Wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including a mask, I try to elicit a social smile from a 7-week-old baby. Despite exaggerated cooing and wide smiley eyes on my part, it is unsuccessful. The carer reports that the baby has just started smiling at home with her. I step back, allow the carer to remove her mask and smile at the baby … the baby responds with a grin happily! There are parts of a developmental history and examination that we are used to taking on report from a child’s carers—can they feed themselves with a spoon, for example. The social smile is not one of these. I would normally try to elicit it to be reassured that a baby was responding normally. I am needing to change so many of my practices as a result of COVID-19. I have had to change the whole clinic setting—no toys, PPE, limited people in the room; the way I examine—social distance until physical contact is needed; the way I communicate to work round the face covering—increased body language, increased checking verbally back with people. Things we did automatically from years of practice all now have to be risk assessed and possibly altered. Eliciting that smile is one of them! Does the fact that the baby cannot see our mouths behind a mask matter and will it affect their …

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 期间的口罩和微笑在发育评估中的重要性

戴着包括口罩在内的个人防护装备 (PPE)，我试图从一个 7 周大的婴儿身上引出一个社交微笑。尽管我夸张的咕咕哝哝和大大的笑眼，但它并不成功。护理人员报告说，婴儿刚刚开始在家里和她一起微笑。我退后一步，让看护人摘下她的面具，对着宝宝微笑……宝宝开心地笑着回应！我们习惯于从孩子的看护人那里接受发育史和检查的某些部分——例如，他们能不能用勺子喂自己。社交微笑不是其中之一。我通常会尝试引出它以确保婴儿反应正常。由于 COVID-19，我需要改变我的许多做法。我不得不改变整个诊所的环境——没有玩具、个人防护装备、房间里的人有限；我检查的方式——在需要身体接触之前保持社交距离；我围绕面罩进行交流的方式——增加肢体语言，增加与人的口头回访。我们从多年的实践中自动完成的事情现在都必须进行风险评估并可能进行更改。引起那个微笑就是其中之一！婴儿在口罩后面看不到我们的嘴这一事实是否重要，是否会影响他们的……