Singapore screen guidance on screen use under 18 months, and questions to ask

For a baby under two, the Singapore answer is short enough to repeat. On a page dated 21 January 2025, MOH says its Guidance on Screen Use in Children — first published in 2023 for children aged 0 to 12 years — advises no screen use under 18 months except for interactive video-chatting, and says not to turn on the television in the background. That is family health advice, not a rule about any particular centre. ^{[1] [2]}

A second, separate document does speak to centres. At the same launch, MOH said ECDA's revised Code of Practice specifies no screen use for infants up to 18 months, with screens used only for teaching and learning from 18 months to six years, effective 1 February 2025. The Minister for Health framed the family message as zero screen time below 18 months — no handphones, tablets, TVs or video games, background screens included. ^{[3] [4]}

What the under-18-month advice says, and why

HealthHub's parent page reproduces the MOH bands: under 18 months, no screen use unless for interactive video chatting, and no background TV; from 18 months to six years, less than one hour a day outside school, with no screens used just to occupy or distract a child, none at meals and none in the hour before bedtime. KKH clinicians writing in September 2026 restate the same line: children younger than two are not recommended to have screen time apart from video-chatting with the adults caring for them. ^{[2] [5] [3]}

HealthHub's stated reason is that screen time, background TV included, reduces time spent on the human interaction that matters for language and social skills; it also notes screen time before bedtime is associated with shorter, poorer sleep in infants and toddlers. A College of Paediatrics consensus statement hosted by KKH states that screen time in infants confers no benefits and is unfavourably associated with cognitive development, sleep and gross motor development. GUSTO data cited there found average screen time of 2.0 hours a day at 12 months and 2.4 hours at two years. These are associations in studies, not proof that screens cause harm. ^{[2] [6]}

The centre-side rule, and which document it lives in

MOH's 21 January 2025 release sets out the clause: there shall be no screen use for infants up to 18 months, and screens shall only be used for teaching and learning purposes for children aged 18 months to six years, taking effect from 1 February 2025. ECDA's own educator portal describes the revised MOH guidance as incorporated into its Code of Practice, published in February 2025. Alongside it sits the Early Years Development Framework 2023, which guides educators working with children from birth to three in centre-based childcare and provides developmental goals for infants and toddlers as a reference for the learning environment. ^{[3] [7]}

One caveat belongs here, because it affects how you use that document. ECDA states that a preschool must hold a valid licence under the ECDC Act and Regulations before it advertises, commences operations or accepts payments, and its licensing page now points to the Early Childhood Development Centres Code of Practice, Fifth Edition (2026). The screen clause quoted above was described in January 2025 against the earlier edition, so ask your centre which edition it works to rather than assuming the wording carried over. ^{[8] [3]}

Screens are not the only devices in an infant room

Two non-screen technologies are publicly documented. Since 1 July 2024, ECDA has made it mandatory for all preschools to install CCTV cameras in their premises, as part of its efforts to improve security and safety measures. ECDA lists where those cameras sit: entrances, exits, corridors, classrooms, activity rooms, nap rooms, dining areas and play areas, with no cameras in toilets or changing rooms to protect privacy. Nap rooms are inside that coverage area, which matters if you are wondering what monitors a sleeping infant. ^[9]

The second is newer and easier to miss. ECDA's digitalisation grant lists equipment categories that operators may apply to fund, and one of them is smart infant cots for naptime monitoring, described as supporting educators in monitoring infant safety and behaviour during naptime with continuous behaviour tracking and automated alerts. That is a list of supportable categories, not a statement that any particular centre has them — but it does show monitoring cots are an expected topic in a modern infant room, and they are not the same thing as screen time for a baby. ^[10]

What to ask, and what official pages leave out

HealthHub itself gives the prompt: if you send your child to infant care, check with the school about its policy on screen time for children below 18 months and ask whether they control screen time. The Health Promotion Board's Childhood Health Behaviours Checklist, dated February 2025, shows how tightly official wording defines things: parents are asked to exclude time spent on interactive video-chatting, and background screen use is defined as television or devices displaying content in the background which causes distractions even when the child is not watching. Three suggested questions for your visit: is there any screen in the infant room, how is background television prevented, and how is video-chat time recorded? ^{[2] [11]}

Be aware of the gap. Across the official pages we checked, neither educator-to-child ratios for infant rooms nor rules on the age bands placed in an infant room are published, and none describes an individual centre's actual practice. So the answer to your question is this: for a baby under two, the published Singapore guidance is no screens apart from live interactive video-chatting and no background television, and ECDA's Code of Practice has required no screen use for infants up to 18 months in preschools since 1 February 2025. Ask the centre to set its own policy against that clause, and to explain how the CCTV and any monitoring equipment in the room are used. ^{[3] [2] [8] [9]}

Sources

EduNanny Editorial · AI-assisted research and writing, reviewed by our automated editorial team. Sources checked 2026-10-09. Featured image: AI-generated editorial illustration.