NEW YORK: Researchers have identified that babies born to mothers who had mild or asymptomatic coronavirus infection during pregnancy are normal.

The finds, which have been published in JAMA Network Open, are supported by data from a thorough evaluation of brain growth.

Lead author Dani Dumitriu, Assistant Professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at Columbia University, said, "The study, which used a more rigorous method to evaluate babies born during the pandemic, provides further reassuring evidence that having a mild or asymptomatic case of Covid during pregnancy does not affect brain development in infants. In order to make the study Covid-safe (babies were tested between March 2021 and June 2022) the researchers created a means of viewing infants remotely by customising a developmental evaluation tool that is generally done in person.

Researchers from the US examined 407 infants between the ages of 5 and 11 months. Overall, the study's children were delivered to moms who took Covid while expecting them.

Each of the participating families received the same collection of baby toys and food items prior to the examination so that the researchers could compare and contrast the infants' fine and gross motor skills in a consistent manner.

The researchers also assessed cognitive and language skills. They didn't know which babies had been exposed to Covid in utero.  When compared to newborns whose mothers had never used Covid, they discovered that babies whose moms had mild or asymptomatic Covid-19 at any point during pregnancy were developing similarly. "Further studies are needed to tell us about the impact of more severe Covid on a developing infant's brain," Dumitriu said.

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