First 1000 days: Panacea to child development

Mrs Toyin Salami, a business woman, practiced Exclusive Breast Feeding (EBF) for her third child before introducing her to complementary food.  She stopped breastfeeding the baby when she clocked a year and two months.  Mrs Salami said, although she did not exclusively breast feed her first two children, she decided to adhere to the practice […]

Mrs Toyin Salami, a business woman, practiced Exclusive Breast Feeding (EBF) for her third child before introducing her to complementary food.

 She stopped breastfeeding the baby when she clocked a year and two months.

 Mrs Salami said, although she did not exclusively breast feed her first two children, she decided to adhere to the practice during her latter delivery.

 Another mother, Mrs Olushola Olajide a school teacher, said she tried all she could to breast feed her one year and five months baby exclusively in the first six months before introducing complementary food but had to stop breast feeding her when she clocked a year and four months.

 On why she did not continue breast feeding the baby till she was two years and above, she said the baby was strong and already in day care. 

“Why would I continue to breast feed her when she is all grown up? I did EBF for six months and continued till she was a year and four months,” she explained.

These women and many more, however, claim ignorance to the first 1,000 days recommended globally for nursing mothers to breast feed their babies with some of them saying they only heard about the six months EBF from their various antenatal and post natal programmes.

 Research has revealed that the nutrition a child receives specifically during the first 1,000 days of life from conception through to when it reaches two years old has more influence on their long-term health, and their resistance to germs and allergies, than any other period in their lives.  

The first 1,000 days set their nutritional foundation for life.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in a release during the 2017 Global Breast Feeding Week stated  that breastfeeding is a core part of “getting it right” in terms of nutrition in the first 1,000 days.

 This is the period when all organs and tissues are being formed. It is a period that offers a critical window of opportunity to shape long-term health.

 The World Health Organisation (WHO) also recommends EBF during the first six months of life and to continue breast feeding until two years of age or above because it is best for the baby now and benefits them throughout their whole life – helping to lower blood pressure, cholesterol, type-2 diabetes risk and obesity when they grow up.

 The right nutrition during this 1,000 days’ window has a profound impact on a child’s ability to grow, learn and thrive and a lasting effect on a country’s health and prosperity.

The WHO notes that nutrition during pregnancy and in the first years of a child’s life provide the essential building blocks for brain development, healthy growth and a strong immune system. 

In fact, a growing body of scientific evidence shows that the foundations of a person’s lifelong health including their predisposition to obesity and certain chronic diseases are largely set during this 1,000 day window.

 The 1,000 days between pregnancy and a child’s 2nd birthday are the most critical time for positive impact on a child’s cognitive and physical development. 

The health and wellbeing of a pregnant and lactating woman is directly connected to the growth and health of her infant. 

The right nutrition for the mother and for the child during this time can have profound impact on the child’s growth and development and reduce disease risk, as well as protect the mother’s health.

But, a new report from UNICEF and WHO in collaboration with the Global Breastfeeding Collective, a new initiative to increase global breast feeding rates also revealed that no country in the world fully meets recommended standards for breast feeding.

The Global Breastfeeding Scorecard, which evaluated 194 nations, found that only 40 per cent of children younger than six months are breast fed exclusively (given nothing but breast milk) and only 23 countries have exclusive breastfeeding rates above 60 per cent.

Evidence shows that breast feeding has cognitive and health benefits for both infants and their mothers. 

It is especially critical during the first six months of life, helping to prevent diarrhoea and pneumonia, two major causes of death in infants. Mothers who breast feed have a reduced risk of ovarian and breast cancer, two leading causes of death among women.

 UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake stated that, breast feeding is one of the most effective and cost effective investments nations can make in the health of their youngest members and the future health of their economies and societies.

He added that failing to invest in breast feeding, we fail mothers and their babies and pay a double price: in lost lives and in lost opportunities.

“The investment case shows that in five of the world’s largest emerging economies, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Nigeria, the lack of investment in breast feeding results in an estimated 236,000 child deaths per year and US$119 billion in economic losses,” he said.

 With a fact sheet released during the one-week event on breast feeding,  WHO and UNICEF recommend that breast feeding be initiated within one hour of birth, and that it continues with no other foods or liquids for the first six months of life; and thereafter until the baby attains the age of two with complementary feeding.

But how many mothers are aware of this initiative and the benefits that accrue from it? 

Many are still fighting to adhere to the first six months without food, with just 33 percent of mothers practicing exclusive breast feeding in the first six months and few of them continuing until the baby is barely a year old or few months after a year.

UNICEF Nutrition Specialist, Mrs. Ada Ezeogu, at a media dialogue on breast feeding recently in Ibadan, Oyo State said, breastfeeding was one of the best investments in global health as every $1 invested in breast feeding generates $35 in economic returns, adding that with the right policies and behavioural change of mothers and health workers, exclusive breastfeeding would soar up to 90 percent in the country.

“The 50 per cent UN target is achievable in Nigeria because if you look at the pattern you will find out that most mothers in Nigeria are breast feeding but the problem we have is that many of them give water in the first six months,” she said.

 She added that breast fed children have at least six times greater chances of survival in the early months than non-breast fed children.

 “And an exclusively breast fed child is 14 times less likely to die in the first six months than a non-breast fed child,” she said.

 Ezeogu also explained that another strategy to achieve the UN target was by enforcing the Breast Milk Code and for the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) charged with enforcement of the code to rise up to the task of enforcing it.

“Indeed, it is now recognized that individual development is determined not only by genetics, but through a complex interplay of genes and the environment. It has been estimated that at most 20% of lifelong health can be explained by inherited genes. 

“This means that at least 80% of disease risk in life later is due to the environment, including nutrition and life style. Pregnant and breastfeeding women, infants and young children have specific nutritional needs. 

“Nutrition in early life has key impact on physical growth, cognitive development, immune maturation, development of digestive systems and development of healthy eating habits of the infant,” the UNICEF Nutrition Specialist said.