Earliest nurture critical to baby

THE first 1000 days of a child’s life — from conception to their third birthday — is the crucial period for development that sets the scene for their lifetime of physical, mental and emotional health, a new study has found.

Once a child turns three, it’s much harder to change their developmental trajectory.

A new evidence paper by Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, which compiles research into the factors influencing child development, shows that although early human development is a result of interactions between our genes and environment, the physical and emotional conditions children are born into alters their risk of positive or negative outcomes later in life.

The First Thousand Days paper shows that many of these changes begin before the child is even conceived, or while they are in the womb.

The parents’ diet, and other lifestyle and socioeconomic factors affecting the integrity of the sperm and egg, pass on tendencies and traits through the generations at the cellular level.

The “cues” the foetus receives in the womb — such as maternal stress, diet or illness — see the baby make biologi- cal adaptions that anticipate the world they’re going to be born into.

Other factors affecting biological and developmental functioning occur in infancy, such as neglect or abuse.

Lead author Dr Tim Moore, from MCRI’s Centre for Community Child Health, said growing research was showing that adaptations made by the child during conception to age two had lifelong consequences.

“This is the period in our lives where we have ... the greatest ability to respond to environmental experiences and exposures,” he said.

“It’s a period of maximum learning. After that change ... becomes harder to do.”

The report, funded by Bupa Health Foundation, highlighted that while parents play a pivotal role in the long-term development of their child, a whole-of-community approach was needed.

“It’s both a warning message and a positive one,” Dr Moore said. “The evidence is telling us is that children who have had adverse exposures are more vulnerable, and we need to make sure they receive the interventions to counteract those experiences.”

Dr Moore said they were now working to develop clearer evidence-based messages to families and policy makers.