Study finds slight developmental lag in babies born during pandemic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay. Now post a study about the developmental delays and regressions experienced by teenagers who were locked out of schools and kept apart from their peers for more than a year.

Odd. You realize that there can be delays in both teens and babies based on aspects of a global pandemic, right? One doesn't really impact the other.

Not at all odd, really. I do realize that, of course, but I think I regret the attention given to one and not the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone who works with infants and toddlers (both typically developing and with special needs) I have not noticed any trend of differences between pre-pandemic babies and their recent counterparts. What I have noticed is that now some parents use the pandemic as an excuse as to why their child does not need to be evaluated or receive services: “oh, she’s a pandemic baby, that’s why her language is delayed” when the child has many red flags for autism.

And I've noticed early intervention providers have failed to adequately assess young children for delays because they refuse to conduct assessments in person if the child has so much as a runny nose, even if they have tested negative for COVID on a PCR. They insist virtual is fine but don't offer to provide the necessary materials to conduct the assessment adequately.

But sure, blame the parents for your failures.

Eh, my organization only shut down for 2 months then went back to being fully in-person. But yes, we did not allow children to come in with COVID symptoms. Once they tested negative they were welcome again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Infants born in March to December 2020 scored lower on a test of motor and social skills at 6 months. It’s unclear whether the discrepancy will remain in the long term.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/babies-born-pandemic-slight-developmental-lag-study-finds-rcna10872

The infants were screened for social, communication and motor skills at 6 months of age using a standard questionnaire about their ability to roll from their back to their stomach, how often they babble and other milestones.

In most areas, the babies born during the pandemic displayed lower scores compared to those born earlier. That held true whether they were born to mothers who had been infected with Covid during pregnancy or not, the researchers found.

I call this bs.
1. small sample,
2. 0-6 mo, that's it?
3. NYC is a very specific urban densely populated environment, do we all remember what was happening in NYC the first 6-10 months? I can't imagine how stressful it was for families with babies.

my pandemic baby born in March, 2020 is slightly behind on his language skills but, he is a boy (boys are typically known to start talking later than girls) and we are a 3 language family, which is also a factor to delayed speaking. We actually had county people come out and score him. Turned out he is a few months ahead in his fine and gross motor skills, social skills as far communicating other ways and only 1 month behind in speaking. So my question is, how many other factors were in those participating families that this study didn't take into account, like multi-language (which is normal in multi-cultural place like NYC), or some other additional stress/complications like a medical field/healthcare parent working during global pandemic? They don't talk about that.

Why are you bothering to share your n of 1 anecdotal data after calling a study BS based on a "small sample"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay. Now post a study about the developmental delays and regressions experienced by teenagers who were locked out of schools and kept apart from their peers for more than a year.

Odd. You realize that there can be delays in both teens and babies based on aspects of a global pandemic, right? One doesn't really impact the other.

Not at all odd, really. I do realize that, of course, but I think I regret the attention given to one and not the other.

Uh, we haven't really given attention to either. I think we can start assessing the impacts of the pandemic (writ large) on various age groups. I think its necessary.

[Anonymous]

This isn’t surprising. Covid has definitely had a major effect on children.

I spent time in red states with fewer restrictions in 2021 and the kids seemed normal. People socialized, held events at schools, went on domestic vacations. There was such a noticeable difference from how people were living life in cities like Boston, SF and DC. It always stood out to me how odd the kids seemed in DC after returning from the dark side. Even in recent months, the kids still being put in masks come across as very shy and standoffish. They seem scared. I wouldn’t think 1.5-2 years of limiting socialization would make that big of a difference but it likely has, and it’s probably the cumulative effect of it all. I feel very bad for parents in DC who didn’t have any options to escape the COVID hysteria and had to go along with it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t surprising. Covid has definitely had a major effect on children.

I spent time in red states with fewer restrictions in 2021 and the kids seemed normal. People socialized, held events at schools, went on domestic vacations. There was such a noticeable difference from how people were living life in cities like Boston, SF and DC. It always stood out to me how odd the kids seemed in DC after returning from the dark side. Even in recent months, the kids still being put in masks come across as very shy and standoffish. They seem scared. I wouldn’t think 1.5-2 years of limiting socialization would make that big of a difference but it likely has, and it’s probably the cumulative effect of it all. I feel very bad for parents in DC who didn’t have any options to escape the COVID hysteria and had to go along with it all.

