If you are a four-month-old infant, stop posting on Instagram. Go back to your cooing, babbling, and other things that you are supposed to be doing. The 2019 World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines On Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour And Sleep for Children Under 5 years Of Age say that if you are less than one year old, you should have zero minutes of sedentary screen time a day.
That's zero minutes of watching television, playing computer games, and staring at your smartphone. According to the WHO guidelines, this time should remain zero until you are two-years-old. Then you could go up to one hour a day until you are four-years-old if you really wanted to do so. But less screen time is better.
What's that you say? You don't have any screen time? Baby, are you sure? A research letter published earlier this year in JAMA Pediatrics suggests otherwise. For this research letter, Weiwei Chen, PhD and Jessica L. Adler, PhD from the Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work at Florida International University analyzed data from the 1997 and 2014 Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. This came from samples of American children younger than six years of age, 1327 of them in 1997 and 443 in 2014. Here's what the analyses found:
| 1997 | 2014 | |
| Total daily screen time (0 to 2 year old) | 1.32 hours | 3.05 hours |
| Total daily screen time (3 to 5 year old) | 2.47 hours | No significant change |
| Daily television screen time (0 to 2 year old) | 0.56 hours | 2.62 hours |
| Daily television screen time (3 to 5 year old) | 1.19 hours | 2.14 hours |
In 2014, children who were up to two-years-old spent an average 0.37 hours on mobile devices, while those who were from three to five-years-old spent an average of 0.42 hours on mobile devices. The 2014 number are much too high for those up to four years of age according to the WHO guidelines.
Thus, if you are binge watching Game of Thrones as an infant, stop it. First of all, you really shouldn't be watching that show at your age. Plus, you should instead focus on getting enough physical activity, based on the following WHO guidelines:
- If you are an infant (less than one year old): get physical activity at least several times a day
- If you are one to two years of age: get at least 180 minutes in a variety of physical activities at any intensity, including moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity,
- If you are three to four years of age: get at least 180 minutes in a variety of physical activities at any intensity, of which at least 60 minutes is moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity,
The WHO did not specify what form of physical activity you should get. Presumably, if you are an infant, you should not play tackle football. But there are plenty of other ways to get your body moving. If you want to see other babies doing sit-ups and push-ups, there is this video:
What's that you say? You are not mobile yet and can't jump on a treadmill. Well, then, you should have at least 30 minutes of tummy time, spread throughout the day. In this case, tummy time has nothing to do with eating or tickling. Instead, it is staying in the prone position on your tummy. There is no guidance on how much tummy time someone over 20 years of age should get. By the way, tummy time does not count as exercise if you are over 20-years-old.
Furthermore, if you are in a high chair, a stroller, or some other restraint device, think of the Queen song I Want to Break Free and Freddie Mercury singing "oh, how I want to be free, baby." The WHO tells you to avoid getting restrained for more than 1 hour at a time. This applies whether you are one, two, three, or a relatively decrepit four years old.
Do want to sleep on these new WHO recommendations? Good. The WHO recommends that you get plenty of sleep, offering the following guidelines:
- If you are one to three months of age: get 14 to 17 hours of sleep
- If you are four to 11 months of age: get 12 to 16 hours of sleep
- If you are one to two years of age: get 11 to 14 hours of sleep
- If you are three to four years of age: get 10 to 13 hours of sleep
Thus, if you are three or four-years-old you should try to be LeBron James, Roger Federer, or Maria Sharapova, all of whom get at least 10 hours of sleep, as I wrote previously for Forbes.
What's that? You have places to go, things to see, social media followers to get, and stocks to trade and thus can't afford to sleep all that time? Relax, you are an infant. Enjoy life. Things don't tend to get rocky and weird until you are 12 years old or so.
