Twelve years after the current version of the health record book was published, the Ministry of Solidarity and Health announced on Monday 5 March that a new edition would come into force from 1 April. This update is part of the implementation of the national health strategy, which aims to establish a policy of health promotion, including prevention, in all settings and at every stage of life.
Thus, besides new vaccines and new growth charts, several prevention messages have been introduced into the health record book, linked to risks identified in recent years. The recommendations concern:
1. bisphenol A in baby bottles,
2. how to react to your baby’s crying in order to avoid “shaken baby syndrome”
3. and screens!
The health record book is given free of charge to all parents at the maternity ward. It provides basic advice on the child’s health and safety, and allows parents to follow their development. It is a reference document with strong symbolic value. It was therefore fair to be surprised that screens, so present in our family lives and in parents’ questions, were the subject of no specific recommendation in this booklet.
That has now been put right, and from 1 April, every parent will be able to read: “Before the age of three, avoid placing your child in a room where the television is on, even if they are not watching it“. And also, whatever their age, “do not give your child a tablet or smartphone to calm them down, neither during meals nor before sleep“, “do not use headphones or earphones to calm them or help them fall asleep“.
However, we at Trois Six Neuf Douze feel that the committees in charge of drawing up the new health record book could have gone further on the question of screens. Let us remember that Serge Tisseron, who developed the 3-6-9-12 milestones to tame screens and grow up, has argued since 2013 for the need to include recommendations on the proper use of screens in this document (Les dangers de la télé pour les bébés, reissued February 2018). When the Haut Conseil de Santé Publique asked for his opinion on the prevention guidelines to be promoted in this context, he proposed that the following sentences be included:
1. Playing with your child is the best way to support their development.
2. Avoid putting your child in front of the television before the age of 3, and even switching on the television in a room where they are: it harms their development even if they are not watching it.
3. Never put a television in your child’s bedroom.
4. Set clear rules on screen time, respect long periods of time without screens, and encourage traditional games.
5. Ban digital tools during meals and before sleep, and never use them to calm your child.
6. Talk with your child about what they see and do with screens; find out about the content of DVDs, TV programmes and video games.
7. Remember to secure connections.
The recommendations adopted are therefore relevant but minimal. We hope they will have the merit of drawing every parent’s attention to establishing better family habits around screens.
M-N.C
Marie-Noëlle Clément is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, director of the child day hospital at CEREP-PHYMENTIN, Paris 10th, and author of Comment te dire ? savoir parler aux tout-petits (Philippe Duval).
