More women have been contacting the National Maternity Hospital to register pregnancies.
Image via Pexels.comA post-lockdown baby boom is expected in January.
That's according to the Director of Midwifery at the National Maternity Hospital, who says there has been an increase in the number of women contacting them to register pregnancies.
A 10% per cent increase in births is anticipated early next year. The Director of Midwifery at Holles Street Mary Brosnan says it’s possibly linked to lockdown:
"Any time there's a big event, people predict nine months later and think - 'will that be related to Covid?"
"But certainly ... we'd expect next January and February to be quite busy."
Professor of Biochemistry at the school of Immunology at Trinity College Luke O'Neill explains some of the possible reasons for a baby boom during a pandemic:
"Contraception use goes down - strangely", he notes.
"That could be because you can't get access to a pharmacy or a family planning centre. Then there's less contraception happening and therefore that's going to give rise to a baby boom as well."
"I think the main thing is to do with trying to live your life, I suppose. So that's because people want to have a bit of hope I suppose, for the future."
Meanwhile, according to Holles Street, out of over 3,000 women who passed through the hospital in the past 5 months only 28 of them tested positive for Covid-19.
