The First 1,000 Days

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Wednesday, December 13, 2023 12:00 pm

The first 1,000 days of a child’s life are a time of tremendous potential and enormous vulnerability. How well or how poorly mothers and children are nourished and cared for during this time has a profound impact on a child’s ability to grow, learn and thrive. This is because the first 1,000 days are when a child’s brain begins to grow and develop and when the foundations for their lifelong health are built.

This work of forging pathways out of poverty for children on the margins and preparing them for life success can happen through the global Catholic Church and its parish system; Home, Church, and School; when other infrastructure fails or is absent.

Raising Resilient Children explores the science of early childhood development and how parents, health professionals, and the Catholic Church can positively shape children’s future outcomes.

Join Neil Boothby, director of the Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child, and Dr. Carrie Quinn, M.D. ’96, executive director of the Mount Sinai Parenting Center for a discussion about insights from the field of neuroscience, biology, and early childhood development into how human relationships, nutrition, and environments in the first 1,000 days between a woman’s pregnancy and a child’s second birthday shape future outcomes.

Meet the Faculty: Neil Boothby

Dr. Neil Boothby is a Professor and Director of the Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child at the University of Notre Dame. He is an internationally recognized expert and advocate for children affected by war, displacement and abject poverty.  As a senior representative of UNICEF, UNHCR, and Save the Children, he has worked for more than 25 years with children in adversity in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. He is the former director of the Program on Forced Migration and Health at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, and his research focuses on ways to create pathways out of adversity for children and youth.  He is also the recipient of several awards for his fieldwork, including the Red Cross Humanitarian of the Year Award, for his work with child soldiers, the Mickey Leyland Award, for his work on behalf of uprooted people, the United Nation’s Golden Achievement Award, for excellence in social sector activities, and Duke University’s Humanitarian Service Award.

Meet the Speaker: Dr. Carrie Quinn, M.D. '96

Dr. Carrie Quinn ’96 is a primary care pediatrician and the executive director of the Mount Sinai Parenting Center. Her work at the Parenting Center promotes strong parent-child relationships and early childhood development by training healthcare professionals and transforming the physical environment to enhance existing pediatric healthcare interactions. Her team has created a free, online residency curriculum, the Keystones of Development, that demonstrates how to promote positive parenting behaviors during routine well child visits. This curriculum is currently being used to train thousands of residents at over 450 residency programs across the country. In addition, the Parenting Center has produced a suite of parenting resources and videos, including Caring For Your Newborn and the Sparks Parent Video Series, which blend the promotion of social-emotional and cognitive development with medical, safety, sleep and nutrition guidance. In 2019, the Parenting Center created an early childhood ad campaign, trained hundreds of hospital staff members and installed over 100 messages throughout hospital units that encouraged back and forth, brain-building interactions between adults and children.  Prior to her work with the Parenting Center, Dr. Quinn practiced primary care in Queens, New York and at the Faculty Practice within the Department of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She received her undergraduate degree in Science-Business from the University of Notre Dam in 1996 and her medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine.  Dr. Quinn completed her residency in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center in the Boston Combined Residency Program.

Success Starts at Home: Positive Discipline

“Sikse kòmanse lakay- disiplin pozitif ” or “Success Begins at Home: Positive Discipline is a positive parenting video, in Haitian Creole, that shares practical insights and tips on how parents can integrate positive parenting practices into their daily lives.

Additional Resources

Mount Sinai Parenting Center has created a suite of free resources to promote positive parenting behaviors and strong parent-child relationships within everyday healthcare moments. Read more here.