How much screen time is okay for a 4-12 month old?

What the evidence says

The clear, consistent answer from Canadian and international guidelines is zero screen time for infants under 2, which includes your 4-12 month old. The Canadian Paediatric Society says there are no proven benefits for infants from screens, with one exception: video-chatting with a distant relative or parent is fine because it supports a real relationship. The World Health Organization gives the same advice for children under 1 year: no sedentary screen time such as TV or videos.

The American Academy of Pediatrics is very slightly different in wording, drawing its no-screens line at 18 months rather than 2 years, but reaches the same practical conclusion for a baby in the 4-12 month range: skip screens except for video calls. The concern isn't that a few minutes of screen time will harm your baby, but that regular screen use in infancy is linked in research to things like disrupted sleep and less of the hands-on, face-to-face interaction babies need for language and social development. If a screen does come on in the background or briefly, that's not a crisis - the guidance is about routine, everyday use.

Bottom line: aim for no regular screen time for a 4-12 month old, treat video chat with loved ones as the one reasonable exception, and prioritize floor play, talking, reading, and other real-world interaction instead.