Zero to Three - The Most Important Years

Reading time: 10 minutes

Zero to Three - The Most Important Years of Your Child’s Life

At birth, the average baby’s brain is only a quarter of the size it will grow to as an adult. Despite being the control hub of the body, our brain is the only organ so underdeveloped at birth. During the first year of life, the brain doubles in size, reaching 80% of adult size by age three. Newborn babies on average have 100 billion neurons (brain cells) this is the most this baby will ever have. Directly after birth, the brain starts creating connections between cells – these neural connections (synapses) are what make the brain work, these connections enable communication, movement, thought, problem-solving, etc. The first three years have been established as the most crucial developmental phase for the brain to make connections. With at least one million new neural connections every second the early brain surpasses the capabilities of network building of any other phase of life.

Various regions of the brain managing different functions including emotions, movement, speech, thought, sight, communication, and self-control all develop at different rates. Long-term, successful early brain development will allow children’s brains to build complex neural networks leading to multi-tasking, abstract thinking, and complex problem-solving. Genetics influence the development of the young brain, however, neuroscience and general scientific research continue to highlight the value and urgency of positive early life experiences for brain development. Experiences in the first three years of life contribute significantly through positive and negative impact on brain development, leaving lasting impact on health, the ability to adapt and learn, and ultimate life-long success.

Development

Learning and development are subdivided into various types of learning, which occur during different times of human development. Babies and toddlers aged between zero and three, are specifically sensitive to relationship-building, and sensory pathway development. These areas of brain development include hearing, language, and communication, and the advancement of the higher cognitive functioning part of the brain, which reach their peak during this critical time.

At this stage of development, the baby/toddler’s brain is developing 1 million neural connections per second.

Think about that for a second! 1 million connections per second!

Everything in their environment is new, exciting, and an opportunity to learn, their brains are soaking up new information, and they are experiencing love, care, support, and communication from their parents/caregivers. Children who are in loving homes with responsive parents learn to trust and rely on the adults in their lives. Research suggests children use their experience in early relationships to form a relationship template including a basis for the development of their self-concept, self-esteem, confidence, emotional, social, and cognitive development.

• secure attachment
• daily bonding with a primary parent
• stability
• a multitude of factors in their home environment
• parenting styles
• socio-economic status
• quality of interpersonal relationships
• socialization
• access to quality medical care
• one-on-one attention
• physical well-being
• quality age-appropriate stimulation

Relationships and Attachment

From birth, babies offer opportunities for parents to engage with them, by smiling, cooing, crying, and expressing emotions on their faces. Toddlers continue to grow in their communication ability by introducing words and actions to directly indicate their interests and needs. Every time a baby reacts through a sound, crying, or other forms of expression, parents have the opportunity to directly engage in or respond to a baby’s needs or to ignore it and remain unresponsive. Both decisions directly affect a baby’s development of attachment and trust.

Parents who are responsive and who consistently engage with a baby in response to a signal, help to wire the baby’s brain with positive connections. Interactions from parents including talking, singing, playing, engaging, and reading to babies from birth, offer opportunities to connect, attach, and explore their safe, stable environment. A consistently responsive, caring, and calm environment encourages babies to seek engagement through physical gestures, for instance holding up their arms or pointing to a specific object. Gradually babies realize they can get assistance and meet their needs through their own actions.

This basic sense of trust encourages a toddler and gives them the confidence to explore and learn further and further away from their parents. They can wander a little further, try new things, or explore even without the direct engagement of the primary parent. Secure attachment in one or both parents is the foundation for a child’s willingness, ability, and confidence to explore and learn. This will affect all aspects of learning as their social, physical, cognitive, communication, and behavioral development increases over time. The first three years are known for rapid growth and changes in physical and cognitive capabilities. A baby’s ability to communicate and understand language grows from understanding basic words to being able to replicate sentences within the first three years. From reflex-based movements to gaining control over their bodies and movement through independently sitting, crawling, standing, walking, and eventually running and jumping! All within the first three years!

Adverse negative effects

A large amount of research has been conducted on the importance of brain development within the first three years including the factors needed for the positive growth of neural connections, and the impact on life-long learning, physical development, relationships, and long-term success. Unfortunately, the opposite is also highlighted by a multitude of studies. Adverse conditions, environments, and experiences become embedded in babies’ bodies, negatively impacting all aspects of life including mental health, emotional development, general health, relationships, and life outcomes.

Due to the absolute reliance of babies on their parents, their survival is contingent on the engagement, nurturing, and level of responsiveness they receive. In cases where parents are unresponsive, distracted, or slow to respond or engage in harsh, unloving, or robotic fashion without the fundamental care and attention required, babies experience this as stress. Stress is detrimental to the positive development of babies.

