US doctors discourage videos for babies under two 
 
 WASHINGTON — Like 90 percent of American parents, Matthew Sullivan allows his infant daughter and five-year-old son to watch television, videos and sometimes web-streamed content on his smartphone. 
 
 He usually limits their screen viewing to just over an hour a day, and admits that handing his phone to his 16-month-old daughter so she can watch a YouTube video can keep her busy and quiet while they run errands together. 
 
 "We know it's not great for them, but it's not bad either," Sullivan, a 36-year-old editor in Wilmington, Delaware, told AFP. 
 
 Over the past decade, media has pervaded the developed world to such an extent that the American Academy of Pediatrics on Tuesday issued its first guidelines since 1999 to discourage any screen time for kids under two. 
 
 The largest US pediatricians' group says some of the 50 or so studies on the topic have shown that screen viewing can be linked to slower language development. 
 
 In a new twist, it also warned parents to be aware of the negative effects their own screen-watching can have on their children. 
 
 "I like to call it secondhand TV," said pediatrician Ari Brown, who is the lead author of the AAP guidelines, in an interview with AFP. 
 
 "When the TV is on, the parent is talking less. There is some scientific evidence that shows that the less talk-time a child has, the poorer their language development is," she said. 
 
 "Clearly, no one is listening to this message. In this ubiquitous screen world, I think we need to find a way to manage it, and make it a healthy media diet." 
 
 The latest guidelines do not refer to interactive play such as video games on smartphones or other devices, but to media watched passively on any kind of screen, be it phone, computer, television or other. 
 
 "This updated policy statement provides further evidence that media -- both foreground and background -- have potentially negative effects and no known positive effects for children younger than two years," it said. 
 
 "Thus the AAP reaffirms its recommendation to discourage media use in this age group." 
 
 Brown also said the update to the guidelines was needed because of the explosion of baby DVDs targeting the 0-2 age group. 
 
 "Some of these programs have good content, but even 'Sesame Street' for a kid under two is not promoting learning because they don't understand it," she said. 
 
 The AAP did not name specific products, but a host of DVDs aimed at babies and preschoolers make up a $200 million annual market in the United States, where one third of children have a TV in their bedrooms by age three. 
 
 Efforts by federal authorities to stop marketers from making educational claims on their products have fallen short, the AAP said. 
 
 "The educational merit of media for children younger than two years remains unproven despite the fact that three quarters of the top-selling infant videos make explicit or implicit educational claims," the AAP said. 
 
 One popular brand, Baby Einstein, was sold by its founders in 2001 to Disney. After studies debunked claims of intellectual benefits, Disney removed the word "educational" from marketing materials and in 2009 offered refunds. 
 
 Disney did not respond to a request for comment, but Baby Einstein founder William Clark said he was aware of "the ongoing effort to demonize the brand." 
 
 Clark told AFP that the initial mission was "to expose babies to classical music, poetry, colors in art and nature, and common animals," and "offered parents a number of ways to interact with their babies." 
 
 The product's website now carries the disclaimer: "Baby Einstein products are not designed to make babies smarter." 
 
 No studies have followed heavy television watchers into later childhood or adulthood, so any long-term effects are not known. Heavy media use is defined as a household in which the television is on all or most of the time. 
 
 The AAP guidelines point out that research to date suggests a "correlation between television viewing and developmental problems, but they cannot show causality." 
 
 Nevertheless, pediatricians should talk with parents about avoiding videos for babies and limiting screen time to no more than two hours a day for kids over two, the AAP said. 
 
 "Unstructured playtime is more valuable for the developing brain than any electronic media exposure," it said. 
 
 Sullivan said he limits his kids' viewing, not because a doctor told him to, but out of common sense. 
 
 "My son is a zombie when he watches television. If the television is not on when I come home, he runs and hugs me. If the television is on when I come home, he just doesn't even acknowledge my existence," he said. 
 
 "So obviously we'd rather he not stay in that zone for hours a day." 
 
 Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. More » ||||| CLOSE Skip in Skip x Embed x Share See how your family's screen time habits stack up against the American Academy of Pediatrics' new guidelines. USA TODAY NETWORK 
 
 Nolan Young, 3, front, looks at a smart phone while his brother Jameson, right, 4, looks at a smart tablet at their home, in Boston, Monday, Jan. 27, 2014. It's fine for kids to use appropriate electronic media, as long as they leave time for sleep, play, exercise and other offline activities, say new guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics. (Photo: Steven Senne, AP) 
 
 The American Academy of Pediatrics, amending earlier advice, now says it’s OK for babies to Skype or Face Time with grandma and grandpa, and for older children and teens to do some of their socializing, learning and playing online – as long as they put down their devices long enough to sleep, exercise, eat, converse and otherwise engage in rich offline lives. 
 
