A child’s brain experiences its most rapid and critical development during the first four years of life, more than at any other stage. Every aspect of a child’s growth, development, and behaviour offers valuable insight into the function and health of the brain and central nervous system.

Today’s children are increasingly exposed to high levels of physical, emotional, and chemical stress. While a healthy and adaptable nervous system is designed to manage these stressors, chronic exposure can overwhelm its capacity to adapt. When this threshold is exceeded, the nervous system may shift into a prolonged sympathetic dominant state, where "fight or flight" becomes the body’s default mode of operation. This is much more pertinent when the child has had a traumatic birth or the mum had a significant amount of prenatal stress.

This persistent stress response can lead to vagus nerve dysfunction, disrupting the balance of the autonomic nervous system and impairing the body’s ability to regulate, recover, and heal. Over time, this dysregulation can negatively affect brain function, reinforcing poor neurological patterns and contributing to a wide range of behavioural, developmental, and health challenges such as: