Screens and very young children

Screens are now found throughout each household, and everywhere we go. But we all need to be careful really young children aren’t too over-exposed…

Sometimes when you want a bit of peace and quiet, it’s just easier to give in and let your young child sit in front of the TV or computer – many do. But it’s a bad habit to get into – in 2016, the American Academy of Pediatrics declared its concern about the impact of screens on the mental and physical development of young children.
Besides behavioural problems, exposing very young children (6 to 36 months) to screens also has a negative impact on sleeping patterns. A study published in May 2017 in the scientific review Nature demonstrated that in the very young, exposure to screens at the end of the day reduces their sleep time as it disturbs the mechanisms of their inner clocks.
This is why most child psychiatrists recommend not putting any child in front of a screen before the age of 3 years, at which point you should accompany them in their screen sessions and fully limit usage.