Ginny Cruz's Blog: Grow with Ginny

An increasing number of parents now realize that babies and toddlers need healthier play options than those offered by electronic devices. Yes, screens are easy for parents, especially when we’re busy and tired. Yet the research showing the harms to young brains caused by inadequate offline play activities is now finding its way into daily conversations. And those mom-to-mom discussions often lead to the question: What screen-free play activities are best?

Let me give you some ideas.

Screen-Free Play Ideas for 0-6 Months:

What do babies crave during these early months? They love faces, voices, and gentle movement.

Knowing what they crave helps us decide which play ideas to implement. It also helps when parents understand that babies often crave things they need. They need faces, voices, and gentle movement because what your baby is learning in these first few months is:

Who are these people in my life?What do their voices sound like?Can I trust them to take care of my needs?

A few play ideas:

Face-to-face talking, singing, and exaggerated expressions.Tummy time using a baby-safe mirror.Soft black-and-white or high contrast cards or books.Slow music and rocking.

*You can find a ton more ideas in my latest book, The New Mom’s Guide: Help and Hope for Baby’s First Year.

Tip: They need a few toys and lots of YOU!

Screen-Free Play Ideas for 6-12 Months:

What is your baby craving/needing during the latter half of their first year? Babies adore cause-and-effect toys and activities that offer different types of sensory input (vision, touch, smell, taste, hearing, and movement).

Cause-and-effect toys teach babies how their actions influence their world, plus how to solve problems. For example, to make the bunny pop up, your baby must push a button. Babies also crave sensory input because exploring their senses builds vital nerve pathways in their brains that promote cognitive growth, problem-solving, and memory.

A few play ideas:

Board books with textures, flaps, and poppers.Stacking cups and rings.Musical toys (simple, not flashy).Peekaboo and Pat-a-Cake.

*You can find a ton more ideas in my latest book, The New Mom’s Guide: Help and Hope for Baby’s First Year.

Tip: Everything is going into their mouths because they’re exploring. Watch them like a hawk!

Screen-Free Play Ideas for 12-18 Months (Toddlers):

Most babies are walking by the first half of their second year, which is why they are called toddlers. The word toddler stems from the word toddle which means to walk with short, unsteady steps.

What do toddlers crave? They are often on the move (whether crawling or walking) and crave movement and the imitation of actions, sounds, and behaviors.

A few play ideas:

Push/pull toys.Chunky puzzles.Household items (wooden spoons, plastic bowls, hairbrushes, etc.). Avoid remote controls.Songs with motions (“Wheels on the Bus” or “If You’re Happy and You Know It”).

Tip: Toddlers love copying you, so invite them to “help”.

*You can find a ton more ideas in my latest book, The New Mom’s Guide: Help and Hope for Baby’s First Year.

Screen-Free Play Ideas for 18-24 Months (Toddlers):

Older toddlers want independence, and “I do it!” is their preferred command. They also love, love, love repetition. While parents tire of reading the same book a hundred times, it helps us to remember that repetition is how children learn (adults, too).

A few play ideas:

Simple pretend play (baby doll, toy phone, animals).Crayons and blank paper. Scribbling is what they’re working on, not staying inside the lines.Ball play (rolling back and forth, kicking, tossing).Water play (splashing, dipping, pouring). Use bathtubs, sinks, and water play stations.

Tip: Repetition is not boring; it’s brain-building.

*You can find a ton more ideas in my latest book, The New Mom’s Guide: Help and Hope for Baby’s First Year. While my book focuses on first-year play skills, many of those same activities carry over into toddlerhood, especially if your baby is delayed in meeting some milestones.

A Final, but Important Reframe

Your baby will crave devices (tablets or smartphones), but it is not because they need them. While their desires for other play activities (listed above) stem from the need to learn certain skills, devices are created to addict them to unhealthy activities.

You have not failed as a parent if your baby loves devices; we all love them. Yet our brains are fully formed, and our children’s are not. That is the essential difference. Research shows that the brains of children who spend too much time on screens are not developing normally, leading to developmental delays, behavioral, and academic struggles.

Screens capture our children’s attention so strongly that they become disinterested in real life. Yet the real world (offline) is where they need to play so their brains develop properly.

Our babies trust us to do what’s best for them. And playing with screen-free activities, as listed above, is what is best for their brain development.
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Ways to Get Started

Please join the growing movement of parents (and grandparents) ditching screens to give their children a healthy brain and a head start on academic success.

What are the things that are stopping you from implementing a screen-free or screen-lite lifestyle?

 

Are you looking for an online mom (or grandmom) support group? Join Tummy Time Prayers on Facebook. We’d love to have you.

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Tired of hearing about how your toddler’s tablet habits are harmful, but don’t know what to do?

