As a child grows and developes, he learns many new things.
There is nothing more fulfilling and wonderful than watching your own child progress from crawling, to sitting, and ultimately to making his first steps.
But any new movement is not an easy task for the child. It needs a lot of training before the movement becomes automatic.
When they are little babies, it is difficult to monitor or control any new movement of the child, but as they grow and understand the body and its movements better, bad or harmful habits can be managed and repaired.
Sitting in the W position is a great example – doctors now warn that sitting in this position can be dangerous for children.
In the above image you can see what the W position looks like.
The child sits on the buttocks, forming with the legs a shape of the letter W.
But many parents ignore the fact that sitting in this position can be very detrimental to the child’s physical development.
According to the physiotherapist Magdalena Oletska, sitting in this position can lead to a rotation of the hips, knees and feet – which can complicate physical development.
According to doctors from Movement RX in San Francisco, it’s not just your feet, ankles and knees that can be harmed.
When a child sits in this position it may be a sign that his abdominal muscles are too weak to sit in a different position.
“If your child is sitting in different positions, there is no need to worry. But if the child is sitting only in the W position, I would go to a pediatrician and ask to see a physical therapist to see that there is no hidden reason”, Magdalena states.
Fortunately, there are other positions that children can learn and adopt.
Magdalena Oletska recommends encouraging the child to sit upright, with his legs forward, for example.
Cross-legged seating is good also, according to experts. The important thing is that the child can move the buttocks in any direction, so that the core muscles develop well. The younger the child, the more critical it becomes.
If you see your child often sitting in the W position, gently encourage him or her to sit in other positions.
Since most children and parents are unaware of the danger of this sitting position, it is important to help and share each other with this information.
Share this important information with your friends and family so they too are aware of the dangers also.