Lack of stimulation, poverty, abuse, extreme family violence, substance abuse, neglect, social isolation, exposure to dangerous conditions, and lack of quality care or learning experience all negatively impact early development. Often referred to as toxic stress, all conditions that lead to the activation of a stress response in babies for a prolonged period of time without trusted, supportive parents to lower the stress is extremely damaging. Toxic stress in babies changes and weakens the architecture of the brain. It is important to note that all babies will experience short periods of regular levels of stress, this is needed for the development of a healthy brain and a way to practice reaction against threats. Toxic stress does not lead to healthy brain development, it obstructs the normal development of neural connections, damaging and preventing constructive development of the frontal cortex where higher-order skills are contained.

A growing body of research is considering the overuse of screens by parents, screen addiction, and parental neglect/ social neglect due to excessive screen usage on the development of secure attachment, significant rise of stress in babies, and subsequent developmental delays. Situations where parents are engaged on screens while feeding babies, non-responsiveness, or the inability to fully engage with babies due to screen time, are on the rise. Babies may experience this as prolonged periods of stress, without the intervention of a supportive adult, longer term, this could classify as a form of toxic stress.

Early Prevention

The early encouragement of positive brain development practices with parents and in household environments is crucial. Many parents however do not have the option of spending the majority of their time with children during the crucial first three years of their lives. In many cases, babies are placed in daycare, nurseries, or infant learning programs. Often, babies under 2 years old in Asia, are left in the care of helpers (staff from third-world nations tasked with household chores and infant care duties). Research highlights distinct differences between care options that are effective for successful development and others. The science used to evaluate infant care categorizes these elements as effectiveness factors. Major factors that are needed to ensure high-quality early care include:

1. Well-qualified, educated, trained, and well-remunerated carers/teachers/educators/staff
2. A language-rich environment with first-language users
3. Abundant personal attention (Small group sizes, one-on-one is optimal)
4. An age, developmental, and if possible, level-appropriate curriculum/learning plan
5. A safe, clean, calm, stable environment
6. Responsive, kind, and nurturing adults solely focused on the development and well-being of babies and toddlers under their supervision

Research continues to support the importance of providing babies with the highest quality of care, including consideration for the factors listed above, in cases where parents are unavailable for full-time duties. As with most other services, the quality of the program, is directly proportional to the price parents pay. Extensive investigations by economists indicate that the investment into early education and development of children during their earliest years produces the greatest returns of all expenses incurred during child-rearing. The return on investment on average for placement into an effective early childhood program ranges between $4 -$9 per dollar invested. Society benefits from children who are developed through well-managed programs through early education preparation, early intervention, corrective and successful development, and eventually increased tax revenue from productive citizens.

Get the right help

Babies are born with unimaginable potential. What you do for the development of their brain during the first three years will prepare them for life. Leaving the development of your baby’s brain to unqualified, unresponsive, inexperienced carers is a huge risk to the long-term academic and life success of your child.

Give your baby and toddler the opportunity to receive one-on-one attention and developmentally appropriate stimulation from me - a Doctor of Paedology and an Early Childhood Development Specialist in a safe, nurturing, enriching environment. If the investment into an average early childhood group program can yield a return of $9 per dollar spent, imagine the return on investment you could expect!

Contact us now, while your baby’s brain is at its peak, for positive early learning experiences, to see maximum results! Book your individualized early development session exclusively for children under three!

What Research tells us

Bai, D., Wang, P., Cui, L. et al. (2022). Influence of Maternal Mobile Phone Addiction on Preschool Child Neglect in Urban China: A Cross-Sectional Study. https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=117186

de Magalhaes-Barbosa, M. C., Prata-Barbosa, A., et al. (2021). Toxic stress, epigenetics, and child development. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9510910/

Dennis, C.-L., Carsley, S., Brennenstuhl, S., et al. (2022). Screen use and internet addiction among parents of young children: A nationwide Canadian cross-sectional survey. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8803162/

Developing Child Harvard. (2007). In Brief: Early Childhood Program Effectiveness. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-early-childhood-program-effectiveness/

Developing Child Harvard. (2007). In Brief: The Impact of Early Adversity on Children's Development. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-the-impact-of-early-adversity-on-childrens-development/

Developing Child Harvard. (2007). In Brief: The Science of Early Childhood Development. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-science-of-ecd/

Heckman, J. J. (2012). Invest in early childhood development: Reduce deficits, strengthen the economy. https://heckmanequation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/F_HeckmanDeficitPieceCUSTOM-Generic_052714-3-1.pdf

Linder, L. K., McDaniel, B.T., Stockdal, L., & Coyne, S.M. (2021). The Impact of Parent and Child Media use on Early Parent-Infant Attachment. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33773012/

Lioret, S., Campbell, K. J., Naughton, S. A., et al. (2020). Lifestyle Patterns Begin in Early Childhood, Persist and Are Socioeconomically Patterned, Confirming the Importance of Early Life Interventions. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/3/724

McDaniel, B. T., and Radsky, J. S. (2018). Technoference: Parent Distraction with Technology and Associations with Child Behavior Problems. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5681450/#R4

Myruski, S., Gulyayeva, O., Birk, S., et al. (2017). Digital Disruption? Maternal Mobile Device Use Is Related to Infant Social-Emotional Functioning. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12610