Rapid research on the COVID-19 pandemic’s possible effects on mother-infant bonding, newborn and child development, and maternal mental health was becoming more important than ever.
Regardless of infection status, the mental health of pregnant and postpartum adults has been worse worldwide during the epidemic, and these alarming changes have disproportionately impacted racial and ethnic minoritized persons from underprivileged areas. Early signs of child neurobehavioral development point to a probable insignificant amount of in-utero exposure to a maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection; nevertheless, nothing was known about the neurodevelopmental effects for the generation of infants born during the epidemic. Low levels of self-reported mother-infant attachment were connected with high levels of maternal sadness and mourning during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, most published studies on the pandemic’s effects on children’s neurodevelopmental outcomes and dyadic functioning depended on biased self- and parent-reported measures.
Strong scientific research was required to identify signs of poor early outcomes that might inspire universal evaluation and accessible intervention, especially in light of the shortage of studies on newborn neurodevelopment following prenatal SARS-CoV-2 infection and delivery during the epidemic. In addition, we advise against having automatic fears about the COVID-19 pandemic generation of youngsters.
Reference: jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2795949
