The alliance of organisations spanning the children, family, mental health, maternity and baby sectors, said that the redeployment of health visitors, reduction in contacts with families by many services, and pivot to digital and telephone service delivery – where babies are often invisible – all hampered services’ ability to protect the youngest and most vulnerable members of society.
Emerging findings from an online survey carried out by First 1001 Days Movement in partnership with ISOS Partnership, highlight the extent to which services for babies have been impacted.
The national policy vacuums that existed during the first months of the pandemic set the scene for significant local variation in the service offer to under-twos, they said.
Sally Hogg, coordinator of the First 1001 Days Movement, said, ‘These are not the only babies who will have suffered harm as a result of the pandemic, sadly they are only the tip of the iceberg. Many other babies will have experienced adversity and emotional trauma during these difficult times, as our Babies in Lockdown report and recent survey of senior leaders of pregnancy and 0-2s services across the UK has revealed.’
When asked to state the extent to which babies had been impacted during the Spring national lockdown, based on direct observation within their service, nearly all 235 respondents (98 per cent) said that the babies their organisation works with had been impacted by parental anxiety, stress or depression affecting bonding and responsive care.
This was ubiquitous with 73 per cent of respondents reporting that many of the babies they work with were impacted.
The findings were as follows:
- Nearly all respondents (92%) said within their organisation they had observed family ‘self-isolation’, for example where parents are unwilling to attend routine appointments or step outside the home for fear of Covid-19, with half saying that many babies they work with were impacted
- Nearly all respondents (91 per cent) had observed sudden loss of family income or increased risk of food poverty, with 45 per cent saying many of the babies they work with were impacted
- Nearly all respondents had observed more sedentary behaviour and less stimulation/play (90 per cent), with half saying many babies were impacted
- The vast majority (88 per cent) said that those they work with were at risk of poorer outcomes due to loss of direct contact with essential services for at risk families (e.g social services, Early Help, perinatal mental health), with 45 per cent saying many babies they work with were impacted
- The vast majority (87 per cent) said that those they work with were at risk of poorer outcomes due to loss of direct contact with essential health services (e.g maternity care, health visitors, GPs, A&E), with 40 per cent saying many babies were impacted
- The vast majority (80 per cent) said that those they work with had experienced increased exposure to domestic conflict, child abuse or neglect, with 29 per cent saying many babies they work with had been impacted
- Over half (57 per cent) had observed lower likelihood of breastfeeding due to lack of professional support, rising to 72 per cent of specific breastfeeding support organisations. Views on the proportion impacted were most split here with 23 per cent saying many had been impacted and 17 per cent saying no impact at all
The news follows figures from Ofsted that the number of babies who have suffered serious injury through abuse or neglect during the Covid pandemic is up by a fifth on the same period last year, and eight have died from their injuries.
Commenting on the survey findings, Jodie Reed, director of the ISOS Partnership, who has been newly-appointed to lead the work on early years, childcare and early prevention, told Nursery World, ‘The first lockdown showed significant risks to all children. Although we are an organisation that focuses on children of all ages, it is clear that there are a particular set of risks for children aged under one. That’s a lot to do with the characteristics of that group: higher dependency on the support of services; the vulnerability of parents with mental health issues during that period; feelings of isolation and a whole array of risk factors associated with being a baby – which I don’t think have been fully aired enough in public.
‘And the real pinch is where those risk factors are laid on top of other risk factors. There are families living in small flats in financially insecure positions; they might be Black or ethnic minority and be feeling more vulnerable to Covid itself. They are likely to be key workers… And those families are having babies too, so it’s a form of double jeopardy for some of these families.’
No delay
The First 1001 Days Movement has warned since the Spring about the impact that the pandemic and lockdown has had on families during this crucial period of their children’s early development.
Ms Hogg said, ‘Some of these harms were preventable. The suffering experienced by babies might have been identified early, prevented or mitigated with professional support. But the pandemic caused a “perfect storm” where vital services and support were withdrawn from many families at a time when they needed it most.’
She added, ‘Government must act quickly to strengthen vital services that can prevent future harm to babies and support the recovery of all of the families who have already suffered as a result of this pandemic.’
The F2001D Movement is calling on the Government to take the following measures:
- take urgent action now to increase the resources available to services, including, but not limited to, health visiting and children’s services, which can play an important role in protecting our babies and young children.
- give local commissioners the resources they need to fund targeted and specialist services – including statutory services and charities, such as parent-infant teams - which can help families to recover from the harms caused by the pandemic.
- commit to learning lessons from the lockdown to inform the restructure of Public Health England and revision of the Healthy Child Programme, recognising the value of high-quality health visiting services and the important role they can play in protecting and promoting babies’ health and wellbeing.
- ensure there is joined up action across Government, with clear leadership at the Cabinet table, to ensure that babies are kept safe and receive the nurturing care they need to thrive. Babies’ needs must be kept in mind in future decision making.
Lessons learned
The wider evidence base on the impacts of the pandemic and the first phase of lockdown in relation to babies, and all age groups, will continue to grow in the coming months.
Ms Hogg said, ‘It is encouraging to see significant green shoots in this respect in the November lockdown, with more emphasis on maintaining regular health services, the exclusion of under-fives from the two people limit for people meeting outside, and an explicit announcement that parent support groups will continue. All of these things should help reduce the dangerous and scarring effects of this lockdown.’
ISOS Partnership, together with the First 1001 Days Movement will be exploring in-depth the factors which influenced local decision-making around pregnancy, babies and toddlers in the period from March to August, and findings will be released in the early part of the new year.
More information
The snapshot survey was undertaken by Health Visiting services, Perinatal and Child Mental Health support services, Parenting or Child Behaviour Support services and Breastfeeding Support services plus leaders of various home visiting services, maternity and neonatal services, Early Help, Children’s Centres, childcare providers, baby banks and a range of specialist support services.
