First five years
The first 2000 days of life is a critical time for physical, cognitive, social, and emotional health. What happens in the first 2000 days has been shown to have an impact throughout life.
For example, early life experiences are:
- strongly predictive of how a child will learn in primary school
- a predictor of school performance, adolescent pregnancy, and involvement with the criminal justice system in the adolescent years
- linked to increased risk of drug and alcohol misuse and increased risk of antisocial and violent behaviour
- related to obesity, elevated blood pressure and depression in 20–40-year-olds
- predictive of coronary heart disease and diabetes in 40–60-year-old
- related to premature ageing and memory loss in older age groups.
NSW Information about the first five years: First five years (nsw.gov.au)