Parenting a newborn baby during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative survey

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic caused long periods of lockdown, social isolation and intense challenges for parents. This study examines parenting in an infant cohort born at the pandemic onset. Methods: The CORAL study is a prospective longitudinal observational study looking at allergy, immune function and neurodevelopmental outcome in babies born between March and May 2020. Demographic information was collected, babies were reviewed at 6-monthly intervals, and serology for COVID-19 infection was recorded. When babies were 12 months old, parents were asked for 3-5 words to describe raising a baby during the pandemic. Frequency of word usage was compared between first time parents and parents with other children, and parents of babies with and without a diagnosis of COVID-19 infection. Results: 354 babies were recruited to CORAL study. Social circles were small. At 6 months the median number of people (including parents) who had kissed the baby was 3, and by 12 months one-quarter of babies had never met another child of similar age. 304 parents completed the word choice. Commonly reported words were lonely (44.4%), isolating (31.9%) and strong bond (15.8%). 12 of those 304 babies had COVID-19 in their first year of life and there was no significant difference in reported negative or positive word number compared with parents of babies without a COVID-19 infection, or by first time parents or those who already had children. Conclusion: The lockdowns and social restrictions made raising an infant challenging for all parents in Ireland. It is important parents know this was a shared experience.</p

The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on infants’ coronavirus exposure and routine healthcare access in Ireland: the CORAL birth cohort study at 6 months.

The public health strategy during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic of 2020–2021 led to profound changes in social behaviour, affecting not only familial but also wider social interactions. These changes may have altered viral and bacterial interchange. A significantly decreased diversity of gut and skin microbiota has been demonstrated inallergic individuals compared to non-allergic subjects. The CORAL study is a longitudinal study of the impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on allergic and autoimmune dysregulation of infants born from March –May 2020, during Ireland’s first lockdown (Ireland formally entered national lockdown on March 27th 2020, though severe restrictions had been gradually escalated for the 2 weeks prior to that date. The first release of lockdown was on June 8th 2020). CORAL will follow children initially until they are 2 years old, with stool sampling at 6,12 and 24 months for microbiome diversity analysis and allergy testing and blood RNA and epigenomic testing at 12 and 24 months</p