Nutrition in the First 1,000 Days

The 1,000 days between a woman’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday offer a brief but critical window of opportunity to shape a child’s development. It is a time of both tremendous potential and enormous vulnerability. How well or how poorly a child fares during his first 1,000 days can mean the difference between a thriving future and one characterized by struggle.

New research in to the fields of neuroscience and early childhood development is shedding light into how our brains develop and how our capacities are either nourished or thwarted. Together with stable, responsive relationships with caregivers and safe and nurturing environments, nutrition during a child’s first 1,000 days builds the foundation for a child’s development. When one or more of these supports is absent, a child’s physical, social, emotional and cognitive development can suffer, resulting in the loss of opportunities that are every child’s birthright.

Read more at https://thousanddays.org/wp-content/uploads/1000Days-Nutrition_Brief_Brain-Think_Babies_FINAL.pdf .