Joyce Fegan: Two life-changing years were shaped by the bug or a buggy — or maybe both

Spontaneity, adventure, and socialising all fell by the wayside. But do I attribute it to being a new parent or to the pandemic?

So much we took for granted — such as spontaneously heading out to a local beauty spot for the day — disappeared during lockdowns. The similarity with new parenthood is striking. Stock picture

In August 2020, when my nocturnal child was just six months old, a male colleague reassured me that sleep settled by about age two. Six months of sleep deprivation in, we only had that period of time, times three, to go, I reassured my husband.

Another man, this time a family friend, who we happened to bump into around the same time on a local mountain walk, such was pandemic life, said the exact same: