The first 1000 days, the most important phase of child development

The government is currently incessantly promoting the program for the first 1000 days of life. This 1000 days is counted from the gestation period (270 days) to the child aged 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 development of the child's brain occurs in the first 1000 days

From pregnancy to 2 years of age is a critical period. There is a lot of growth and development in this phase, especially brain development. Keep in mind, newborn babies already have about 100 billion brain cells and these brain cells continue to grow very rapidly in the early life of the baby.

In the first 1000 days of a child's life, more than 1 million new neural connections in the child's brain are formed every second. Sensory pathways, such as sight and hearing, are the first things to develop in the brain. Then, followed by the development of language skills and cognitive function.

However, even this unsupportive environment early in life can interfere with a baby's brain development. This disorder can be permanent or lifelong. Nutritional insufficiency that occurs during the first two years of life can lead to lower cognitive abilities.

Not only that, this 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 adequate nutrition and stimulation for children's brain development, are important factors that greatly affect the growth and development of children's brains. The environment not only affects how many brain cells are formed and how many connections are formed between them, it also affects how the connections in the brain are connected.

The child's height increases rapidly at this stage

Not only brain development, the physical development of children also accelerates rapidly during this period. You can compare yourself, how many centimeters your child's height has increased from birth to 2 years of age. It turns out that until a child is 2 years old, a child's height increase can reach 75% of his or her height at birth.

However, environmental factors that are not supportive can cause the child's height to increase does not work optimally. The child's height may be shorter than other children of the same age who are better nourished.

On the other hand, you may not have 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, that is, when children are given better nutrition to support their growth and development.

However, it needs to be underlined, even though the child's height can be pursued at a later time when the child's environment is supportive, the losses that arise related to cognitive function, learning ability, and behavior due to malnutrition until the age of 2 cannot be corrected.

Losses due to malnutrition that affect children's brain development early in life can be permanent. Therefore, it is better to provide a good environment. Meet children's nutritional needs - especially in the first 1000 days of your child's life.