Daycare caregivers masking with infants

[Anonymous]

I’m currently on maternity leave with my 2 month old, due back soon. I don’t have a spot at a daycare yet and I’m really worried about sending him to a daycare where caregivers mask. Don’t get me wrong, I am pro-vaccine, pro mask, pro any and all public health measures. My 3 yr old is in preschool with masked teachers and masked students. But I am freaked out by the idea of a young baby (who lacks object permanence) spending so many hours a day with masked caregivers.

I’m sort of surprised I haven’t seen threads on this. Has anyone else had this concern and gotten over it? Did everyone just hire nannies?

[Anonymous]

I say this kindly, but you’re being nuts. Breathe.

Your baby will be okay. Really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I say this kindly, but you’re being nuts. Breathe.

Your baby will be okay. Really.

Sincerely appreciate this perspective. Obviously I’m deep in post partum hormones and not even sure what concerns are legit vs hormone nonsense. I’m tearing up just typing this <3

[Anonymous]

It’s ok if the baby can’t see their mouth. Really. She’ll see their eyes, feel their touch, smell them, hear them. It’s not like a game of peek-a-boo where the face disappears for a moment - the baby will know the mask as part of the caregiver just as they know that clothes are part of the person.

[Anonymous]

What does object permanence have to do with it?

[Anonymous]

Honestly, it’s a definite drawback. It’s absolutely not idea for a baby to never see a smile or watch a caregiver form words. But what’s the option? Yes, I think our kids will be adversely effected and possibly speech delayed but it’s better than a sick baby (or worse).

[Anonymous]

I had DD in April 2020 and when the time came to decide to enroll her in daycare when she turned 4 months, I had the same worry--that she'd have a speech delay or have trouble learning language because of not being able to see her caregivers' lips move under the masks. She's now 16 months and talking up a storm, so it looks like my worries were unfounded. I suppose she gets enough lip-reading experience from me and DH, plus her talkative older brother (3YO).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, it’s a definite drawback. It’s absolutely not idea for a baby to never see a smile or watch a caregiver form words. But what’s the option? Yes, I think our kids will be adversely effected and possibly speech delayed but it’s better than a sick baby (or worse).

+1. Yeah, I’m worried too. It’s unnatural but, as you said, it beats the alternative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, it’s a definite drawback. It’s absolutely not idea for a baby to never see a smile or watch a caregiver form words. But what’s the option? Yes, I think our kids will be adversely effected and possibly speech delayed but it’s better than a sick baby (or worse).

Why would the baby never see smiles? Are their parents masking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had DD in April 2020 and when the time came to decide to enroll her in daycare when she turned 4 months, I had the same worry--that she'd have a speech delay or have trouble learning language because of not being able to see her caregivers' lips move under the masks. She's now 16 months and talking up a storm, so it looks like my worries were unfounded. I suppose she gets enough lip-reading experience from me and DH, plus her talkative older brother (3YO).

Thank you. This seriously eases my mind.

[Anonymous]

I have a 6 mo in daycare and definitely have had the concern about whether this will affect his speech or ability to do facial processing and recognize emotions and faces. I have also been wondering why this isn’t discussed more.

[Anonymous]

It’s not brought up at this point in the pandemic because many of us have had kids in daycare for over a year now with all masked caregivers and our kids are fine. Seriously, I don’t know of any child who is behind because of this. My own 1 year old has barely seen an adult other than me and DH unmasked and he’s ahead on every milestone.

This is not a big deal. Kids are resilient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not brought up at this point in the pandemic because many of us have had kids in daycare for over a year now with all masked caregivers and our kids are fine. Seriously, I don’t know of any child who is behind because of this. My own 1 year old has barely seen an adult other than me and DH unmasked and he’s ahead on every milestone.

This is not a big deal. Kids are resilient.

Same here. Lots of babies have been born during this pandemic. If there was an issue, we'd have seen it by now. Your kid will be just fine, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not brought up at this point in the pandemic because many of us have had kids in daycare for over a year now with all masked caregivers and our kids are fine. Seriously, I don’t know of any child who is behind because of this. My own 1 year old has barely seen an adult other than me and DH unmasked and he’s ahead on every milestone.

This is not a big deal. Kids are resilient.

Same here. Lots of babies have been born during this pandemic. If there was an issue, we'd have seen it by now. Your kid will be just fine, OP.

Well there was one study suggesting there might be an issue (not specific to daycare but saying pandemic-born babies have a lower average IQ). I don’t know what to make of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had DD in April 2020 and when the time came to decide to enroll her in daycare when she turned 4 months, I had the same worry--that she'd have a speech delay or have trouble learning language because of not being able to see her caregivers' lips move under the masks. She's now 16 months and talking up a storm, so it looks like my worries were unfounded. I suppose she gets enough lip-reading experience from me and DH, plus her talkative older brother (3YO).

This was our experience with our 2nd DD who was born May of 2020.