Why are The First 1000 Days so crucial for my baby’s development

You may have heard about the importance of the ‘first thousand days’ of a child’s life. It’s not just talking about once a baby is born, the First 1000 Days is referring to the period of development all the way from conception up to age two.

It’s a time where the brain, body and immune system develop significantly. To put this in perspective, a baby develops from one single cell to 500 trillion cells during the First 1000 Days!¹ That’s a lot of growing and developing going on!

Your growing baby will rely on you to get the right nutrition during their first 1000 days of life. Before, during and after pregnancy, you should try to maintain a healthy diet from a range of food groups, to help ensure you and your baby are getting enough essential nutrients.

There is also evidence to suggest that the protective effects of good nutrition during the first 1000 days can help maintain health later in life, which makes it even more important to get right (or as close to right as you can!).

A well-balanced diet filled with essential vitamins and minerals is crucial to help sustain your baby’s growth and development, in addition to supporting your own health and wellbeing at the same time.

Some of the key micronutrients that a baby needs for their first 1000 days are:

• Folic Acid: helps to prevent neural tube defects like spina bifida.
• DHA: Supports healthy brain development.
• Iron: Supports energy levels and helps transport oxygen in the blood. Low iron levels can have an impact on baby’s development.
• Iodine: Required for thyroid hormones and is essential for healthy growth, particularly cognitive development.
• Magnesium: Important for healthy structure of bones and teeth
• Selenium: An essential mineral with antioxidant properties, which plays a vital role supporting immune system function & brain development
• Vitamin D: Helps the body absorb the calcium it needs to support muscle strength and bone health and also promotes immune function.
• B Group Vitamins: The body needs B group vitamins to help it use the fuel we get from foods, such as carbohydrates, protein and fat, which are all needed for energy.
• Choline: Is required by the body for many steps in metabolism and is not made in adequate quantities by the body and must be obtained through diet. Choline is found in food sources such as liver, poultry, fish, dairy products and eggs.

If that seems like an overwhelming amount of nutrients to get right, that’s because it kind of is. It can be difficult to meet these nutritional requirements in your diet alone, particularly when you’re pregnant or breastfeeding because your demand for nutrients increases in these stages to enable you to support your precious growing baby.

Morning sickness and fatigue can occur during pregnancy and are just a couple of challenges expecting mothers can face when it comes to meeting nutritional needs.

This is where a prenatal multivitamin, like Elevit Pre-conception & Pregnancy multivitamin*, may help you reach your recommended daily intake targets to help support you and your baby’s healthy development. Elevit contains 19 essential vitamins and minerals and meets the recommended daily intake for folic acid, iron, and iodine in just one small tablet daily². No other pregnancy vitamin contains more folic acid and iron than Elevit, (as of November 2022).

Start looking after your nutritional needs early

It’s never too late to start taking a prenatal multivitamin, however critical development of vital organs takes places within the first eight weeks of pregnancy. In order for your body to be able to fully support these developments, it requires higher levels of the nutrients listed above.

Building up these levels can take time, which is why it is recommended to start taking supplements at least one month prior to getting pregnant. That way, your body is ready to support your baby’s health from the moment of conception and onwards.

Taking the time to plan and make sure there are adequate nutritional levels in the body at conception makes a fundamental contribution towards baby’s life-long health and that is so worth it, don’t you think?

It’s also equally important to continue taking your Elevit Pre-conception & Pregnancy multivitamin throughout all stages of your pregnancy, right until your baby is born to continue supporting your energy, immunity and baby’s healthy growth and development.

*Advise your doctor of any medicine you take during your pregnancy, particularly in your first trimester.

Always read the label and follow the directions for use. If you have a baby with neural tube defects/spina bifida seek specific medical advice.

Brought to you by – Elevit – the experts in pregnancy nutrition. 

1. Geraghty AA. et al. Nutri Metab Insights. 2015;8(Suppl 1):41-47
2. NHMRC Clinical Practice Guidelines Pregnancy Care 2020 Edition. Available at: https://www.health.gov.au/resources/pregnancy-care-guidelines/part-c-lifestyle-considerations.