Table 3.

Summary of Thematic Analysis of New Parent Experiences with Pediatric Care in the Time of COVID-19 and Illustrative Quotes

	Quote
Theme: Impacts of restrictions and closings
Section A: Emotional toll of policies that allow only one parent at pediatric appointments	It [bringing newborn to the pediatrician] was the first thing I had to do [with our baby] without [my partner] and it just felt so isolating and awful.
Section B: Limited participation of fathers, increased responsibility of mothers, as consequences of limiting to one parent at pediatric appointments	I think the most like frustrating thing… I think I wasn’t ready to jump into the stereotypical, ‘mom is in charge of everything, mom knows everything about the kid and dad is just there for support role’ and COVID I feel kind of pushed us into those roles faster.
Section C: Inequitable access to participation in pediatric care	I mean he speaks English but medical terms, sometimes it helps to have me there to like more clearly explain… It wouldn’t have been an option for us, for really for me to say, ‘hey, can you take [BABY] to her appointment?’
Section D: Inadequate lactation support	In a health care setting when you’re being careful, you know, I think the risks [of transmitting COVID] are so low and like the benefits of, to a mother and you know to that breast feeding dyad are so high when you can get the right kind of support. That to me like, you know, not doing that was a huge problem. It’s like, you know, it’s like not ‘an essential visit.’ Well who is this non-essential to?
Section E: Filling the gap by seeking information about infant health and development online	Like there are a lot of… online resources, it’s just really hard to like wade through… And I think right now… it’s really easy to just kind of try to figure out your questions yourself. And even, even [as] somebody who is relatively good with medical speak, I still get kind of down a rabbit hole that is not like a good rabbit hole to go down.
Theme: Aspects of care that contribute to perception of care as (un)responsive to family needs
Section F: Provider does / does not acknowledge impact of COVID-19 on infant, parents, family	The thing I’ve noticed about like taking my daughter to the pediatrician since she was born is like, they kind of just pretend there’s no pandemic. I’m just like, shouldn’t we be talking about this…
Section G: Provider does / does not offer support for parent decision-making, including with respect to COVID-19 precautions	He’s on the same page as we are… We were able to ask our insecurities and he was able to unstress us a little bit.
Section H: Parent can / cannot trust that provider will respond in a timely way	It was extremely hard to have all the physician’s hours cut… when people still need support at all times…. Some issues just really got put on the back burner… A lot of that support was very much lost, unless it was a completely emergent issue. And then when we wanted to [talk to the doctor]…we would feel like either it wasn’t important or it wasn’t a priority. And then feel foolish [for] asking.
Theme: Experiences with Telehealth
Section I: Expanded access to participation	Absolutely. [Virtual appointments made it easier for my husband to participate because] the scheduling was easier… It didn’t have to be after work.
Section J: Questioning whether quality of care is the same as in-person	I have questions about whether that access, you know like remote access, is it equivalent to in-person access? Like our son has, we’ve been doing video physical therapy appointments… There’s always the question of would the quality of care be different if he was being seen in person by a professional who could touch him and assess his more finite movement than like she can see through my iPhone?
Section K: Not suited to all aspects of care, particularly breastfeeding support and postpartum mental health screening	Lactation [support through] telemedicine kind of skeeved me out… just the mechanics… So I’m nursing and I’m looking at the latch and I’d need my husband to hold the phone and like, get it at the right angle….