The Covid-19 lockdown may have “affected the social communication skills of babies born” during this period, Irish researchers write in a study published Tuesday in the British medical journal. To reach these conclusions, they studied ten behaviors considered developmental milestones in one-year-old babies.
Under this prism, two cohorts were analyzed: on the one hand, a group of 309 babies born between March and May 2020, during confinement, known as the CORAL cohort. On the other hand, the information of a group of 1629 babies, from a database of 2008 and 2011, says the BASELINE cohort.
Parents were asked to assess 10 skills in their children, including: the ability to crawl, walk sideways along furniture, pick up small objects with thumb and forefinger, know a defined word and its meaning, point to objects, or say goodbye with the hand
“Since they didn’t go out, they already knew everything about their environment”
From the pooled data, at 12 months, “fewer infants in the CORAL birth cohort knew a definite, meaningful word (76.6% vs. 89.3% for BASELINE), could point fingers (83 .8% vs. 92.8%) and waving goodbye (87.7% vs. 94.4%)”.
These findings “indicate some potential deficits in social communication early in life,” the researchers write.
“It’s interesting, because a lot of these babies were at home and they didn’t see many people leaving, which meant there was no one to say goodbye to,” she explains. guardian Susan Byrne, a pediatric neurologist at the Royal College of Surgeons.
“Babies also tend to signal when they see new things they want, but since they haven’t gone outside, they already know everything about their environment,” she adds.
“Babies are resilient and curious by nature”
On the other hand, the researchers point out that babies born during confinement were more likely to know how to walk on all fours (97.4% vs. 91%).
One possible explanation is “that they are likely to have spent more time at home and on the ground, with siblings at home and parents working from home or in isolation, rather than being out and about in cars and strollers,” says Jonathan. Hourihane, head of pediatrics at RCSI (Dublin Medical University).
These differences in capacity between babies born outdoors or during childbirth remain slight and are not irremediable, say the researchers, who stress in passing that it is necessary to carry out other studies on the subject to refine the results and better understand these differences in capacity. skills.
“Infants are naturally resilient and curious, and it is expected that with the resurgence of society and the increase in social circles, their social communication skills will improve,” the researchers write.
Source: BFM TV
