The Importance Of The First 1,000 Days

Our first instincts are to nurture, protect and most importantly nourish our children from the moment we know of their existence. The first 1,000 days of a baby’s life, that’s conception to 2 years old, is seen by researchers as one of the most critical periods; it has vulnerability and potential in equal measure.

SMA Nutrition wants to help parents have a better understanding of the importance of protein levels and nutrition at this key time. They’ve involved media medic Dr Ellie Cannon in their latest campaign to further raise awareness.

Any woman who has become a mother will have a story about the beginning of their child’s life. All of them will have one thing in common: the overwhelming will to give their child the best start to life possible.

In shaping their future, the right nutrition during this 1,000 day period has a profound impact on a child’s growth and development and during this time protein is a rather important factor. When I was pregnant I was so intent on eating the right foods, or at least getting enough of the right things for the baby. I read a lot about pregnancy and what I needed to be eating at what stage, and protein was a consistent throughout. I ate plenty of meat, cheese, fish, eggs and I even remember going to the extremes of having protein shakes!

I also made a conscious decision to at least try and breastfeed my children, both of who were successful “latchers” and I was very lucky to be able to offer that to them. Breastfeeding is often seen as the gold standard and one reason for this is that it’s been proven to support an appropriate rate of growth* in infancy (*UK-WHO growth charts based on the growth of breastfed infants, and WHO/DH advice to exclusively breastfeed for 6 months).

Luckily, protein is one of the key components in breastmilk that helps to ensure healthy growth and development and the protein level in breastmilk changes as your baby grows. This means it contains the right quantity and quality of protein to help them grow at a steady rate. This changing protein composition, only found in breastmilk, can help to ensure your baby follows the appropriate rate of growth, decreasing their chance of being overweight/obese when they’re older, and it offers a solid foundation for life.

My eldest, Toby, is almost 6 months past his 1,000 days, but Ted is only 8 months, which is just over half way through his. Toby was always very physically advanced for his age, usually miles ahead of what he was “supposed” to be doing. He was crawling at 7 months, and walking at 9 months. We even weaned him at 4 months because milk wasn’t satisfying his needs on its own. And Ted is following in the same footsteps as his big brother. I don’t really feel like I’ve had much of a “baby” stage with them as they’re growing up so quickly. It’s quite emotional to know that they’re getting their own personalities, are becoming more independent every day and are just growing up in general. I would love to keep them little forever.

Despite their rate of mental and physical growth, I am still very much involved in what goes into their diet and I always try to ensure they’re getting enough of what they need. Protein is one of those groups of foods that they will be exposed to and consume on a daily basis, although Toby is becoming quite particular about the foods he eats at the moment.

The right nutrition during this 1,000 day period is paramount to their development and I don’t want to hinder that. Toby’s rate of growth has plateaued considerably in the last 6 months since his 1,000 days came to an end, but Ted’s is still very much on the up and I want to, and will, support that as much as possible by doing the right thing to support a steady rate of growth for him.

If you have any questions on protein or early life nutrition please leave your questions for Dr Ellie Cannon to answer, which I’ll include in a follow-up blog post. She will try to answer as many questions as possible but might not be able to answer all of them.

*This post is in association with SMA Nutrition