Babies born in lockdown ‘slower to meet most milestones’

Study reveals ‘pandemic-era’ newborns struggle because of less stimulation and communication with unmasked adults

Wednesday 12 October 2022 16:06

Article bookmarked

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

Don't show me this message again

‘Pandemic babies’ were significantly less likely to have achieved key social communication benchmarks by the time they turned one

Babies born in lockdown were slower to meet developmental milestones, research has found.

A new study revealed lockdown babies struggle because of less stimulation and communication with unmasked adults.

Researchers compared a “pandemic cohort” of 309 infants born in Ireland between March and May 2020 against historical data on around 1,600 babies born between 2008 and 2011.

Register for free to continue reading

Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalism

By registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalists

Please enter a valid email

Password

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

First name

Please enter your first name

Special characters aren’t allowed

Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters

Last name

Please enter your last name

Special characters aren’t allowed

Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters

You must be over 18 years old to register

Year of birth

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent.
Read our Privacy notice

Opt-out-policy

You can opt-out at any time by signing in to your account to manage your preferences. Each email has a link to unsubscribe.

By clicking ‘Create my account’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply.

Already have an account? sign in

By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply.

Register for free to continue reading

Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalism

By registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalists

Please enter a valid email

Password

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

First name

Please enter your first name

Special characters aren’t allowed

Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters

Last name

Please enter your last name

Special characters aren’t allowed

Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters

You must be over 18 years old to register

Year of birth

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent.
Read our Privacy notice

Opt-out-policy

You can opt-out at any time by signing in to your account to manage your preferences. Each email has a link to unsubscribe.

By clicking ‘Create my account’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply.

Already have an account? sign in

By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply.

More about

Ireland

Join our new commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

1/1Babies born in lockdown ‘slower to meet most milestones’