The First 1,000 Days: A Crucial Time for Mothers and Children -- And the World

by Roger Thurow

"Your child can achieve great things." A few years ago, pregnant women in four corners of the world heard those words and hoped they could be true. Among them were Esther Okwir in rural Uganda, where the infant mortality rate is among the highest in the world; Jessica Saldana, a high school student in a violence-scarred Chicago neighborhood; Shyamkali, the mother of four girls in a low-caste village in India; and Maria Estella, in Guatemala's western highlands, where most people are riddled with parasites and moms can rarely afford the fresh vegetables they farm. Greatness? It was an audacious thought, given their circumstances. But they had new cause to be they were participating in an unprecedented international initiative designed to transform their lives, the lives of their children, and ultimately the world. The 1,000 Days movement, a response to recent, devastating food crises and new research on the economic and social costs of childhood hunger and stunting, is focused on providing proper nutrition during the first 1,000 days of children's lives, beginning with their mother's pregnancy. Proper nutrition during these days can profoundly influence an individual's ability to grow, learn, and work-and determine a society's long-term health and prosperity. In this inspiring, sometimes heartbreaking book, Roger Thurow takes us into the lives of families on the forefront of the movement to illuminate the science, economics, and politics of malnutrition, charting the exciting progress of this global effort and the formidable challenges it still economic injustice, disease, lack of education and sanitation, misogyny, and corruption.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Food, School, Politics

282 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 3, 2016

Reviews

[Blake Dickinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The First 1000 Days: The vital time period from inception to a child's second birthday when their development is most important.

The story follows mothers from impoverished communities around the world and the challenges they face during this critical time period.

I found this book to be useful generally, but also specifically as a father, teacher, and Christian. As a father, I feel better prepared to be intentional during the first 1000 days of my children's lives. American society has effectively flipped this concept and prioritized later years, specifically high school when kids' progress is more evidently consequential: sleep well tonight to do better on a test tomorrow. Meanwhile, during the first 1000 days, it is tempting to contract out their development to daycare centers, iPads, and fruit snacks. We postpone education and interaction for a later date when the results of our labor are immediately visible. I want to connect and communicate with my kids and be tough enough to tell my 18-month-old that she really does need to eat her vegetables. As a teacher, I want to be aware of the needs of the students in my classroom and my community. My students are well past the first 1000 days so they need differentiated support based on how those early years went. As a Christian, I want to devote more time, attention, and resources to help young mothers and children get off to a strong start. Action steps that come to mind are providing vitamins to local pregnancy centers and providing meals for new mothers in my community throughout the 1000 days instead of ONLY right afer birth.

[Ted Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my profs assigned this book to us. At first, I was totally baffled at why I had to read this for a course on economic development. From the title, it seems like an intro to parenting, but as I got through the introduction, I saw just how important this book truly is. Thurow chronicles the lives of women and their babies through the First Thousand Days, and he comes to some startling conclusions. The nutrition and health of a child during its first thousand days (from conception up to the child's second birthday) largely determines its physical and mental health capabilities going forward. A child in the poorest country has a better chance of escaping poverty if it has access to these things. Setting a child up well gives it the best possible chance to develop. His field research and the academic research community support his claims. From a strategic perspective, I'm now convinced that a country should invest heavily in this time period and that foreign aid should be more targeted and integrated towards giving moms and their children the essential things needed. Thurow calculates that worldwide child malnutrition leads to a loss of $1 trillion every year. Malnourished children are plagued with poor immune systems, suffered through physical fatigue, and do not have the nutrition needed to mentally develop. Developing and industrialized countries cannot afford to waste so much life and human capital every year. This book was insightful and somber, but it offers hope that progress can be made.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be required reading at all levels of government. As the human race the basic needs of the least - clean drinking water and adequate nutrition - can no longer be ignored if we intend to survive as a species.

[Rikhia Chatterjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a dense book. It's got a lot of factual information and specific case studies which humanize the lasting affects of malnutrition. Malnutrition is a serious, pervasive, and ingrained issue within our global society.

