Hi! This is a great question, especially since we are increasingly surrounded by media and technology, and some trusted toy companies have even integrated phone and tablets into their baby toys! I am a pediatric physical therapist and an adjunct professor teaching Neurological Development in a graduate program in Early Childhood Education and we talk about these guidelines in my class:
The American Academy of Pediatrics has guidelines for media use for children. This website might help:
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/Media/Pages/Healthy-Digital-Media-Use-Habits-for-Babies-Toddlers-Preschoolers.aspxThey include:
Children under 2 should limit technology use to video chatting (for example facetiming grandma in another state or country), so that they are viewing faces only.
Over 18 months, limit screen time and never allow solo screen time - an adult should choose quality programming and view it together with a child and talk about the subject matter with the child.
From 2-5 years old, children should be limited to no more than 1 hour of screen time a day, and again an adult should check the quality of programming and view programming together with a child.
Why? Overuse of screen time can affect children's exploration of the physical world, toys, and interactions with other people that are needed to develop movement skills, speech and communication and the cognitive knowledge about how the physical world works! Kids need to be moving, talking and exploring.
As a physical therapist, my colleagues in PT and occupational therapy are seeing an increase in children who need services because of the decreased amount of time spent moving around and developing gross motor and fine motor skills.
Also, the American Academy of Opthamology recommends that all screen users should take a break every 20 minutes, to look at something 20' away, for 20 seconds to avoid eye strain (the 20-20-20 rule).
As the mom of 3 children under 7,I have experienced that sometimes it is not easy to limit technology - other parents are providing tech time, your own children see that, and the reality is technology can be addictive (for us adults too!). My advice as a parent is to not worry about what other people are doing, keep a bag of age appropriate baby toys with your to occupy your baby on the go, read real books to your baby as much as possible, and as your baby gets older have a go bag of blocks, books, coloring activites, etc ready to go for waiting rooms, stores and such. At home provide opportunities for movement and back and forth speech interaction with your baby. Good luck! 3 months is a fun time for babies as they really start to wake up and check out their world!
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Dr. Nicole Schiffmacher, PT, DPT, MS
Board Certfiied Pediatric Clinical Specialist, Physical Therapist
Lecturer: Infant/Toddler Master's in Special Education Program
St. Joseph's College, Long Island
Founder: TriumphInMotion.com
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-25-2019 07:01 PM
From: Riyadh Alabbas
Subject: Safe time for technology use
I have question that really concerning my child
What is the safest time to use technology for my child?
I have 3 months old child and most of children surrounded him with technology devices. I am really scared from the effect of using TV, iPhone, iPad, games .......
Any body can guide me on this topic?
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Riyadh Alabbas
Myself
Rochester MN
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