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Parenting research for babies & toddlers
Sleep arrangements, first screens, and parents' phones in the earliest years. Every episode below was studied in this age band — the exact ages are printed on each one, because a finding only speaks for the children it was measured in.
Bed-Sharing With Your Baby Left No Mark by Age 11
Studied ages: Bed-sharing measured at 9 months; children followed to age 11 · Bilgin et al., Attachment & Human Development, 2024
In 16,599 UK children followed to age 11, bed-sharing at 9 months was not associated with emotional or behaviour symptom trajectories — no link, in either direction. (This study measured development, not infant sleep safety.)
Try tonight: Make your sleep-arrangement decision on current safe-sleep guidance and your family's real life — and let go of the fear that bed-sharing at 9 months, by itself, sets your child's behaviour path.
No Screens in the Last Hour Made Toddlers Sleep Better
Studied ages: Toddlers aged 16–30 months · Pickard et al., JAMA Pediatrics, 2024
Removing screens in the hour before bed improved toddlers' sleep in a randomized trial — better sleep efficiency and fewer night wakings, measured objectively.
Try tonight: Build a bedtime box — books, puzzles, soft toys — and swap the last hour before bed from screens to the box, every night for a week.
Your Phone in Front of Your Baby: What 14,900 Families Showed
Studied ages: Children from birth to 4.9 years · Toledo-Vargas et al., JAMA Pediatrics, 2025
Across 21 studies and 14,900 families, parents using technology in their young child's presence was linked to slightly lower cognitive performance, weaker attachment, more behaviour problems and higher child screen time. Effects were small but consistent.
Try tonight: Create phone-down windows in the day — floor play, feeding and bath time — with the phone in another room, not just face-down.
Before you apply it
Which ages did these studies actually cover?
The ages differ by paper: Episode 9 — Bed-sharing measured at 9 months; children followed to age 11; Episode 1 — Toddlers aged 16–30 months; Episode 4 — Children from birth to 4.9 years. Each episode page states its study's ages in full.
Can I apply these findings to a different age?
Carefully, if at all. Every finding on this page was measured in the ages listed — the episode pages say plainly where a result does and doesn't reach, and we don't stretch a toddler result into a teen claim.