Your health: 6-month-old babies are using smartphones, study says

Look who's swiping now:

Smartphone. Dumb idea.

More and more Americans are handing their smartphones to their kids, some as young as 6 months old, according to a new study, The Washington Post reports. Experts warn, however, that the habit could be harmful for a child's development, despite the promises of cellphone “learning apps.”

More than a third of kids under 1 year old are already swiping away on cellphones and tablets, according to a survey by pediatric researchers at the Einstein Healthcare Network.

Researchers polled 370 parents of children ages 6 months to 4 years old as they visited a pediatric clinic for a low-income, minority community in Philadelphia (74 percent of respondents were African American and 14 percent were Hispanic, according to a summary of the survey). The survey, which was presented recently at an American Academy of Pediatrics conference, consisted of 20 questions on when their child was first exposed to mobile media devices.

The survey found higher — and earlier — use of mobile devices among young children than previous studies.

Among kids younger than 1, 52 percent had watched television on mobile devices; 36 percent had been allowed to scroll the screen; 15 percent used apps; and 12 percent played video games. Almost a quarter of the kids under 1 year old had already called someone.

By the time they reached the age of 2, a majority of kids were using cellphones or tablets, according to the summary.

Even the researchers were stunned by how early the kids had been handed cellphones by their parents.

“We didn't expect children were using the devices from the age of 6 months,” said Hilda Kabali, a third-year resident at Einstein who led the survey. “Some children were on the screen for as long as 30 minutes.”

While not a comprehensive scientific study, the survey backs up an alarming trend seen in other polls: Kids are using cellphones and tablets at an ever-decreasing age.

In 2013, an Internet survey of 1,463 parents found that, among kids under 2, 38 percent had used smartphones or tablets. That was the same percentage as among kids 8 and younger during a similar survey in 2011.

The survey is alarming, given growing concerns about the effect that such screen time has on young children. The British government warned in 2013 that too much on-screen time causes emotional problems for kids.

The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages the use of screen devices among children under age 2.

Study: Stress and kids of divorce

Children of divorced parents suffer less stress if they spend time living with both parents, a new study suggests.

The research evaluated psychosomatic symptoms among children of divorce, CBS reported. T

his study goes against what many believe is a detrimental living situation for children. The lack of stability and moving around has often led people to associate living with two parents separately as a negative arrangement.

“Child experts and people in general assumed that these children should be more stressed,” Malin Bergström, Ph.D., researcher at the Centre for Health Equity Studies in Stockholm, said. “But this study opposes a major concern that this should not be good for children.”

The study looked at 150,000 Swedish children from ages 12-15. Researchers evaluated the participants on psychosomatic health problems, including sleep problems, concentration difficulty, decreased appetite, headaches, stomachaches and feelings of tension, sadness and dizziness. Of the research pool, 69 percent of children lived in nuclear families, 19 percent spent time living with both parents, and 13 percent lived with only one parent.

Unsurprising, children in nuclear families suffered the least psychosomatic problems. However, researchers say that those who spent time living with both parents had significantly lower problems than those who spent time living with only one parent.

“Children will do best if they know that their mother and father will still be their parents and remain involved with them even though the marriage is ending and the parents won't live together,” American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry notes.