Our world is growing increasingly digitized, and more and more of life is shifting onto a screen – even for kids. And for parents, that creates a conundrum. With even schools replacing books and paper with tablets and electronics, it can be hard for a parent to know what's healthy when it comes to screen use. And unfortunately, these screens can have negative effects on sleep. At 5 Little Monkey, we've worked hard to create one of the best-reviewed children's mattresses on the market to help support better sleep for kids everywhere. So for this blog, we wanted to lay out a few guidelines for parents on smartphone use for children.

Smartphones & Sleep

These days, kids often want to play on a phone or tablet before going to bed. But according to the research, that could be a very bad idea. According to some studies, even the presence of a smartphone in a child's bedroom can increase their probability of poor sleep: 41% of kids who had a mobile device in their bedroom didn't sleep enough. When kids use their mobile devices before bed, that number jumps to 55%. This is in comparison to the 31% of kids who have access to a mobile device in their room that reported not getting enough sleep.

So what should you do as a parent? The most important step to take is to limit your child's use of electronics in the hours leading up to bedtime. We'd recommend starting to wind down screen usage in the hours preceding bedtime, then absolutely no screens an hour or two before bed. This will help signal to your child's brain that it's bedtime, preventing exposure to the high-frequency blue light that comes from screens and can disrupt your child's circadian rhythm.

Contact Your Kids Mattress Experts

We hope these tips help you manage your child's screen usage for the best possible sleep, and if you still have questions, we're always here to help. Feel free to reach out to us at our contact page to learn more about how you can support your child's sleep, but if you truly want your child to experience better sleep, there's no better way than to upgrade to a high-quality children's bed. Thankfully, we've got one of the best kids mattresses on the market – so order online and try it today!