Parental knowledge and expectations on early manual movements: A note on the possible impacts of social distancing on infant stimulation practices during COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: Parents' knowledge and perception about motor development and stimulation practices play a pivotal role in infants’ cognitive, social and motor development. Parental involvement is crucial in fostering exploratory behaviors that help infants learn about bodily functions and environmental consequences. Social restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted the care and stimulation practices that parents provided to their infants. AIM: The present study aimed a) to identify the knowledge and expectations the parents have in regard to the development of hands behavior; and b) to verify whether and how parents offered opportunities for developmental tasks in the first 9 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: Eighteen parents completed a questionnaire regarding their knowledge and perception of early manual behavior and stimulation practices at two time points: when the infants were 1 to 3 months old, and when their infants were 6 to 9 months old. RESULTS: The results showed that, on average, parents were quite accurate in predicting the age at which reaching and grasping milestone emerge. However, most parents did not believe that infants could identify the contingent relationship between their manual behavior and environmental events before 6 months of age. Despite this, a majority of parents provided their infant with opportunities to engage with objects during the first 3 months after birth. CONCLUSION: Although parents underestimate infants’ autonomy using their hands functionally, the social restrictions implemented during COVID-19 pandemic positively influenced the infant care and stimulation practices among high educated families in Brazil.