A DAD has shared his experiences of having a 'lockdown baby' describing how his two weeks paternity leave became six.
Danny White, who lives in Malvern with his wife Bernadette, has spent the last six weeks caring for his second daughter Addison, who was born just before the country was told to stay at home.
Mr White, 29, who works as the depot manager for ETB Garages in Malvern, said: “She was born on February 19 so just before the lockdown, and it has been a weird experience because I got two weeks paternity leave anyway which has turned into six.
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“It has been really nice because when my first daughter was born I was straight back to work so missed a lot. Being there has meant I have heard her laugh for the first time so it has been special.”
Mr White added it was fortunate Addison was born slightly early, as he and Bernadette avoided the stress of having to negotiate hospital visits during lockdown.
He said: “We were lucky she was born a week early. I can’t imagine what it would have been like during lockdown.
“There were some complications during the pregnancy so you can imagine how hard it would have been if we’d had to keep going between Worcester, Malvern and Hereford with the visiting restrictions in place.
“When Addison was born, we were able to show my mum and the grandparents but obviously with the lockdown, a lot of the family have never seen her.
“We are lucky to live in an age like this with video technology so everyone can still keep in touch.”
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The easing of lockdown measures has meant Mr White can return to his job at the depot after this longer-than-expected paternity leave.
He said: “It is going fine so far, I’m the manager so we are just getting everything up and running again and making sure everything works.”
According to England’s children’s commissioner, an estimated 76,000 babies have been born during the coronavirus lockdown.
A briefing paper published by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner called on the government to introduce a “coherent, joined up plan” to help support children and their families coming out of lockdown.
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