While a time of vast potential, the 1,000 days from conception to birth and to the child’s second birthday can also be a time of immense vulnerability when the impact of poor nutrition especially on brain development can be profound, long-lasting, or even irreversible.
Brain development starts long before birth of the child, and progresses at astonishing speed very early on during the mother’s pregnancy. In just 16 days after conception, the brain’s neural tube forms and by seven months, the form of the brain resembles that of an adult. All throughout brain development in the womb, a mother’s diet and her stored nutrients are the only source of nutrition needed for the creation of new neurons which are “the cells that form the tissue that transmits and receives nervous impulses.”
After birth, the remarkable growth and development of the child’s brain continue. Breastmilk from the mother is the “ultimate superfood” which has varied nutrients and growth hormones vital for brain development. There’s no doubt that a child’s healthy development with good nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life provides the building blocks for lifelong health, superior educational achievement and economic productivity.