Screen time
Just wanted to get peoples thoughts/opinions on this even though our babies are still a bit young.. I’m very conflicted so here’s all my questions surrounding it:
What do you count as screen time? Is it just when you specifically put something on a screen for baby to watch? Do you count if you’re watching tv and they happen to also watch it? Are you turning off tvs when baby is in the room to prevent this?
Do you maybe just count iPads/phones as screen time?
What about the cinema? (We have baby cinema near us). Do you class this as screentime?
Are you going to be doing zero screen time? Putting a limit in place? Doing it as and when you need them entertained for a bit? Or doing no restrictions?
Are you solely choosing educational or low stimulation/calming shows? Or maybe only putting on non-animated shows?
Are you imposing your rules on family/friends who may have baby for you? Or going by the sort of “grandmas house, grandmas rules” type thing?
Genuinely just curious to know what people are doing/considering. I don’t believe there’s a right or wrong way (so please don’t start arguing in the comments🤣), I’d just like to know peoples reasonings really to see if anything resonates with me! Xx
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Hey, I agree there's no right or wrong, just personal choice! We've decided to have no screen time, unless we're video calling family (even then I normally just hold the camera facing him because he's too young to understand it's a person on the other side yet). I've gone to the baby cinema but he slept through most of it, and when he was awake he was facing towards me. I'll watch TV when we're contact napping, but other than that the TV is off during the day. I'll sometimes listen to audiobooks or a podcast if I'm in the house all day. Sand rules apply when he's at his grannies houses, although our parents are all 400+ miles away so he'd not be there on his own before he's at least a year old anyway ☺️
I did some research into it and felt it was the right decision for our family. We're also very lucky that he's a pretty chilled out baby and loves spending time on his playmat or watching us so isn't seeking any other form of entertainment and I can get bits and pieces done around the house etc xx
So far I haven’t actively shown him screens, if I’m watching something I will face him away from it, and am trying to watch less so that I’m actively engaging with him, and family does the same. I’m going to hold out as long as feels right for us
I think any screen is screen time but. I am not hung up on it whatsoever. I've put on nursery rhymes and educational documentaries of Dinos and sharks etc. I've had my boy sit and watch come dine with me and apparently married at first sight yesterday ( I don't watch it but I flicked the Tele on for him while I got ready and he was into it😂🤷🏻)
I would Love the cinema and can't wait til me and him can go but probably won't until he's old enough to behave and understand a bit better - and be bribed into behaving with a snack 😂
Around that though. We play. We sing. We go out and walk. We dance. We read. We look in the mirror. We have tummy time and playmat time.
I think a little bit of Tele or whatever isn't bad. It breaks up the monotony of this stage where we can only do so many things so many times 🤷
Married at first sight drama got him 🤷
My girl is a complete tele addict, we can’t have it on for us while she’s awake because she will do an exorcist style head twist to watch it. I used to let her watch a bit with me but she’s becoming too obsessed with it.
Saying that, I’ve added 10 mins of dancing fruits into her wake window so I can quickly get the housework done. She will only nap on me so I don’t get anything done otherwise
I go according to research that says screen time can cause autism like symptoms (which get reversed with a screen time detox) and the recommendation of my country that says no screen time until 3. I don’t even use my phone in front of my baby. I don’t count speaking to my mum on FaceTime or taking the occasional selfie with her… that’s because of the human interaction behind it that, but to each their own!
I put dancing fruits and bluey on for my boy if he is awake and i need to do stuff but nothing more than 15-20mins a day. He will also break his neck to watch tv while feeding etc so i try to turn the tv off to stop distractions.
Please read this, evidence was shown to be inconclusive around screen time. I personally don’t believe it’s as detrimental as others believe. https://www.nct.org.uk/baby-toddler/games-and-play/screen-time-for-babies-and-toddlers-evidence
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