Thread by @katewand

1/ Implementing masking policies in neonatal care settings directly impedes the attachment bonding process and neurological development in newborns, as detailed in this document:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

2/ “Mask wearing by caregivers can potentially influence the baby’s neurodevelopment due to the effect on the normal attachment and bonding that takes place in the early days of life between a baby and their parents (Sullivan et al., 2011; Green et al., 2020).”

3/ “From the minute of birth, faces are visible to infants, with research indicating that newborns shown photos of their mothers and other people, are adept at differentiating their mother’s face from the faces of strangers (LoBue, 2016).”

4/ “LoBue’s research also indicated that newborns chose to look longer at images of their own mothers compared to images of different women (LoBue, 2016).”

5/ “Moreover, research has demonstrated that it only takes newborns a few days to learn how to discriminate between differing emotional facial expressions, such as happy, sad and surprised (Farroni et al., 2007; Palama et al., 2018).”

6/ “Early contact in the immediate hours after birth is when a baby is alert and face-to-face interaction is the most successful. At this moment, the mother and baby get to know each other, and the potential for a strong bond starts developing...”

7/ “...This bond can initiate positive parenting behaviours and is important for normal neurobehavioural development of the baby...”

8/ “Failure to establish this bond can result in lack of maternal feelings and subsequent rejection of the infant which could potentially progress to neglect, parental inconsistency, lack of love, and in turn, long-term mental health problems (Winston and Chicot, 2016).”

9/ “Although safety prevails, when mothers and/or fathers are required to wear a mask, the inability of a baby to see facial expressions and hindered wordless communication can negatively impact on both the bonding and attachment process.”

10/ “Mother-infant interaction and brain growth: Mask-wearing during this sensitive period then raises questions regarding mother-infant interactions and whether this could negatively impact on brain connectivity and growth.”

11/ “To re-iterate, newborns prefer looking at faces and clearly have an innate ability to recognise what a face is (Otsuka, 2014). Furthermore, newborns can recognise familiar faces, especially ones where a close connection exists (Pascalis et al., 2011),...”

12/ “... important because newborns are dependent entirely on their parents for survival and need to recognise them (Simion and Giorgio 2015).”

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