Heiko Schipper, Head of Infant Nutrition at Nestle under the theme Nestle Nutrition Journey. He started out by explaining the concept of the first 1,000 days of life for a newborn. It is important to understand what takes place in terms of the anatomical and physiological changes and we are better able to respond and know what product to supplement infants with. In 1866, the founding father of Nestle combined science and consumer understanding to create the first product, which was a milk cereal. He did this because of the frequent occurrence of infant mortality. To clarify that, infant mortality is the death of a child less than one year of age. Also, there is childhood mortality which is the death of a child before the child's fifth birthday. According to the United Nations (UN) organization, and WHO, national statistics tend to group these two mortality rates together. Globally, ten million infants and children die each year before their fifth birthday; 99% of these deaths occur in developing nations and infant mortality takes away society's potential physical, social, and human capital. The milk cereal he created helped to save the lives of many infants. .
The first 1,000 days starts at conception and finishes around 2 years of age. This period according to Mr. Schipper is the most vital as it is a very unique period. He then showed a video with some interesting and pretty remarkable information. The video spoke above the miracle that babies are from the fertilization point straight to birth when they are a part of the physical world in which we live. As they grow and start to crawl, walk, and talk, science helps us to understand them better and as such we are better able to facilitate their growth and development. By doing this babies reach their full potential in terms of health and they overall live healthier lives. Appropriate nutrition has a positive effect on the development of children.