7 Surprising Benefits of Having a Baby During the Pandemic
By: Mikki Draggoo
Tags: Maternity Leave, Covid-19, Baby, Family, Parenting

7 Surprising Benefits of Having a Baby During the Pandemic

Seriously. There are some perks.

Image by author of my pandemic baby a.k.a “the coronial”.

Being pregnant with my second child during the Covid-19 outbreak was terrifying and unrelentingly stressful. However, after my baby boy was born in June, I discovered that unlike pregnancy… having a new baby right now has some definite upsides. Of course, if I had a choice of having a baby during a pandemic, my answer would be a firm “no thank you” every time.

But for those new mamas-to-be who are worried about what life looks like after their baby arrives, I am here to say it’s not all bad. Really. Truly. There are some benefits to having a new baby right now. And for me, looking at the positives helps all the hard stuff feel a little bit less impossible.

1. Strangers don’t touch my baby.

With my first baby, people would walk up to her stroller to say hello, and then grab her little hand or try to pinch her chubby cheeks before I could stop them. It was socially awkward for so many reasons. With baby number two, people cross the street to give us space — a definite improvement.

2. People actually want to see baby pics.

Usually after the first few photos of your bundle of joy, most friends are over it. But now, those same friends are starved for happy news and suddenly baby photos are just the thing. I even have people texting me asking for more. At this point it’s basically a public service, and I’m happy to oblige because of course my baby is adorable.

3. New food delivery and takeout options.

Stocking a freezer with healthy meals is a great ambition, but personally I never lived that dream. For baby two, social distancing restrictions forced restaurants to be creative with their takeout options — leading to a much broader set of choices than pizza delivery. Also, when I really can’t be bothered to cook — there is an entire pantry of panic-purchased food as a fall back.

4) FOMO no more.

The guilt attached to missing out on parties and social engagements has evaporated. There is nothing to miss! It can be difficult as a new parent to say no and stay at home. With my first baby, it would take two hours to get out of the house for a coffee date; no matter how early I started, I’d be 45 minutes late. Now, I don’t need an excuse to stay at home. This has made it easier to rest and deal with broken sleep while my body recovers from the ordeal of growing and delivering a whole, living, breathing human.

5) Sunglasses + face mask = invisibility cloak.

Ladies put that make-up away! Not that I wore make-up when my first baby was small (seriously, who has the time?)… but now I strut into the grocery store in my yoga pants and shirt covered in baby spit up to buy ice cream like a boss. I have no fear of judgement by someone I know because… honestly, who could recognize me anyway?

6) I’m not alone all damn day.

My partner is lucky enough to have a job where he can work from home. This means I get little breaks and adult conversation during the day. He can keep an ear out for the baby while I’m taking a shower or making a phone call. Occasionally, baby two will join him for a video call. We usually eat lunch together. Those little moments have made huge contributions towards my mental health and our relationship. They’ve been great for my husband too; those baby smiles and cuddles help to break up a day of Zoom meeting backdrops and Slack messages.

7) Change is on the horizon for working families.

Every family with kids has been forced to make it work during lockdown. But honestly, managing two careers with kids was not easy pre-pandemic either. Now it is all on display. This is optimistic but I have to believe the insanity of 2020 will bring more equality to parenting, more empathetic policies from both the government and employers, and crucially, more respect for our teachers and childcare providers.

If you are pregnant and reading this, I wish you all the very best of luck in the coming months; especially during the excruciatingly slow third trimester. My only advice for that is Epsom salt baths and chocolate chip cookies. Seriously that combo got me through some dark times.

I’m also interested to hear from other new parents in the comments about any unexpected bonuses you’ve experienced having a baby during this time. I don’t know about you, but I need all the positives I can get right about now.