Research Objective:
To understand the impacts COVID-19 has had on babies born during the pandemic and their families.

Methods:
This is a study which was conducted through structured interviews with nine participants. The participants were mothers of babies born during the coronavirus pandemic, between March 2020 and June 2021. A thematic approach was used to analyse the qualitative data and key themes were developed from the findings.

Results:
The analysis of the interviews showed a real mix of opinion on how the coronavirus pandemic affected the following themes: pregnancy during the coronavirus pandemic, appointments, labour, support from midwives and health visitors, partners experience, the baby, national lockdowns, and post-natal depression. My results showed that most of the participants had a negative pregnancy experience due to the pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic affected pre- and post-natal appointments, all but one participant had to attend all appointments alone due to restrictions. The results showed that the participants partners felt they would have developed a stronger bond with their baby immediately after birth if COVID-19 restrictions were not in place. However, many partners were able to stay at home longer than two weeks with their family due to being furloughed, so were able to grow a strong relationship with their little one. Unable to have their families’ full support took a toll on many of the participants and their partners. In relation to how the participants found their baby’s development, most comments were positive. The coronavirus pandemic allowed many of the participants to develop strong morning and bedtime routines. The only area of development that was believed to have been impacted was social development, as many stated that their baby is now very clingy as a result of the lack of personal, social, and emotional development.

Conclusion:
To conclude many families with newborns were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic triggered a fear of pregnancy, labour, and birth in expectant women due to the complete uncertainty of the virus. Nonetheless, the research showed that the coronavirus pandemic created many positive experiences for the women because it meant less pressure to have a ‘perfect pregnancy experience’ and once the baby was born the lockdowns and covid restrictions allowed families to have more quality time. Partners’ experiences of the pregnancy were greatly impacted by not being able to attend appointments and maternity wards having visitor restrictions.