Nutritious beginnings ensure healthier and happier children
Breastfeeding provides children with the best start in life and is the baby's best source of nutrition, bolstering brain development with lifelong benefits for the mother and the baby
Strong foundation, more robust structure! The foundation for a healthy life and well-being is laid in the mother's womb. The first 1000 days of life – the time spanning roughly between conception and a child's second birthday - is the most crucial period of development. This is when children's brain, body and immune system develop significantly, which holds the key to lifelong physical and mental well-being.
The brain develops most rapidly in the first two years of life, with 70 per cent of the brain developing in-utero. After birth, it is the child's environment that shapes brain development. During this period, the brain requires multiple inputs for the growth and development of the nervous system, including the brain. These inputs are stimulation and care, good health and nutrition, and safety and protection to buffer against stress and pollution and allow for nutrient absorption.
All these aspects of the environment must work together to build a better brain during early childhood. Therefore, the role of parents and caregivers becomes even more critical and begins before a child's birth.
Nutrition, indisputably, is most significant for a child's bright future. Dietary deficiencies, inadequate feeding practices, poor hygiene and sanitation, chronic infections, poor health and nutrition care-seeking behaviours, exposure to violence, and low levels of stimulation during this period jeopardize a child's chance to reach their full potential and increase the risk that poor health and poverty will follow that child into adulthood.
Besides nutritional well-being, quality early childhood development also critically impacts a child's future school retention and learning, particularly in the early grades of primary education. When children enter primary school directly without quality preschool education – and thus, without school readiness – they are more likely to drop out and not learn to their potential. Much depends on how well children start their education and how prepared they are for school.
Children from the most disadvantaged quintiles of society are at the most significant risk of being deprived during this critical early period of life. Interventions in the early years can partially compensate for early disadvantages and are, therefore, essential from an equity perspective. Remedial action later in life is less cost-effective.
Studies have long established that nutrition deficiency and lack of early learning opportunities during the first 1000 days contribute to the loss of developmental and academic potential, often leading to lifelong health and economic disparities. Though the benefits of improved nutrition are not always immediately appreciable, it's cost-effective. According to the Global Nutrition Report 2015, a country can get 16 dollars in return for every dollar invested in nutrition. Investing in nutrition has high human and economic returns.
Breast milk is a baby's best source of nutrition, bolstering brain development with lifelong benefits for the mother and the baby. Early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding (between 0-5 months) and continued breastfeeding (6-23 months) offer a powerful line of defence against infection and malnutrition.
Healthy mother, healthy baby
A pregnant mother's health, nutrition and mental state affect the well-being of her child. An expecting mother's diet, if poor in nutrition, can lead to severe congenital disabilities and have lasting consequences. However, the possibility of birth anomalies can easily be checked with the early provision of optimal maternal nutrition, including a diet rich in nutrition, supplements and recommended doses of vitamins and minerals. The mother's nutritional well-being also contributes to her good mental health, which positively impacts childcare.
Ensuring safe childbirth is equally crucial. A skilled attendant's child delivery in a health facility reduces the chances of a mother or newborn falling ill or dying. The skilled birth attendants are also trained in providing proper care to the mother and the newborn and therefore play a vital role in initiating early breastfeeding within the first hour of birth.
Breastfeeding provides children with the best start in life
Breast milk is a baby's best source of nutrition, bolstering brain development with lifelong benefits for the mother and the baby.
Early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding (between 0-5 months) and continued breastfeeding (6-23 months) offer a powerful line of defence against infection and malnutrition. In contrast, Infants who are not exclusively or partially breastfed have a higher risk of diarrhoea and are more likely to die from severe malnutrition if they don't get lifesaving treatment. Breastfeeding also acts as a baby's first vaccine, protecting them from common childhood illnesses.
Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months promotes the child's sensory and cognitive development and emotional bonding between the mother and baby. During the first six months, the child needs only the mother's milk, not even water.
As infants turn six-month-old, their nutritional requirement increases. Besides breast milk, they need complementary foods for increased nutrient requirements. If complementary foods are not introduced at the right age, that is, an infant's growth may falter after six months. To meet infants' nutritional needs, complementary food should be timely, adequate, safe & hygienic and adequately fed. It is essential to be responsive to the child's cues for hunger and encourage the baby to eat. The parents and family should be vigilant and responsive to the growing child's needs. Along with nutritional intervention, timely vaccination is indispensable for the health and well-being of children.
Policy formation, therefore, considers multiple components like health, nutrition, and psychosocial stimulation for the promotion of early childhood development to provide children with an excellent start to life by focusing on the first 1000 days.
The Government of Gujarat and UNICEF are committed to investing in breastfeeding support programmes- as part of a minimum package of health and nutrition interventions. It is also working to equip the healthcare workforce with the skills to provide quality counselling and practical support to mothers to breastfeed successfully.
Early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding (between 0-5 months) and continued breastfeeding (6-23 months) offer a powerful line of defence against infection and malnutrition. Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months promotes the child's sensory and cognitive development and emotional bonding between the mother and baby. During the first six months, the child needs only the mother's milk, not even water.
The Government of Gujarat and UNICEF are committed to investing in breastfeeding support programmes- as part of a minimum package of health and nutrition interventions. It is also working to equip the healthcare workforce with the skills to provide quality counselling and practical support to mothers to breastfeed successfully.
This World Breastfeeding Week, UNICEF is calling on all stakeholders, including civil society and the private sector, to step up efforts to protect, promote and support breastfeeding by:
- Informing people about their role in strengthening the warm chain of breastfeeding support. A friendly support chain creates an enabling environment that optimally empowers all women/parents to breastfeed.
- Galvanizing action on strengthening the capacity of actors and systems for transformational change around appropriate breastfeeding practices.
- Protecting caregivers and health care workers from the unethical marketing influence of the formula industry by fully adopting and implementing the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.
- Implement family-friendly policies that give all mothers time, space and support for breastfeeding. This includes providing at least 18 weeks of paid maternity leave to working mothers.
- For many mothers, returning to work is a barrier to breastfeeding their babies and providing the best nutrition.
World breastfeeding week serves as a reminder for us to ensure that breastfeeding mothers are supported every day of the year. It is a collective responsibility of families and communities and not mothers alone. This is further supported by friendly policies and programmes, support from healthcare providers, and the workplace that enables mothers to breastfeed a child successfully and gives them the best start in life.
About the authors.
K K Nirala, IAS is the Secretary & Commissioner, Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Gujarat and Prasanta Dash is the Chief of UNICEF Gujarat.
