[STUDY] COVID-19 Lockdown Babies Have Poorer Communication Skills, But Why?

A new study claims that COVID-19 lockdown babies have poorer communication skills compared to other newborns before the pandemic began.

The Royal College of Surgeons researchers shared what they discovered.

COVID-19 Lockdown Babies Have Poorer Communication Skills

(Photo : Brent Stirton/Getty Images)
Mary-Lou McCullagh, 83, and her husband Bob, 84, greet Axel Stirton, 2, the little boy who lives across the street April 3, 2020 in Ventura, California. Mary-Lou and Bob are in isolation from the Covid-19 pandemic, trying to ensure that they do not come in contact with the virus. Mary-Lou has a medical condition that makes her especially vulnerable. They are using Zoom technology to stay in touch with family and friends.

Unlike babies born before the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown children tend to lag when communicating or socializing. The new study carried out by RCSI, which was led by senior lecturer Susan Byrne and RCSI Pediatric Prof. Jonathan Hourihane, explained that the lack of interaction with other people is the reason.

"The findings show that fewer communication milestones were met during the first year of life," said RCSI researchers via the university's official website.

According to The Guardian's latest report, the new study involved more than 350 babies focusing on their first three months of lockdown.

"We wanted to understand what life was like for babies born during the pandemic and what it might mean for their general health and development," said Byrne.

Is Lack of Physical Interaction to Blame?

(Photo : Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
A nurse gives a baby some medicine after administering vaccines at St Johns Medical Centre during the coronavirus lockdown on April 16, 2020 in Altrincham, England. St Johns Medical Centre has over 7000 registered patients and like may surgeries cross the UK, GPs have had to change the way they work and are assessing nearly all patients via phone or video link and have reduced face-to-face visits to combat the COVID-19 outbreak.

RCSI researchers discovered that lockdown babies lack something that other children experienced when they were born; physical interaction with families. Babies born during the COVID-19 pandemic were only kissed by three people on average. Among these individuals are their parents.

This means lockdown babies had met very few of their families and relatives. Another thing that RCSI experts found is that most lockdown babies could not interact with other children their age during their first birthday.

Aside from the lack of physical interaction, the words spoken by parents also contributed to lockdown babies' poorer communication skills. RCSI explained that many parents tend to say "lonely," "isolation," and other similar words while raising their lockdown babies.

Luckily, RCSI scientists said that this could be reversed. However, lockdown children with less efficient communication skills still need monitoring, especially during their school age.