Does Your Baby W-Sit?
Does your baby sit with his bottom on the floor with his feet wider than his hips? This position is called W-sitting because the child’s legs make the letter W. If a munchkin spends most of his time in this position, it can lead to issues with a baby’s hip structure, poor strength, poor muscle coordination, and delayed movement milestones.
If your munchkin sits in a W-sit on occasion, then it is absolutely fine. My munchkin sits in a W-sit at times but she typically changes positions within a minute or two. This position is only an issue for those munchkins who prefer to sit this way, or do not have the capability of sitting in other positions. Here are the reasons why consistent W-sitting can cause issues for your munchkin down the road.
Hip structure: The hip joint is structured as a ball (thigh bone) and socket (pelvis) joint. These bones are malleable and change shape according to whatever stress is placed on them, specifically in the first few years of life. When a munchkin is W-sitting, it places the ball and socket in a position that does not apply optimal pressure or stress resulting in a shallow socket. If the socket is shallow, it can cause dislocations of the hips, poor mobility of the hip joint, and pain later on. A healthy hip has equal mobility rotating inward and outward. W-sitting causes babies hips to have more mobility rotating inwards.
Strength:
Gluteal muscles: All skeletal muscle has an optimal position for function. In other words, if a muscle is too far stretched, it will not be able to produce a strong contraction. When in the W-sitting position, the gluteal muscles are put on excessive stretch by the maximum internal rotation position in W-sitting. This makes it difficult for munchkins to use the gluteal muscles when doing things like running, jumping, going up and down stairs, and riding a bike. These functional activities can be impacted by consistent W-sitting due to poor gluteal strength.
Core muscles: Since W-sitting provides the munchkin with a wide base of support, the core muscles "turn off" while in this position. Core muscles are needed to effectively transition from sitting, down to tummy, back up into sitting, and eventually crawling on hands and knees. Not fully developing the core muscles can also lead to ineffective movement patterns and delays down the road.
Muscle coordination: The connection between the human’s brain and muscles is complicated. To simplify, the muscles need to get the right messaging from the brain to turn on and off in a coordinated way to achieve the desired movement. When muscles are not utilized often or if the muscles are weak, it causes the brain to use other muscles to compensate for a specific movement. When these alternative muscles are used, it makes movement such as running or jumping inefficient and appear uncoordinated. This is especially true in toddlers who walk pigeon-toed. In this situation, the better muscles for walking are not being used. When children develop, we want them to develop all their muscles equally so that they are using the best muscles for a specific movement. Therefore, since consistent W-sitting causes muscle strength imbalances, it also causes poor use and coordination of muscle groups.
Delayed movement milestones: When a munchkin is in the W-sitting position, it is more difficult to rotate his body (i.e. face his shoulders a different direction than his hips). This can lead to delayed movement milestones as body rotation is needed for milestones such as crawling, pulling to stand, walking, running, and skipping. In addition, the weakness explained above can also cause delayed movement milestones.
So what do you do if your baby prefers to sit in a W-sit? First, you can try to encourage other sitting positions by gently moving his legs in criss cross or side-sitting. If it continues, contact a pediatric physical therapist. An assessment of your munchkin’s movement will help the therapist give you tips on how to encourage healthier sitting postures.
-Keep your munchkin moving!