In my article, Scary New Research Shows Toddler Screen Time Linked to Teenage Problems, I pulled back the curtain on how excessive screen time for toddlers can lead to increased teenage anxiety and decision-making struggles. I don’t know about you, but those findings scared me!

Many young mothers and grandmothers ask, “How can I decrease my toddler’s screen time?” Here’s what I’ve told them.
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10 Steps to Detox Your Toddler’s Tablet Addiction (Gently and Realistically)Don’t quit cold turkey. Begin by shortening the tablet session or limiting it to a single, predictable time of day. For example, one thirty-minute window each day while you’re cooking dinner.Make screens boring. Turn off autoplay, lower the brightness and volume levels, and avoid fast, flashy apps. When the tablet loses its magic, toddlers disengage faster.Replace, don’t just remove. Have a replacement ready before you say no! Set up sensory play (water, rice, playdough, etc.), music plus movement, board books, or chunky puzzles. The key is high engagement with low effort on your part.Anchor the tablet to routines. Toddlers handle limits better when they’re predictable, not negotiable.Expect big feelings and allow them. Crying doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. Stay calm and name their feelings. “I see you’re mad, but we’ll watch the tablet tomorrow when I’m cooking dinner.”Get outside and play daily. Outdoor play is a natural reset for overstimulated brains. Ten to twenty minutes helps more than you’d think. It’s good for your brain, too.Model it. This one may be the hardest, but it’s vital. If the tablet disappears, but your phone doesn’t, toddlers notice. Even short “phone-free” windows matter. Turn off needless notifications. Focus on your child.Use connection as the antidote. One-on-one attention (singing, reading, roughhousing) fills the gap that screens once occupied.Sleep + hunger check. Overtired or hungry toddlers are more likely to cling to screens. Fix the basics first. Enforce rest and snack times.Be kind to yourself. You didn’t “ruin” your child. Screens are designed to hook all of us. Embrace resetting the daily routines, not blaming. We’re all managing these technologies, as best we can.How to Get Started

It sounds silly, but deciding to start is the stumbling block for many. You know you need to limit your child’s screen time, but avoid the hassle. If you’ve stumbled upon this article, maybe God’s whispering in your ear, “It’s time to ‘be the Mom’ He wants you to be.

You do not want your child to struggle with anxiety and decision-making abilities when they’re older. I know you don’t. So, grab ahold of this Scripture verse, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13 NKJV) and recite it over and over when your willpower fades.

He will grant you strength to stay the course as you free your child from addictive behaviors and offer them windows of learning offline in God’s sensory-rich world.

Don’t wait a moment longer. Decide on your start date and prepare ahead with activities. You can do it!

We’d all love to read about your successes!

 

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Scary new research reveals long-term problems for toddlers who spend too much time on screens. Scientists in Singapore tracked 168 children for more than a decade, using brain scans at ages four-and-a-half, six, and seven-and-a-half to examine the effects of excessive screen time on children’s brains. What they found was worse than expected—structural changes in their brains, indicating accelerated maturation of networks involved in visual processing and cognitive control.

What is Accelerated Maturation?

You may think, “I want my baby’s brain to mature faster!” That seems like a good thing, right? Not really. When our babies overuse certain parts of their brains and underuse others, the most-used areas form faster pathways (accelerated maturation). Think of it as a superhighway, where information flows quickly.

The problem with a superhighway is that there are limited entry and exit points. A country road, however, has many stop lights, side streets, and slower, more interesting ways to travel from point A to point B. Young children need activities rich in sensory information (smells, movement, touch, etc.), the kind you’d find on the slower route.

When they spend excessive time on a single activity, such as using a handheld tablet, their learning is shallow. Yes, they’re quick to tap the duck’s picture to make him quack or match duck images on a screen, but do they know how to carry the duck to the kitchen and give him a drink? Doing the latter incorporates their bodies and imagination and shows they’re learning to care for another living thing. Playing on tablets doesn’t provide all of those sensory-rich things.

Using the analogy of the superhighway, they’re missing out on exploring quant bookshops on a side street, tasting local barbecue at a food truck, or seeing (and smelling) fields of lavender. A superhighway gets you there fast, but the experience is less rich than those found when you dawdle. Young children need to dawdle and explore. They want to investigate, experiment, and make rich memories along the way.

Accelerated maturation, while it may sound desirable, is not best for young children. Real-world, sensory-rich interactions (the kind found offline) with real people and things are what create well-rounded, experience-rich brains.

What Did the Research Reveal?

When the children turned eight, they took longer to make decisions because they overthought things. By age thirteen, they reported more anxiety. The researchers hypothesize that the accelerated maturation of those cognitive and visual processing pathways eventually led to inflexibility in processing multiple inputs, causing them to become anxious and hesitant to make decisions.

