Screen time for babies and toddlers

Most of us use screens around our babies every day: the TV on in the corner, a video call with Grandma, a phone in one hand during a feed. If you’ve wondered whether it does harm, here’s what the guidance and research say, without the guilt.

We’re a website on your phone, so here’s our own approach: our stories, songs and games start on the screen, then the phone goes down and you play face to face (more in Why play?).

What the guidance says

Advice differs between countries.

• UK: Government guidance from 2026 says to avoid screens for under-2s, except for shared activities with family that encourage bonding and conversation, like video calls or looking at photos together. For 2- to 5-year-olds, try to keep to 1 hour a day, less if possible.¹
• World Health Organization: It doesn’t recommend screen time for babies under 1, or watching TV or videos for 1-year-olds. For 2-year-olds, it says no more than 1 hour a day.²
• US: The American Academy of Pediatrics now puts less weight on fixed limits. It says babies don’t learn from screens, but that watching a short, good-quality programme now and then does no harm.³

The UK experts behind the new advice said research on screens and under-5s is still emerging and often low quality, so they were extra cautious about under-2s, where there’s least evidence.⁴

Do babies learn from videos?

Not as well as they learn from you. In one study, 12- to 18-month-olds watched a popular baby DVD several times a week for a month, and learned no more words than children who didn’t. The most learning happened when parents taught the same words during everyday life.⁵

Babies slowly lose the knack of hearing sounds from languages they don’t hear around them. In another study, 9-month-old American babies who spent 12 sessions with Mandarin speakers held on to it for Mandarin. Babies who got the same speakers on recordings didn’t.⁶

A review of 59 reports found young children learn less from video than face to face, though the gap shrinks as they grow and may be overestimated.⁷

How you watch matters. Across 42 studies, children who watched with an adult, or watched educational programmes, tended to have slightly stronger language skills. More screen time, and TV on in the background, went with slightly weaker language.⁸

Does screen time hold babies back?

In a Canadian study of 2,441 children, more screen time at 2 and 3 was linked with slightly lower scores on a developmental check a year or two later.⁹ The UK experts think screen time may play a part, but the effects were mostly small, and the link may also run the other way: a child who’s finding things hard may be given more screen time.⁴

They say screens are most likely to be a problem when they crowd out sleep, play, being active and time with you.⁴

The TV in the background

When 51 children aged 1 to 3 played with a parent, parents engaged with them less, and less well, while an adult TV show was on in the background.¹⁰ In a similar study, children only glanced at the TV, but still played with each toy for shorter spells and with less focus.¹¹

Your own phone

Researchers call phone interruptions during family time “technoference”. In a small study, 38 mothers taught their 2-year-olds two new words. The children learned the word when the teaching went smoothly, but not when a phone call interrupted it.¹² In a survey of 170 families, more technoference was linked with more behaviour problems, though it couldn’t show which came first.¹³

The UK experts say occasional short periods on your phone are very unlikely to be harmful.⁴ Long stretches make it harder to notice what your child is doing or feeling.¹

Video calls with family count as talk

A video call isn’t like watching a video, because Grandma can answer. In one study, children aged 12 to 25 months were taught by a new adult, either over live video chat or in pre-recorded videos. A week later, only the video-chat children recognised and preferred that adult, and they’d learned more of the new patterns they were shown.¹⁴ UK guidance counts video calls with family as a good, shared use of screens, and the American Academy of Pediatrics says they give children a chance for back-and-forth.^1,3

Hold your baby on your lap, point at Grandpa, and talk about what he’s doing.

Screens, sleep and bedtime

Research suggests more screen time goes with less night-time sleep in young children, and evening screens with later bedtimes, though the evidence is low quality.⁴ UK and US guidance both say to avoid screens in the hour before bed and keep them out of bedrooms.^1,3

That includes us. If you use one of our lullabies or stories at bedtime, learn it earlier in the day, then turn the phone face down and sing or tell it yourself.

Simple ways to use screens well

• Watch together and talk. Point, name things and ask questions, as you would with a book.^1,4
• Choose slow, simple shows with clear speech and few scene changes, and skip fast, social-media-style clips.¹
• Turn the TV off when no one’s watching it, and keep mealtimes screen-free.^1,3
• Put your phone away for play, even for ten minutes of peekaboo.
• Use your ears. Songs and rhymes don’t need a screen. For children who watch videos to fall asleep, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests quiet music or a sound machine instead.³
• Go easy on yourself. If the TV buys you ten minutes to cook dinner, that’s real life. The UK experts say parents should trust their instincts about what’s best for their own child.⁴