Are Face Masks Negatively Impacting My Baby’s Development?

The short answer: no

Comments alluding to masks being detrimental to babies' development have definitely worn me down, making me second guess my decisions to try to keep my family safe. This study has helped to alleviate a lot of the guilt I have carried when asking others to mask around our baby. I hope it does the same for you.

Why we might be concerned:

Babies are extremely aware of and attuned to the facial expressions of their caregivers. Dr. Edward Tronick conducted the famous ”Still Face” experiment in the 70’s where mothers would play with their babies and then look at them with a straight face for a few minutes. The babies consistently showed signs of distress, by looking away, getting sad, or crying.

So do face masks create a constant still face experiment?

In a new study conducted by Dr. Tronick, they looked at babies' reactions to their mothers without and then with a face mask. Mothers played with the babies without a mask for 2 minutes, with a mask for 2 minutes, and then without a mask for 2 more minutes. Using a similar method to the Still-Face experiment, they determined that while the babies did notice when the mothers put the mask on or off, they did not show any signs of distress or perturbance.

Babies can see your love behind the mask:

This, along with other studies, likely confirm that "what's really important is not so much the look of the mom's face but the way that her face is attuned to the baby's -the way her expressions respond to the baby's and vice versa." So as long as you are still responding to and connecting with your baby, you can wear your masks without the fear of what damage it might be doing.