 Those are some highlights from a new set of guidelines from the nation's leading group of pediatricians, published online Friday by the journal Pediatrics. They replace simpler longstanding recommendations that children under age 2 avoid all screens and that older children and teens use digital media for no more than an hour or two a day. 
 
 The doctors still ask parents to set limits on when, where and for how long kids can be plugged in – but acknowledge that electronic media are pervasive and have benefits as well as risks. 
 
 Time on computers, phones, tablets and other devices “is not evil, it does not need to be avoided,” said Megan Moreno an associate professor of adolescent medicine at Seattle Children’s Hospital, and a guideline author. “It just needs to be balanced with all the other things kids need.” 
 
 The pediatricians stuck with a no-screens recommendation for children younger than 18-to-24-months old – with one exception: video chatting. Talking with distant family members via services such as Skype and FaceTime can help build relationships, the doctors say. But, they say, there’s little evidence babies can understand or benefit from watching TV, using apps or engaging in other online activities. 
 
 If parents want to introduce shows and apps to children ages 18-24 months, the guidelines say, they should watch and play with them. From ages two to five, the doctors recommend a one-hour limit and urge parents to keep participating, and to choose only “high-quality programming,” from sources such as PBS Kids and Sesame Workshop. 
 
 “We are not backing away from the idea that unplugged, unstructured time, getting out in the backyard and discovering things on your own, is crucial for a child’s development, and we don’t want that to be displaced,” said Jenny Radesky, a guideline author and assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Michigan. 
 
 For older children, the guidelines are more nuanced and no longer include a specific time limit. But they urge families to use a new online planning tool to carve out media limits in a day that should include at least an hour of physical activity and adequate sleep (8 to 12 hours, depending on age), as well as unplugged family time. 
 
 In this Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014 photo Aiden Crott, 7, works on an iPad at the Eliot-Pearson Children's School in Medford, Mass. New guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledge the benefits of some digital media use and lift standard time limits for school-aged children. (Photo: Stephan Savoia, AP) 
 
 Such limits will reduce risks, such as obesity, lost sleep and impaired school performance, while allowing kids to connect online with friends and family and learn about the broader world, Moreno says. 
 
 The doctors also recommend that parents: 
 
 • Ban screens an hour before bed and in bedrooms overnight. The light and noise can disrupt sleep. 
 
 • Discourage use of entertainment media during homework time. Such multitasking has been shown to interfere with learning. 
 
 • Designate media-free places and times (such as dinner time) for all family members, including adults. 
 
 • Continue to watch what kids watch and talk to them about online bullying, sexting and other hazards. 
 
 The guidelines are “doable and balanced and reasonable and fit the reality of 2016,” said James Steyer, founder of Common Sense Media, a non-profit group that the pediatrics academy endorses as a source of reliable information on content for children. 
 
 For Nanea Hoffman, a mother of two from Santa Clara, Calif., the guidelines sound “more realistic and more helpful” than the old time limits. Her children, ages 11 and 18, have grown up in a world where “technology is just another tool,” and a way to connect, "even if it's just sharing a funny meme," she said. 
 
 "It's not isolating," she said. "It's not like it was when we were kids, when you would zonk out in front of the TV with a bowl of cereal." 
 
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– The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued new guidelines for infants to cut down on sleep-related deaths and reduce TV time. The new sleep guidelines now recommend against all types of bumper pads, noting that “there is a potential risk of suffocation, strangulation or entrapment.” They also urge mothers to breastfeed babies and give them pacifiers to reduce the chances of sudden infant death syndrome, the Wall Street Journal reports. Parents are urged to let their babies sleep in the same room, but not the same bed, as mom and dad. The TV-related guidelines recommend no screen time at all for children under 2—no, not even those Baby Einstein videos, the AFP reports. The AAP says that screen viewing has been linked to developmental delays—and so has parental screen-watching. “When the TV is on, the parent is talking less. There is some scientific evidence that shows that the less talk-time a child has, the poorer their language development is,” the lead author of the guidelines explains. The guidelines also recommend no more than two hours of screen time per day after age 2, but they do not refer to interactive media like video games or smartphones.