Screen time?

[Jessie2024]

Due to have my first baby in a matter of days (eek) and I’m just curious really, when did you introduce screen time for your little ones? I have a sort of idea of what I want to do, but I just want to know what the usual thing is with parents at the moment. I have a friend who introduced screens immediately (as soon as baby was born), and another friend who isn’t doing screen time at all for two years. No judgement here! Just curious to see what works for other parents. Thanks!

I never bothered with it at all. Sometimes if we were at home they would watch CBEEBIES and I could have a peaceful cup of tea/coffee. I suppose they would have been several months old by then. They tended to lose interest by themselves fairly quickly though.

For newborns there's no point in it. They can't initially see too far from their faces anyway.

@Topseyt123 thank you for sharing! I agree I see absolutely no point in having it for a newborn, that’s something I will not be doing.

My son was born in January 2019 and I think the first time we introduced any sort of screen time was probably the late spring/early summer of 2020 when we were all going a bit stir crazy and hadn't had a break from each other due to lockdown. Or we needed him to sit still so I could give him an abysmal haircut. So I guess he was about 18 months? Even then 15 minutes was about his limit before he got fidgety, unless I was sat with him then he might last 25-30 minutes. Wasn't every day either.

We now have 2 children (5 and almost 3), and occasionally they'll enjoy a bit of screen time so I can get something done, or do very glamorous checks for head lice. Mainly TV is only on when someone is ill. We're still yet to manage a whole movie, they just can't sit still that long.A Julia Donaldson 'film' is about our limit. Plus after the TV goes off it's like they stored energy from the time they were sat down watching and they're totally wired running around everywhere. I much prefer the yoto player or putting something on spotify.

Actually having written that I do remember when mine were not moving yet, during leaps (wonder weeks) sometimes they'd be totally inconsolable but putting high contrast sensory videos on youtube would calm them if nothing else worked. Was a total sanity saver!

I watched loads of tv while breastfeeding, adult tv that is. Not aimed at them and I don’t think it was an issue.

I tried to avoid tv for them till 2, I think that was the American Academy of Paediatrics (?) recommendation for while. It’s not that it’s detrimental when it’s not for hours or hours but more that they could be doing something else more beneficial.

But for baby #2 I actually can’t even remember, I’m sure they were watching plenty before 2!

2.5 year old here and we still haven't really introduced it. Every now and then I'll put something on for him, but tbh he's not interested.

Definitely watched loads of tv while BFing, but he was faced away and I used wireless earphones so he didn't hear it.

Thank you for all of your answers! It seems like most of you avoid screen time at a young age, and introduce it later on with limits on it. Which is what I’ll most likely end up doing too. Whenever I have brought up to some parents about how I want to avoid screen time as much as I can, they laugh at me and say “just you wait until TV is the only thing that makes your child stop screaming!”. It’s refreshing to see that limiting it has turned out good for most of you!

All the mums I know (middle class SAHMs) use more TV than anyone on this thread! Me and a couple of friends try to stick to the recommended <1h a day for small children, but most people use way more than that as it's on in the background or part of the routine each day i.e. while they prepare any meal.

Don't overthink these things.

If I was watching tv and baby or toddler was in the room then I really didn't worry about it.

@DinnaeFashYersel not overthinking! I don’t watch TV much anyway, so I don’t mind baby being in the room when I’m watching it occasionally. My question is more based on when to introduce actual screen time (like children’s shows) for children 🙂

I spent hours watching box sets with newborn (and older) DD as she wouldn't nap anywhere but on me, and I was too tired to do anything other than stare at a screen.

We always had cbeebies on in the background in the house because I don't like a quiet house and DD would watch a few minutes and then go off and play. On and off through the day.

For me, screen time itself isn't the issue its screentime without interaction. If you're talking about/singing along with the tv I don't see a problem.

We never did youtube or cocomelon though because I found them inane and headache inducing!

My answer doesn't change.

Don't overthink it.

When you are up in the middle of the night its fine to stick on Baby TV for something soothing in the hope that baby might go to sleep - or a Friends episode to keep you awake.

And if during the day you pop Cbeebies on for a bit the world will keep on turning.

It doesn't have a to be a moment. Reach a certain age and start watching. Most babies wont be that interested. Not until they are older.

Teenagers and screens are a far bigger deal.

With my first we didn't have any TV until about a year. With the second there were hours of cbeebees to keep the toddler occupied while I fed baby, so she had it on I the background from day 1. Were a few years down the line now, and there both fine and spend time on and off screens.

Eldest was probably around a year or 18 months.
Youngest has exposed to older ones watching TV from birth I suppose.