[Erin Wissler Gerdes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good info, but unfortunately this is ten years old. Needs an update.

[Hamsini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly moving read, written with great sensitivity. For me, its a lesson in 'how-to-write-compelling-stories-of-public-health-nutrition'. While never trivialising on technical or policy details, the author has kept the narrative incredibly interesting. Must read for folks working in nutrition interventions in civil society, government, policy or even in any other aspect of development or public health.

[Kat Lynch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more - it's an important topic & the multi-region parallel story-telling seems like an interesting way to convey the impact of and challenges attaining good nutrition in early life. But I wanted more substance and better narrative style; the epilogue was the part I thought was consistently compelling.

[Sharman Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roger Thurow really gets to the heart of this issue with his in-depth interviews of women from around the world--and the compassionate way he tracks their pregnancies and births. His inclusion of a mother in Chicago was perfect. I have enjoyed his earlier books and I enjoyed this one, too. He knows what he is doing. A thoughtful and important writer.

[Lovelymisanthrope]

I first heard about this book on TikTok and was curious to see what insight it might offer.
“The First 1,000 Days” explores how the first 1000 days (the 270 of pregnancy and the days leading up to their second birthday) of a child’s life are the most crucial for their development and the biggest indicator of their future struggles or successes. The author followed four women from different parts of the world during this 1000 days. Although all these women came from different walks of life, they all took the time to learn about the importance of the first 1000 days and how they could best incorporate this message into their daily life.
I think the idea of this book is so imperative for people expecting a child or people who are thinking about having a child soon. So much growth and development occurs during the first 1000 days of a person’s life and it will leave a lasting impact on how they will continue to grow and develop. The author cites how at different points in history, or even just different places around the world, access to good nutrition is not easy to come by. Because of this, people grew into children and then adults with certain health risks or problems. These challenges can be directly linked to the first 1000 days.
The main focus of this book is nutrition. Nutrition is the foundation to health, and the author really dives into why a good, varied diet is so crucial during this time. The author also explores specifically how these women are getting this information and how they are acting upon it so they can set their babies up for the best possible future.
There are points where the knowledge the author presented felt very repetitive and circular. I felt like the book overall could have been cut in half and we would have gotten the same information. The only gain in having the book be longer is that we got to learn more about each of the mothers individually and their journeys with their newborns.
I do not think this book is necessarily imperative to read cover to cover, but I do think the ideas and facts presented in this book are so important for parents to know!

[Michaela Vindel · Rating 5 out of 5]

To describe this book as absolutely heartbreaking doesn't begin to describe it accurately. The first 30 pages wrecked me emotionally. I had expected a soothing-prep-for-baby book to encourage connection & nutrition in early childhood but this was not that book.
This was hard to read as I am nearing my due date, just a few weeks away, but it is an important read none-the-less.

The author dove deep into the research and politics of the global malnutrition crisis, giving deeply informational insights to the reader while at the same time walking through the pregnancy and first 2 years of several mothers and families around the world. It read like a documentary in that way.

To say I am fortunate to have access to clean water, nutritious, colorful foods and education is an understatement. This was a completely new topic for me and I am forever grateful to better understand the complex topic that is supporting early childhood development.

The book was filled with tragedy and gratitude, death and hope, sorrow and joy. A must read.

[Autumn H · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really informative and interesting read that makes you reconsider the lottery of birth that’s true for each of us. Thurow does a great job examining 4 different cultures through multiple women’s pregnancies while tying in the context of each country. It was very balanced, thorough, and personal due to the case studies, which surprised me and kept the story moving. It’s not something I could read over and over but what I read will definitely stick with me for life

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book at a conference I attended last year. A great series of case studies on maternal-child nutrition written in a digestible, journalistic voice for non-technical types. It kills me that Chicago is one of the case studies in this book, but by including a US example in the global context, Thurow raises important domestic policy issues that affect early childhood nutrition.

