The experience of fathers during the covid-19 UK maternity care restrictions.

The sample was voluntary and recruited through social media parent and father groups, so it may represent people who could access those groups. Only 20 fathers were included, and no non-cohabiting or non-biological fathers volunteered. All participants were married and cohabiting with the mother and were biological fathers of singleton pregnancies. Adopting parents, same-sex couples, fathers of babies in neonatal intensive care, fathers after pregnancy loss, and non-English speakers were excluded. Socio-economic data were not collected, and no South Asian, Black Caribbean, or Arab fathers volunteered. The sample size is small and generalisability is unknown. No member checking was done, so some participant statements may not have been understood accurately. The interviewer was a qualified midwife, and professional experience may have shaped the topic and methodology. The maternal impact was fathers' perception; mothers were not interviewed.

City, University of London provided financial support for data collection, and the authors declared no actual or potential conflicts of interest.

Do not conclude that allowing partners back into maternity care will improve father-baby bonding or maternal mental health. This was a small qualitative study of fathers' experiences, not a controlled comparison, and the maternal effects were fathers' perceptions rather than measured outcomes.