Yep, this is valid. My eyes were opened when we went on vacation to South Carolina early this year and my toddler was around unmasked random adults for the first time. She was already friendly (and in daycare, so around other kids) but she just blossomed and lit up seeing people's smiling faces. It matters. It kind of broke my heart to see the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t surprising. Covid has definitely had a major effect on children.

I spent time in red states with fewer restrictions in 2021 and the kids seemed normal. People socialized, held events at schools, went on domestic vacations. There was such a noticeable difference from how people were living life in cities like Boston, SF and DC. It always stood out to me how odd the kids seemed in DC after returning from the dark side. Even in recent months, the kids still being put in masks come across as very shy and standoffish. They seem scared. I wouldn’t think 1.5-2 years of limiting socialization would make that big of a difference but it likely has, and it’s probably the cumulative effect of it all. I feel very bad for parents in DC who didn’t have any options to escape the COVID hysteria and had to go along with it all.

Yep, this is valid. My eyes were opened when we went on vacation to South Carolina early this year and my toddler was around unmasked random adults for the first time. She was already friendly (and in daycare, so around other kids) but she just blossomed and lit up seeing people's smiling faces. It matters. It kind of broke my heart to see the difference.

I noticed something similar at Disney this past spring. The families still masked up and looking like they were from NE cities appeared…strange. It’s like the kids were scared of other people and didn’t try to interact at all. I wondered if it was the mask wearing influencing my observations, but I don’t think so. I think the years of mask wearing and isolation has done a number on children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And some babies only know faces in masks. Terrible for development too.

This doesn’t make sense to me as everyone says babies were stuck at home with parents. Why would parents wear masks at home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And some babies only know faces in masks. Terrible for development too.

This doesn’t make sense to me as everyone says babies were stuck at home with parents. Why would parents wear masks at home?

My kids returned to daycare in summer 2020. Two solid years of teachers in masks. I doubt my 3yo remembers a time when the kids weren’t wearing them either (and FWIW, they’re not even required anymore but everyone still wears anyway).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And some babies only know faces in masks. Terrible for development too.

This doesn’t make sense to me as everyone says babies were stuck at home with parents. Why would parents wear masks at home?

This time last year there were US medical leaders/scientists stating on national tv that parents may want to consider masking at home due to children not yet being eligible for the vaccines. Sunday “news” shows carried interviews with the head of NIH Dr. Francis Collins who said this. Shocking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And some babies only know faces in masks. Terrible for development too.

This doesn’t make sense to me as everyone says babies were stuck at home with parents. Why would parents wear masks at home?

This time last year there were US medical leaders/scientists stating on national tv that parents may want to consider masking at home due to children not yet being eligible for the vaccines. Sunday “news” shows carried interviews with the head of NIH Dr. Francis Collins who said this. Shocking.

Wow. Insane.

[Anonymous]

Maybe it's because babies whose mothers had Covid during pregnancy are more likely to have a neurodevelopmental diagnosis within 12 months.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2793178

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe it's because babies whose mothers had Covid during pregnancy are more likely to have a neurodevelopmental diagnosis within 12 months.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2793178

Note that this study was conducted before vaccines were available. Also, I remember reading when I was pregnant (pre-Covid) and obsessing about all things that could harm the fetus, that viral infections of various kinds (and fevers on their own) were associated with potential problems.

[Anonymous]

It's obviously masks. Love to see anyone twist themselves in knots to deny what everyone can see--especially since deep down even they know, which is why they have to fight it so dogmatically..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's obviously masks. Love to see anyone twist themselves in knots to deny what everyone can see--especially since deep down even they know, which is why they have to fight it so dogmatically..

Is the study only in places where masks were common? I know we think of them as ubiquitous around here but the rest of the country not so much. Personally, I would expected to see some developmental lag from parental stress/recent financial/logistical disasters alone, although I would expect caregiver masking to contribute to verbal delays specifically.