[Josie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative and highlights the importance of not only childhood nutrition, but the impact the nutrition of a pregnant person has on their baby

[Sarah Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would highly recommend this book. It was incredibly eye opening and I learned a lot. It lost a start for me because it was a complete grind to get through toward the end. Not my genre typically but absolutely packed with information.

[Sarah Click · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and educating. Not a topic I have ever felt particularly drawn to, but this sparked my interest and changed my perspective on world hunger. Glad I read this.

[Isabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

read for class. interesting, but scary to read about the state of our world

[Rebekah Carrizales · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a future pediatrician, this book was very useful to keep abreast of the health issues that children and families face on a global scale. Very well researched and accessible to most audiences.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have all this knowledge about having kids but I don’t want kids so now what

[Meepspeeps · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Wash your hands. Eat vegetables." The author says messages across the globe from health workers to mothers were "uniformly mundane...but they all moved in the same essential pattern: community by community, mother by mother." He makes two big barriers obvious, but doesn't offer much in the way of solutions: 1. providing knowledge and services via the government isn't particularly effective and 2. peeps are too poor to clean their wells in order to wash hands, and often cannot afford vegetables. He included some mothers in Chicago, providing a good comparison to the other mothers. Things that frustrated me about the book: 1. there were no notes, so for example, the author cited a study that I wanted to know more about yet there was no note to help and 2. he used "African" several times as a descriptor instead of being more specific, which means a Continent's worth of generalization. He could have used the specific ethnic music, which newborns (sub-Saharan in low resource settings?) not all African newborns. There are better books on these subjects including the author's own "The Last Hunger Season."

[Michael Kearney · Rating 3 out of 5]

We live in an age of plenty, but sadly many are malnourished and live in dire poverty where illness and death are still everyday occurrences. This book chronicles that phenomenon and gives an up date on many efforts to improve nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life( conception to year 2).
Two stories stand out for me. One is the incredible ignorance about modern birthing knowledge inn areas of rural India. The mother's colostrum is discarded because it is considered unclean, part of the after-birth. Also the babies are massaged with mustard oil leaving the baby exposed longer and would harm the skin barrier function leading to infection.
The other story deals with the low rates of breastfeeding mothers in inner city Chicago, Illinois. there was referenced a 2013 'Breastfeeding Report Card' that revealed that about 77% of infants in the US were breastfed at some time. That number declines as the child becomes older. Holy Cross hospital (in Chicago) had a 10% rate of breastfeeding.
The book talked some about SNAP and WIC. both programs here in the Us that help parents with limited income feed their infants. I would like to see better nutrition in the schools.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

The First 1,00 days is an important book in the sometimes hopeless appearing race to cure poverty. Or at least minimize the endless cycle of suffering. The story it tells focuses efforts in a measurable way on preventing the life long burden of stunting on the infants and families living in poverty. It is a book about doing and restoring hope in the face of crushing, relentless poverty and struggle. Yes, It could have been a shorter book. The reported results could have been more convincingly positive. Maybe the writing could even have been more succinct or dramatic. But perhaps the message of simple efforts in diverse situations ...inching the needle of hope one step forward ...would not have come across nearly so clearly. We can do this . We know how. Why is it not happening? Now. Today.
This is a big book about big ideas. How to fix the world.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

The topic deserves 5 stars but I found the book too long and pedantic. It should have been an op ed. It is the story of children born into poverty and the work of health aides who try to teach the mothers about nutrition and sanitation. In most cases, the poverty seems to win. Maybe I just needed something more uplifting right now.

[Gail Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short, but informative read that explains the important long term effects of the First 1,ooo Days which are humanized by the stories of mothers worldwide. Thurow's writing is straightforward and exact with a gift for making the reader feel that we are in the room with the mothers themselves.

[Tova · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart breaks for the families like the ones in this book. Empowering mothers to take care of their families takes more than information, it takes government support and family-friendly policies.