Screen time guidance for young children has shifted in recent years, and it's worth being precise about what actually changed and what didn't. The core rule for babies under 18 months hasn't loosened — it's the guidance for toddlers a bit older that's evolved toward a more nuanced approach.
Under 18 months: essentially no screens, one exception
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time before 18 months, with one specific exception: video chatting with family members, like a call with a grandparent. The reasoning is developmental, not moralistic — infants and very young toddlers learn language and social cues through real-time, responsive interaction with a caregiver's face, voice, and reactions, and passive screen content simply can't replicate that back-and-forth. There's no demonstrated developmental benefit to screen exposure at this age, which is why the guidance stays firm here even as other parts of the AAP's approach have shifted.
18–24 months: a narrow opening, with a caveat
Between 18 and 24 months, if screen time happens at all, the AAP's guidance is that it should be high-quality educational programming watched together with a caregiver — not solo viewing, and not used as unsupervised background entertainment. The caregiver's engagement during the viewing is part of what makes it worthwhile.
What actually changed in 2026
In January 2026, the AAP officially moved away from strict numeric hour limits as the primary way to think about screen time for children generally, shifting toward three factors instead: quality of content, context (is a caregiver engaged, is it displacing sleep or play), and what the screen time is displacing. This shift reflects a more nuanced read of the research — not that screens became safer, but that a blanket time limit was too blunt an instrument to capture what actually matters.
This update doesn't change the under-18-months guidance. The shift toward 'quality over time limits' is most relevant for slightly older toddlers and preschoolers, not for infants, where the recommendation to essentially avoid screens remains unchanged.
Practical takeaways
Under 18 months: skip screens, with video chats with family as the one reasonable exception
18–24 months: if any screen time happens, keep it high-quality, educational, and watched together — not solo
For any age: screen time that displaces sleep, active play, or in-person interaction is the bigger concern, more than the raw number of minutes
Model the behavior you want — young children absorb a household's general relationship with screens, not just their own allotted time
Sources
Every claim, sourced
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