The Babes of Covid-19

The first year of the pandemic alone saw the birth of 300K children nationwide, according to Statistics Canada. Of course, there are questions as to whether the environment created by the pandemic has had negative consequences for child development and the research is just starting to come in. The emerging picture is that the development of babes born during the pandemic looks a little different.

Let's unpack. According to a study by Shuffrey et al. (2022), the researchers found differences between infants born before versus during the pandemic, regardless of infants’ ( or momma's ) exposure to the virus. Namely, when these babes were assessed @ 6 months of age, they were behind their pre-pandemic cohorts in gross motor development, fine motor development and personal-social skills.

An ongoing longitudinal study at Brown University, (Deoni, S. 2022) found that pandemic babies had lower verbal, non-verbal and cognitive scores on testing compared to their pre-pandemic cohorts. What has not been determined is whether these differences are lasting.

• Males were more significantly affected (had lower scores) than females

• SES was an advantage – while children from all SES backgrounds were impacted by the pandemic, children from higher SES backgrounds had higher scores than children from lower SES backgrounds

• Larger birth weight and longer gestation were protective factors

The big picture with these studies is that being born in an environment of social isolation and anxiety has had an impact on early development for some babies, not all That makes sense.

We don't have all of the answers about how and why the pandemic impacted babies’ development. It's an evolving picture. It really seems to be more the "environmental" influence, the social differences, not the virus. SO please keep up with those social, responsive interactions because THEY MEAN THE WORLD OF DIFFERENCE to your baby.