What if I tell you that at the time of birth a child is 270 days old and on his first birthday celebration he is not one year old but one year and 9 months old, would you believe me? No, right. But this is true, and believe me when I say that I was both surprised and shocked to hear it.
A few weeks earlier, to be precise on 12th September 2015, Nestlé Pakistan with the help of The Digital Factory hosted a blogger meet up covered by the hashtag “#First1000Days” under its ascendancy ‘Start Healthy, Stay Healthy’. The event was kick started by Dr. Huma Fahim, Medical Advisor in Nestlé Pakistan, by explaining the life cycle of a child during his first 1000 days, i.e. 270 days before birth and 730 days after birth, and how it is effected by the food taken by the mother. The nutrition taken by the mother directly impacts the child from conception to the second year after birth, which means a malnutrition or an over-nutrition can greatly effect the physical and mental state of the child, who can be very small in size or very obese through out his life, respectively. It has been observed that only 1.6% of the mothers know about the importance of zinc, iron and folic acid during pregnancy because lack of these nutrition can effect the IQ of the child. Just because of mal-nutrition or over nutrition, the average height of a Pakistani citizen has fallen by 4 inches now. All in all, the presentation and information passed on by Dr. Huma Fahim is essential for the growth of Paksitan.
Some facts and information from the event, shared by tweeteratis:
Then the spotlight was taken by Nestlé Pakistan Compliance Manager, Shah Mujeeb-ud-Din, who further explained the importance of mother’s milk for the child during the first 1000 days. I would like to quote him here,
“Insaan ka doodh hai insaan ke bachoo ke liye, aur gaaye ka doodh hai gaaye ke bache ke liye!”
So, a mother’s milk is the gold star for the child, as recommended by WHO, but in case the mother is a victim of mal-nutrition, milk from Nestlé can be used as its full of nutrition and minerals required by the child until the age of two from the point of conception.
The event was attended by many well-known bloggers and twitteratis, who pledged to raise the awareness about the First 1000 Days for the better and healthy future of Pakistan. You can find more information by following the hashtag “#First1000Days”.
Being Saad Ilamdin 
Please see another perspective to the story. I didn’t attend the workshop but wanted to write something from a different angle. Hope you’ll enjoy it: Gulabjamuns and Rasgullas: A peek into the obesity factor in Pakistan http://wp.me/p3xJTf-71