Irish babies born early in pandemic fell behind in key milestones, study finds

Babies born early in the Covid-19 pandemic, when Ireland was in lockdown and families were isolated due to infection-control rules, fell behind in several key milestones, including being able to say one meaningful word or wave bye-bye, a major study has found.

The study of infants born between March and May 2020, when unprecedented curbs were imposed as a protection from the deadly virus, also found they were less likely to be able to point to objects.

The powerful insight comes in the CORAL study carried out by the Department of Paediatrics and the Data Science Centre in the Royal College of Surgeons, Children’s Health Ireland and the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health in University College Cork.

One in four babies had not met another child their own age by their first birthday, household visits were restricted and pensioners were obliged to cocoon as Ireland witnessed the devastating spread of the virus for which there was no vaccine at that point.

Read more: Irish babies born early in pandemic fell behind in key milestones, study finds