How Can You Use This Information?

Abundant research proves babies and toddlers learn best when playing offline with physical toys and real people. Interacting with people is less predictable than touching buttons or viewing videos on a tablet. Playing with people teaches your baby to deal with unpredictability, which is the way the real world is experienced. Then, when your baby becomes a teenager, they’ll be more confident making decisions based on multiple types of sensory information (visual, touch, smell, etc.).

This latest research unearthed physical evidence (changes in their brain structure) that the children had experienced inadequate play activities (too much screen time) during their formative years.
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What is not yet known is whether those damaging brain changes (accelerated maturation) can be undone or whether the anxiety and decision-making struggles follow the child into adulthood.

Something to Think About

When our babies are young, it’s hard to imagine them as teenagers. This research revealed that the poor quality of those early learning experiences carried over into the teenage years. In this case, excessive screen time was harmful.

If we want our future teenagers to thrive rather than suffer from social awkwardness or rigid thinking, we must build richer screen-free play activities into their daily routines. I understand it isn’t easy, but our tots need us to make the hard but best choices.

In my latest book, The New Mom’s Guide: Help and Hope for Baby’s First Year, I share over 400 easy activities you can use to teach your baby how to carry that duck to the kitchen and give him a drink, plus every other skill listed as a first-year milestone.

We all know the virtual world isn’t going anywhere. It’ll be there when our babies are older. For now, they’ll do much better dawdling down life’s side roads, experiencing as many sensory-rich activities as possible.

What’s your biggest hurdle to limiting (or eliminating) screen time?

 

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Christmas is filled with decisions. How much money can I spend? What holiday celebrations should I attend? Should I send Christmas cards? When your to-do list gets too long, you may feel overwhelmed and lose your joy.

Setting boundaries is key to lowering your stress and eliminating overspending. But how do you do that without feeling guilty?

Setting Boundaries on Gifts

Years ago, the adults in my family had a frank discussion surrounding gifts. None of us really needed anything. We wanted to give gifts to the children, but decided the adults would draw names. Each adult purchased something for another adult, spending no more than the agreed-upon spending cap.

Taking time to make decisions together about ways to decrease stress and spending is a good way to set a boundary.

You won’t feel guilty when everyone has agreed on the plan. In situations where you can’t all agree, decide to do what you can and let go of the guilt. Release it because it’s an emotion you have allowed yourself to feel. You have the power to release it.

If you’re struggling with guilt, ask yourself, “Am I feeling guilty because I didn’t meet their expectations or my own?”

When we live according to what others expect, we’ll never be happy
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Set your expectations, live according to them, and do not burden yourself with shame or guilt.Setting Boundaries on Money

Establish a Christmas budget and keep to it. Homemade gifts are among the most thoughtful and often cost much less. I’ve discovered over the years that when money was tight, my creative juices flowed, and I found more thoughtful, handmade options.

Allow yourself to be creative and stay within a budget. Feel grateful for the money you have, and do not focus on what you do not possess. If others seem unappreciative of your gift, remind yourself that their expression of ungratefulness is their decision. You gave what you could.

Setting Boundaries on Time

While it’s not always possible to say no to work parties or church commitments, keep in mind you don’t have to do everything. Select a few activities to enjoy. Too many and you end up stressed and losing your joy.

Takeaway

Your calendar is only as full as you allow it to become. Saying no is always an option. Again, decide to live according to your standards and not by what others think.

The Bible tells us to trust God and His provision. He will provide enough money, enough activities, and enough time. However, we are stewards of the funds, activities, and time He offers. When we cram in too much or overspend our budget, we risk losing the peace and joy the holiday promises.

What changes will you make this year to bring more joy to your Christmas?

 

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The Christmas shopping season is here! Advertisers and social media influencers are already busy shaping your choices. However, let me cut through the noise and give you my top ten recommendations that will not only be fun (for years to come) but also help your baby meet all their developmental milestones.

Toys are expensive. Since you work hard for every cent, I want you to see your purchases not only as entertainment for your child, but also as an investment in their learning. Toys should be fun because children learn best when an activity is fun. However, many of today’s toys are merely entertaining and cannot teach real-life skills. My toy suggestions teach essential skills, including communication, problem-solving, emotional connection, and navigating the environment safely.

Let’s get started, shall we?

