A post-lockdown baby boom is expected in January.
That's according to the Director of Midwifery at the National Maternity Hospital.
She says there has been an increase in the number of women contacting them to register pregnancies.
A 10% increase in births is expected early next year.
Mary Brosnan says it’s possibly linked to lockdown:
"It's very much an interesting phenomenon for people predicting."
"Any time there's a big event, people predict nine months later and thinkWill that be related to Covid?"
"But certainly from March, April (2020), we'd expect next January and February to be quite busy.
Reckon there might be a baby boom in December and January with all this wfh and self isolation. #COVID2019 #coronvirusireland
— Cat Beahan-Brady (@catbeahan) March 10, 2020
Professor Explains Why A Baby Boom May Happen
Professor Luke O'Neill from Trinity explains the reasons for this:
"Contraception use goes down - strangely."
"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 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 3000 women have passed through the hospital.
They've all been in over the past 5 months.
But only 28 tested positive for Covid-19.
