The first 1,000 days are a key time in a child's life, from conception to the child's second birthday. It is a critical period for a child's development and health. For the record, the brain develops faster than at any other time in life. The rate of growth is unparalleled in a lifetime: a baby grows an average of 2cm per month, the size of his brain is multiplied by 5 and neuronal connections are established at a rate of 200,000 per minute!
These first 1,000 days are an opportunity for action, toaccompany today's young children , to act for tomorrow's child and adult, their well-being and future health. This is a period of great vulnerability for the child, during which external influences can have a lasting effect. The role of nutrition in particular has been highlighted, both in the womb and after birth, but also that of the emotional environment during the first 1000 days. Numerous studies have shown that when the people around the baby are empathetic, attentive and supportive, the development of the baby's brain is considerably stimulated.
This period of vulnerability for the child is also a period of vulnerability for the parents, with the feeling of being alone in the face of parenthood, its daily challenges and its dizzying array of questions. Recent surveys show that 93% of parents say they have difficulty feeding their child aged 0-3 years, that more than half of them find it difficult to be a parent, and that the same number regularly seek answers to their questions on social networks. Get support from health professionals specialising in early childhood when you encounter difficulties. We are here to listen to you! Fortunately, scientists show that biology does not decide our destiny and that it is the experience of children during the very first days and years that conditions and defines their future!
Its importance
A report on the first 1,000 days was published in September 2020 and is a public policy ambition based on the needs of the child and parents, and extended from preconception to entry into nursery school. It is a national project based on a report by experts, both on the health and social aspects, involving parents and early childhood professionals and based on 5 priority areas, some of whose objectives you may have read or heard about:
- Reinforce the first 1,000-day course built around key moments :
- Pregnancy with an early prenatal interview
- The first few weeks with an identification of difficulties and orientation of the parents; then a return home with systematic home visits and postnatal interviews, with an identification of disorders suggestive of postpartum depression
- Then the first months and finally the first years...
- Roll out the 1,000-day pathway for fragile situations with the deployment of new mother/parent-child units and the deployment in each region of at least one parenting support service...
- Provide reliable and accessible resources for parents and relatives through public health messages: the small guide to food diversification "Step by step, your child eats like a grown-up".the 1000 days booklet which contains the main key messages sent to parents by the CAF when a pregnancy is declared, the 1000 days websitea new reference site, a poster on food diversification...
- Provide additional time for the development of the parent-child relationship by extending paternity leave to 25 days for all insured persons, in addition to the 3 days of birth leave for employees, and 7 days compulsory with adaptations for non-salaried workers, who have to take a minimum of 7 days off work in order to receive compensation
- Further improve the quality of childcare with a training plan for children, a mission to identify and promote solutions for atypical working hours entrusted to the Mutualité Française and additional places for emergency and occasional childcare...
It is a synergy linked to other national and territorial strategies: the National Nutrition and Health Plan, the prevention and child protection strategy, the national health strategy 2018-2022, etc. In various territories, regional calls for projects and experiments by the ARS and CAFs are underway. The aim is to mark out the territory and provide a map to identify the "1,000 first days" places useful to (future) parents and young children via the mapping tool of theapplied 1,000 first days.
Theimportance of the first 1,000 days is now the subject of a consensus among all early childhood experts, whether they work in neuroscience, psychology, paediatrics, or are specialists in education or parenting support. They all agree on the need to over-invest in this period because, while development is intense and vulnerable, the opportunities for action are considerable. The idea is certainly not to establish a "good parent code" but to giving everyone confidence in their role as parents !
Dietician - Nutritionist specialising in paediatrics
Sources
Parenting resources :
- Step by step, your child eats like a grown-up, The little guide to food diversification: DT05-280-21B Step by step, your child eats like a grown-up (1000-premiers-jours.fr)
- Booklet of the first 1,000 days: Le livret de nos 1000 premiers jours (solidarites-sante.gouv.fr)
- Site des 1 000 premiers jours : 1000 Premiers Jours - Là où tout commence (1000-premiers-jours.fr)
- Poster diversification alimentaire : 300x400_POSTER_DIVIVERSIFICATION_ALIMENTAIRE_JUSQUA_3_ANS.pdf (1000-premiers-jours.fr)
- App 1 000 premiers jours : 1000 premiers jours - Applications on Google Play
Bibliographic sources :
- All about the first 1,000 days, 2019: 1000 jours_4 pages_2019_vPM.indd (solidarites-sante.gouv.fr)
- Report of the first 1,000 days commission, September 2020: rapport-1000-premiers-jours.pdf (solidarites-sante.gouv.fr)
- Visual support of the first 1,000 days, French Republic document, August 2021: PowerPoint presentation (solidarites-sante.gouv.fr)
