Nutritional Approaches in the First 1000 Days of Life

Abstract

The concept of nutrition is related to the Goal Number 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG3). The chapter mentions a newborn triad: warmth, food, and security. Using the life cycle approach, as the first step, one can trace the life of 270 days or 9 months as the intra uterine (IU) life in the womb of the mother. The next step in life is the neonatal stage followed by the infancy stage where the neonatal stage is for the first 28 days of life and the infancy is up to the first 365 days of life. The next phase is the young child (YC) stage where it lasts up to the age of two years. The chapter deals with this first 1000 days of life (270+365*2=1000) and the related nutritional modalities. This stage of 1000 days is critical as efforts in this phase will lead to prevention of nutritional disorders later in life. Needless to say, these efforts will also help us to effectively manage and treat nutritional disorders in children in early and late childhood.