To thrive in today’s society is a challenge in itself and we tend to forget the basics of life. Prioritising your infant’s brain development is part of the basics of life – do so by laying down the foundation your infant deserves to thrive in today’s society.
This is according to Annelie Kruger, a teacher, wife, and mother who has found a way to live out her passion for early childhood development.
Annelie is a BabyGym instructor in Bloemfontein who takes pride in guiding parents through the first 1000 days of their little one’s lives. “It is my great privilege to share these special, intimate moments with many mothers and babies in Bloemfontein,” she said. Kruger explained that the first 1000 days are the most important days of a newborn’s development.
“A healthy baby is born with approximately 100 billion neurons or brain cells. The communication between the senses, brain and muscles is what develops the networks between the neurons. The first two years offer a window of opportunity to create as many well-developed, brain pathways as possible. After two years, the brain starts to prune, or cut back, the pathways that are no longer used to prioritise and optimise the pathways that are continuously being used.”
To reiterate her point, Tertia de Bruin from the MACAH Foundation, highlighted that the first 1000 days of a baby’s life – the time between conception and a child’s second birthday – is a unique period of opportunity when the foundations of optimum health, growth, and neurodevelopment across the lifespan are established.
Therefore, nutrition and environmental factors during the 1000-day window can positively affect a baby’s growth, brain development, digestive tract, metabolism, immune system and mental health.
She further advised that a well-balanced diet with optimal amounts of essential nutrients becomes critical in early life for securing the future health of any human being.
“These factors, including maternal health status and disorders such as obesity and diabetes, can alter foetal metabolism, growth, hormonal responses, gene expression, and other variables impacting lifelong health – which is called early developmental programming of adult health.
“This may influence the child’s risk of stunting, obesity, allergies, diabetes, cardiovascular and skeletal diseases later in life,” said Tersia.
Tersia further said science suggests that it is a far better policy to build the brain right in the first place through nutritional deficit prevention programmes than to depend on replacement therapy once a deficit has occurred.
Speaking on the importance of educating yourself as a parent, Annelie said that through BabyGym, parents are allowed to learn the fundamentals of infant brain development “when we gradually and gently wake up all of baby’s senses according to the natural sequence of sensory development and muscles in a specific sequence,” she explained.
Classes at the institute include parent and baby classes that start as early as 6 weeks after birth and accredited classroom-style workshops for adults.
“Knowledge is power. Find one trusted source to guide you through your new journey. My source was Dr Melodie de Jager. Motherly and Fatherly instinct is a wonderful gift we often underestimate. Be present in the moment. Our little ones grow up so fast,” concluded Kruger.
If you would like to find out more on making your baby’s first 1000 days a special journey of learning and development, contact Annelie on 084-585-5626 or send an email to annelie.kruger@babygym.com or get in touch with Tertia 082-808-6099 for more.
