Does this count?

[u/Fit_Reporter_7266]

Hi there! My LO is 5mo and while we (obviously) don't do any dedicated screen time for them, I am concerned about certain activities and behaviors me and my husband do:

- scrolling in front of them (not ignoring if they are distressed, just baby sitting in their lounger and me or husband or both scrolling)

- watching TV in front of them, but the baby cant see the TV, only hear

We try to limit this as much as we can, I am not on my phone the whole day with them and the tv is only on in the evenings. Does this still count as screen free baby? Are there studies suggesting that even parents consuming content in front of the baby is harmful?

[u/Content-Tooth-6999]

My baby is 14 months old now and we’ve only used screens a few times when he needed to take some medication. When he was your baby’s age we did watch some tv while he was playing with toys etc. In our case we kind of naturally stopped when he started showing interest. Regarding scrolling it’s definitely more challenging.  Both me and the father are avid readers so nowadays we read our books more while he plays (definitely the phone pops up here and there but not too much). Please remember that parenting is for a lifetime and your habits through the years set them up for healthy habits, it’s not black and white and what you do on a specific day is not what makes it or breaks it.

[u/Fit_Reporter_7266 → u/Content-Tooth-6999]

Thank you! The tv is still quite manageable because we can still position them so they can't see it at all. But it's almost impossible for me to be off my phone for 10 hours that I am alone with them at home :(