I wouldn't ever put dancing fruit or cocomelon or baby sensory youtube videos on for newborns or very young babies which seems to be common now.

Mine was born in March 2019 and barely watched anything for the first year, then the world ended, all bets were off, and I just did what I needed to to get us through the days

Preach!!

I think the person saying ',don't overthink it' probably just means you'll work it out. This is very much the kind of thing I'd have been curious about when expecting baby. Not concerned, just curious. But when they're here decisions like this just become totally second nature. Honestly I make a million decisions a day which pre kids I'd have definitely been in awe of. Old me would have wondered (again not in a bad way) how parents know something is right or wrong for their family, but when you're in it you just know!

Not all the time mind you, at least once a day I'm asked something which makes me stop in my tracks and have to really think/have a chat with my spouse before I reply. But you work it out! Sometimes now we even work it out as a family with the kids input too. It's incredible how these little brains work. Honestly it's such an interesting rollercoaster of a reality!

can't remember honestly. gets difficult when you have more than 1 child anyway as tv mostly on and with my older ones we had less screens and used vhs/dvds so was very controllable screen time vs streaming and instant access to everything
saw some lady on tiktok laminate pix of tv shows so her child could only choose between predetermined options and it was only at a few set times per day. thought that was clever

i had/have a blanket ban on anything i deem "stupid" so no ugly CGI/cartoons (awful fireman sam reboot... etc) cocomelon and dancing fruits are the Devil Incarnate
no stupid nursery rhymes

actually i did a lot of older childrens dvds or tv shows with real people in i.e. bbc nursery rhymes, baby club, come outside, balamory, steve & aneeshwar, tractor ted
nature & history documentaries
a lot are on youtube these days, i watched some of the old elmos world and sooty and sweep recently with nephews.. so cute and nostalgic

All kids are different in my experience. My daughter was (and still is) quite energetic, shall we say 😂 and the tv from her being about 9 months old would really calm her (calming baby sensory on YouTube). It would only be for 5 minutes or so, but enough time to have a wee/fill the dishwasher/make the bed etc.

My others to this day have never been interested to be honest. Never needed it so never used it.

I watched loads of tv while breastfeeding, adult tv that is.

Yep, I didn't watch much TV before kids because I was always busy....working, socialising, date nights, exercise etc. Then I had a baby who breastfed for hours and spent half the day asleep on top of me and I binge watched a lot of box sets! My newborn baby didn't notice or care that I was watching TV, he was only interested in feeding and dozing.

Mine is nearly 14 months, he will only watch tv for about 10 minutes at a time then wanders off to play! Agree with a PP all ugly CGI is banned in this house too... we've been watching the original Thomas videos on youtube. The Clangers and Jojo and Gran Gran on Cbeebies are lovely!

We do baby sensory videos on YouTube from a few months old.
She got TV for for the first at 12 months when she was ill and I was in hospital. She got a bit of Sarah and duck.
We stuck with the odd episode of Sarah and duck until 2 or the masked singer if she was ill. When we found the singing hands channel on YouTube which is makaton signing with nursery rhymes which my daughter loves.

Probably like most parents I'm somewhere in the middle. Pragmatic that sometimes 20 minutes of TV so I can sort dinner out or a bit more if they are sick and just want to curl up on the sofa. We try to avoid endless TV or binge watching programmes so we pick the TV show according to how long she has. If she's going to have 10 minutes she gets a 10 minute program. If it's half an hour she gets one of the Julia Donaldson programmes. We set a time on the TV so it turns itself off. The TV has its uses but we try to not use to every day or as the answer to every problem.
There are also things that are educational or enriching like the signing nursery rhymes or the cosmic kids yoga on YouTube that my daughter loves.

I wouldn't commit to being either type of parent ahead of time and navigate what works for you at the time.

Best advice from pp.

Don't commit to anything in parentdom until you're there.

I thought mine weren't going to have biscuits...

Everything, incl screens and biscuits, in moderation.

I wouldn’t go in with a plan on when to introduce screens. I would be wary of doing it too soon and too much of it. some parents can become very dependent on screens to keep the kids occupied instead of kids occupying themselves.

Big screens are better than small screens in my experience. The small screen just turns them into zombies but kids will often drift back to play when watching tv. More tantrums when phone is taken away and can definitely affect behaviour.

We do our best in this house but aren’t perfect. My 2 year old loves Paw Patrol but the 13 month old will only glance at tv. An episode of paw patrol will distract my 2 year old enough for me to make dinner. Also we have overdosed on tv during illness so we aren’t always getting it right.