At age 2, pandemic infants are delayed in speech, but other developmental domains are unaffected

When a pandemic unexpectedly struck in 2020, everything changed for all of us. In an effort to stop the virus from spreading until a vaccine could be created, COVID placed us under a number of lockdowns.

Most of us were aware that a vaccination would be essential to living normally after a pandemic. What about those of us who had no prior exposure to the world before COVID, though?

Our study team was interested in learning about the experiences of infants born during the epidemic and what it could have meant for their long-term development and overall health.

In our most recent study, we discovered that at the age of two, these pandemic kids behaved and developed in a manner that was very comparable to babies born before the epidemic, with the key exception of communication.

In the first three months of the pandemic, between March and May 2020, we monitored families with newborns who were born in Ireland. At the age of six, twelve, and twenty-four months, 354 families with infants came to see us.

Sometimes, the families’ only travels outside the house were the visits, especially the early ones. We were surprised by several infants’ mistrust of our skilled paediatric personnel, which was often justified by parents’ remarks like “she hasn’t been out much.”

We filled out several questionnaires with questions about the parents’ lifestyle and their children’s growth on each visit.

In studies like these, it’s often ideal to compare the infants to a control group of infants who were also born at the same time but didn’t have the same difficulties. We took the next best action since much of the globe was under lockdown. We contrasted the lockdown infants with a comparable group of infants delivered in Ireland before to the epidemic. There were no similar groups of newborns accessible at the same time, which is a drawback of our research.

Social interactions and growth
These confinement infants had very little social networks, we discovered. Activities like parent and baby groups were cancelled, and there were no visits to other houses due to COVID limitations.

At six months, the newborns had been kissed by an average of only three individuals, including their parents, indicating that they hadn’t yet met many family members or close friends. By the time they turned one, one in four infants had never encountered another kid their own age.

Parents were questioned about what it was like to raise a child during the epidemic. The words “lonely,” “isolating,” and “challenging” often occurred. Positive themes were more family time as a result of the lockdown constraints and parental bonding with the newborn.

At the infants’ first birthday, we examined 10 developmental milestones. The number of pandemic infants who could point or wave “bye-bye” and who could crawl was somewhat higher among them.

When you consider it, this makes sense. Babies were likely hearing fewer words since they were spending less time outside. There were also probably few new things for the pandemic infants to notice since they were probably extremely accustomed with their surroundings. There may have been less need to learn how to wave farewell since parents worked from home and guests seldom visited the house. Because they were more likely to have spent more time at home explorers, it’s probable that more epidemic newborns crawled.

We were curious to discover whether these developmental disparities had changed by the age of two. At this stage, we questioned parents about their child’s communication skills, such as whether they could string two or three words together to express a thought, whether they could correctly point at something when instructed to (for instance, the ball), and whether they could comply with a straightforward command (for instance, put the toy on the table).

Even when we made adjustments for elements like the mother’s education level and the child’s age at the time the questionnaire was filled out, the children born during the pandemic still again had somewhat lower scores on the communication section of the questionnaire.

However, it’s comforting to note that the pandemic kids’ scores in the other developmental domains we examined, such as motor skills and problem-solving abilities, were comparable to those of babies born before COVID.

We were also delighted to find no difference between infants born during the epidemic and those born earlier in terms of reported conduct. Nearly 100 questions regarding their child’s conduct, including inquiries about sleep issues, nervous behaviour, emotional reactivity, and social withdrawal, were posed to the parents.

How can we help?
Babies born just before or during the pandemic had somewhat poorer developmental scores, according to research from other nations.

All kids born during the epidemic should experience the fascinating world now that pandemic precautions are no longer necessary. Families should get together with friends and family to introduce their children to a variety of individuals, and children should interact with peers at playgroups. Additionally, we are aware of how beneficial chatting to infants and reading to young children are.

Every newborn should undergo developmental screening, which is often offered through national initiatives. Families should speak with their doctor about their child’s development in greater detail if they have any specific concerns. This makes it possible to provide children who are identified to have a particular developmental difficulty early and targeted help.