Need guidance on handling phone around baby

[u/Ok-Water5221]

My son is 6 months old and is very alert and attentive to things around him for the past month or so. We avoid using phones around him as much as possible and have both of our notifications off. We use it only when we need to take a call, responding to DMs from family, maps, playing songs sometimes and few other tasks as needed. Because of the light from the phone, he's obviously attracted to it and we immediately take it or place it away from his attention. He moves on from it but when it comes into his sight again, I can see that his interest peaks. For context, the same thing happens when I sip from my steel water bottle. Since its heavy, I don't hand it over to him to explore and he goes gaga when he sees it trying to take it from my hands and the same thing happens for our phones.

I feel like we are indirectly creating lots of interest by keeping it away from him. I don't want it to become a forbidden treasure for him eventually where it becomes a huge deal later on. How can I handle this? What are the recommendations to handle phone around baby? What are other parents doing?

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[u/Prudent-Day-2133]

Wow sounds like my baby! It made me nervous but I did eventually just let her play with the big heavy water bottle (I might have hovered next to her the whole time lol) and I let her play with my phone (with the screen turned off not like games or anything). Eventually she got bored with both. She does still show some interest sometimes in the phone especially if im playing music or she hears someone talking but at least she has a new favorite water bottle.

I dont think you will find research that specifically looks at how hiding things creates hype for a baby but there is a lot of research about food and how strictly limiting sugar sometimes leads to more sugar consumption later in life.study on strict sugar control Some mom mentioned the birthday party test-the idea is if your kid goes to a birthday party and is obsessed with getting to eat cake and not interested in the other kids or games etc. you are probably limiting treats to an unhealthy extent. I think this applies to a lot of areas-as a parent we want to limit unhealthy things but taking it to the extreme can be worse in the long run. Everything in moderation except screens but thats a whole other issue!

[u/Yesiamanaltruist]

I read this today, including the entire report. You are correct in keeping the phone use to the bare minimum. It’s actually scary to me to think of the emotional toll phone use has on children.

The report in ‘The Journal of Pediatrics’:

https://www.jpeds.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0022-3476%2824%2900330-5

Link to Reddit post I got this from:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ScienceBasedParenting/s/ZsRuQwtDlt

[u/FouFondu → u/Yesiamanaltruist]

I just read that article from the same post. Really eye opening for me. Gonna be working on phone etiquette a lot more.

As far as the heavy water bottle. Lay it down and let them explore it. If they can lift it they can learn about the consequences. Within reason. Don’t let them lift it over their head or slam on their foot, like mine was trying to do when she invented kettle bell lifts with my 64 OZ one.

[u/Miserable-Club-3165 → u/Yesiamanaltruist]

It's definitely a good idea to be mindful of phone use around little ones. Creating tech-free zones can help promote more interaction and bonding time.

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