Pandemic Era: Baby Development And Parental Challenges

Babies born approximately after March 2020 will have only known a world around the pandemic. These babies have never met anyone else other than their parents. These kids must have seen their grandparents only throwing flying kisses at them from a distance. Unlike, the non-pandemic times, your child did not get the opportunity to interact with other children or visit parks for some playtime.

This boils down to the question, what are the exact implications for this pandemic on newborns? As researchers say the first few years of an infant’s life are the building blocks: like the kid gets exposed to acceptable values, behaviors, social skills, etc. Additionally, the first few months and years of their life are vitally important for your little ones’ long-term health, development and wellbeing.

Below are some infant skills that could be hampered due to the pandemic lockdown situation:

You will not deny the fact that you and your little one have not been out of the safe zone i.e your house. Hence your baby has picked up lesser of the social skills, has been exposed to stress all around them through parents and family and can also develop phobia from being around crowded areas. Below is an explanation of the same.

1. Social development challenges:

As we are all aware, the development of a newborn child takes place at an extraordinary rate during their first year, this is also when the brain size doubles. This early childhood development depends mainly on experience, and with utmost criticality to social experience, which is known to stimulate, tune the child’s brain towards society and social behavior. Ideally, if there was no pandemic, parents are on the move to work, to buy groceries from a supermarket, etc leaving the child with a nanny or their grandparents making a child realize that mum and dad cannot be around them all the time. When your baby is exposed to other people in the family and to friends it stimulates a varied and responsive environment that not only supports the development of language and cognition but also emotional and social competencies. This dependence on environmental inputs from various family members, friends and relatives makes the brain of the infant exquisitely flexible and capable of adaptation.

This pandemic has made it almost impossible for children to be exposed socially. Here, the greater challenge is that the social skills which develop at a nascent stage in a child’s mind will take longer than normal. Here, the child will almost be at a smart/big age to encounter rigidity in adapting to social norms. Parents here need to fill the gap and ensure that they try to still incorporate these social skills in the 1st year of growth. Added responsibilities, yes but this is so that your newborn grows 2-3years old and hopefully society and the world will open doors post the covid pandemic will possess the trait of adaptation to newer society norms.

2. The child is brought up in a stressful environment:

The pandemic has created turmoil not only in the world but also in homes. Either you’re pregnant with a baby or you have your babysitting and playing right in front of you, you are somewhere passing on the stress you have currently in you. It is a proven fact by renowned researchers that parental stress affects the baby’s mental and physical development. It not only hampers their language and cognitive development but also their emotional wellbeing putting them at risk of depression and anxiety themselves.

When you as a parent display characteristics of panic and stress somewhere your baby is seeing. Be it a baby in your tummy or your little one sitting right in front of you, they are picking up learnings/traits as they tend to imitate what they see and hear. Keeping a calm mind and displaying a happy and calm nature will change the environment as well as boost positivity.

It's a good idea to not panic and to take action instead:

• a. Keeping a hygienic surrounding with freshly washed soft cotton baby clothes in stock. The pandemic is all about maintaining hygiene.
• b. Safeguarding your infant with hand mittens during this pandemic is a must.
• c. Try to expose your little one to healthy and happy environments and sounds.
• d. In case you're too panicked about a situation try soft music therapy. You as well as your little one will enjoy it and calm down.
• e. Reinforce good behavior with reasonable rewards. Good behavior deserves a good reward, doesn't it? Probably a small fall with no crying proceeding can be rewarded.

3. Public phobia:

As the child has not been exposed to crowded public places like malls, parks, open-air gardens and restaurants during the pandemic there could be a probability that your infant can develop a phobia for seeing too many people around them.

The best way to handle this is by exposing them to safe environments like family with certain laid down hygiene protocols, like:

• a. Do not allow family members to touch your baby without a sanitation regime.
• b. Do not allow kisses or going close to your baby's mouth till the pandemic doesn’t settle down.

Additionally, when things open up and kids are exposed to more people which means more hugs, kisses and hand-holding your infant will react differently. Maybe cranky, maybe unaware of how to react or to your surprise may be joyous too. Look for these reactions and try to correct them before it's too late.

Summing up:

Though no reputed research publishers are talking about the mental side effects of the pandemic on child development, there are proven signs of anti-social behavior and self-centeredness that a parent can expect from the little one due to the pandemic lockdown situation.

THIS PANDEMIC - BE SAFE, BE INDOORS AND BE VIGILANT PARENTS.