Ireland’s COVID-19 lockdown measures, known to be among the toughest in Europe, have delayed the speech and social development of newborn babies, a new study suggests.
According to researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Irish babies born during the early months of the pandemic lockdown are meeting fewer developmental milestones in speech and communication than children born before the pandemic.
In their study published Wednesday in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, researchers examined the developmental outcomes of 309 babies born between March and May 2020, during which Irish families saw a draconian set of restrictions placed on them by their government….