Contents:
- Medical Video: The first 1,000 days: their impact on a child's future, narrated by Jay Rayner
- Important developments in the child's brain occur in the first 1000 days
- Child's height increases rapidly in this phase
Medical Video: The first 1,000 days: their impact on a child's future, narrated by Jay Rayner
The government is currently intensifying the program for the first 1000 days of life. These 1000 days are calculated from the time of pregnancy (270 days) to the age of 2 years (730 days). Why is this phase important? This is because the first 1000 days of life can determine the development and growth of the next child and what happens in this phase cannot be repeated.
Important developments in the child's brain occur in the first 1000 days
From pregnancy to children aged 2 years is a critical period. There is a lot of growth and development in this phase, especially brain development. Keep in mind, newborns already have around 100 billion brain cells and brain cells continue to grow very rapidly in the early days of a baby's life.
In the first 1000 days of a child's life, more than 1 million new nerve connections in the child's brain are formed every second. Sensory pathways, such as vision and hearing, are the first things that develop in the brain. Then, followed by the development of language skills and cognitive functions.
However, the environment that does not support at the beginning of this life can also disrupt the baby's brain development. This disorder can be permanent or lifelong. Nutritional insufficiency that occurs during the first two years of life can cause a person's cognitive abilities to be lower.
Not only that, it can also affect immunity and the development of degenerative diseases (such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, hypertension, and stroke) in the next phase of life, as reported by UNICEF.
Environmental factors, such as the adequacy of nutrition and stimulation for children's brain development, are important things that greatly influence the growth and development of a child's brain. The environment not only affects how many brain cells are formed and how many connections are formed between them, but also affects how connections in the brain are connected.
Child's height increases rapidly in this phase
Not only brain development, the physical development of children also accelerated rapidly in this period. You can compare yourself, how many centimeters your child's height has increased from birth to age 2 years. It turns out that until a child aged 2 years, increasing the height of a child can reach 75% of his height at birth.
However, even non-supportive environmental factors can cause an increase in a child's height to not run optimally. Your child's height may be shorter than other children of the same age who get better nutrition.
On the other hand, you may not need to worry about the delay in the growth of this child's height. This is because height may be pursued by children at other times, when environmental factors are improved, ie when children are given better nutrition to support their growth and development.
But it needs to be underlined, even though the child's height can be pursued at a later time when the child's environment supports it, but the losses that arise regarding cognitive function, learning ability, and behavior due to malnutrition until the age of 2 years cannot be repaired.
Losses due to malnutrition that affect the child's brain development early in life can be permanent. Therefore, you should provide a good environment. Meet the nutritional needs of children - especially in the first 1000 days of your child's life.
