborns all alone and with an iPad inches from their face,” said Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), a child advocacy group. The group on Tuesday launched a letter-writing campaign aimed at trying to persuade Mattel, the parent company of Fisher-Price, to stop selling the seat. “Fisher-Price should stay true to its mission to foster learning and development by creating products for infants that promote, rather than undermine, interaction with caregivers,” Linn said. Victor Strasburger, a doctor and professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, said attaching iPads to babies’ seats is “a terrible idea.” | 