10 Christmas Gifts for Babies and Toddlers

Baby safe mirrors. Babies love to see faces! When your baby looks in a mirror, they learn to identify a few body parts, such as eyes and nose (communication skill). They learn to imitate certain facial expressions (cognitive skill). Looking into mirrors also improves eye contact (social skill).Foam floor mats. Youngsters need to move, and foam floor mats provide a safe, padded surface. Plus, they’re easy to clean. I prefer those without removable letters or numbers because I’ve found babies chew on them and can choke.Pop-up toys. When babies begin sitting and crawling, they adore toys that pop up. Look for ones that include various switches, push buttons, slides, and turning knobs (cognitive and fine motor skills). Push button switches are prevalent today and offer minimal opportunity for your baby to learn something more challenging. The more difficult the activity, the more cognitive skills your baby masters.Balls and targets. Babies and toddlers love balls. Putting them into containers, shooting them into a hoop, or tossing or kicking them to another person improves gross motor, communication, and social skills. When your baby creates their own game with the balls, they are enhancing cognitive skills, as well.Simple shape puzzles. I prefer simple shape puzzles with knobs so your baby can work on their pincer grasp to pick them up. They don’t need anything more than circles, squares, and triangles at this age. Shape sorters can often be too complicated and frustrating for young children.Picture books with chunky pages. Pointing to pictures and turning pages improve fine motor skills. Hearing you label what the images are builds vocabulary (communication skill), and doing this together enhances social skills. Longer storybooks are for older children. Look for ones with pictures such as cups, cats, bananas, books, and babies. Avoid those with push-button sounds and things to touch and feel. These often distract children from looking at the pictures on the pages.Climbing and riding toys. Toddlers love to walk, run, and climb! Offer safe climbing toys and toys they can ride. Avoid battery-operated riding toys, as they do not enhance gross motor skills.Painting and drawing items. Look for inexpensive, blank paper (like butcher paper), chunky crayons, finger paints, and sidewalk chalk. All of these promote creativity (cognitive skill) and fine motor skills. They’re not yet old enough to stay within the lines of a coloring book. Finger painting or painting with a brush is ideal.Play sets, such as kitchens or tools. Toddlers begin to imitate everyday activities, such as stirring a pot (pretend cooking) or banging with a play hammer (pretend building). These activities reveal that your baby is learning to do things in real life. Cognitive, fine, and gross motor skills are all improved. Additionally, when your child plays with someone else, their communication and social skills expand.Blocks and building sets. Look for wooden blocks that are stamped with letters, colors, shapes, and animals, as these are useful for a variety of play activities in the years to come (cognitive, communication, and fine motor skills). Building sets, such as magnetic tiles, enable your child to develop fine motor skills and expand their creativity (cognitive skill) by constructing what they imagine.

The best toys to help your baby meet their developmental milestones in every area (gross motor, fine motor, communication, social/emotional, and cognitive) are worth every penny.
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They are timeless and last the longest. For more information on how to help your baby meet milestones, check out my latest book, The New Mom’s Guide: Help and Hope for Baby’s First Year (available now on Amazon).

If you have toys your baby no longer needs, please consider donating them to a local charity. I’ve been in many homes where the children have nothing to play with.

Keep your boxes! Those make great indoor houses, tunnels, and even something to draw on during the unpleasant days of winter.

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The toddler phase is messy! As babies learn to do more for themselves, whether it’s feeding themselves solid foods or trying to pull on their clothes, as a mother, you’ll spend most of your time wiping up and picking up. And truth be told, getting frustrated.

Practice Makes Perfect

You’ve heard the saying, “practice makes perfect.” Well, that’s what is happening during the toddler phase. As your baby figures out how to scoop food and get it into their mouth without dropping any, many errors will occur. When we learned how to feed ourselves a variety of foods, from soup to steak, we also made many mistakes as we mastered these complex motor skills.

When it comes to picking up toys, stacking blocks into towers, or completing simple puzzles, it’s helpful to understand that toddlers are in the deconstruction phase of play. The construction phase comes later. What does that mean? In the deconstruction stage, children take apart, tear down, or dump things out. The construction phase, when toys are put together and placed back on the shelf in their place, comes later.

Expect a Mess

When I understood why my toddler was doing what they were doing, it changed my expectations. And when those expectations changed, my frustration decreased. Messy play is part of toddler life. You can bank on it just as you anticipate the sun coming up tomorrow morning.

Setting up areas of your home where messy play can occur will help alleviate your anxiety about your house being disorganized. Offering fewer toys for your child to play with is another strategy to decrease the mess. If your baby can pull everything off the shelf, they will. But when you rotate toys so that not all your child’s toys are available all the time, you will enjoy less chaos.

Offer Grace

Think back when you’ve learned something new, maybe it was cooking an omelet or playing pickleball. Did you make mistakes? Perhaps you dropped some eggs on the counter or hit the forehand shot out of bounds. You made messes along the way as you mastered a new skill. Your toddler is doing the same thing. It’s a part of life.

Take a few deep breaths, smile and laugh, and give your toddler grace. This phase of development can be challenging, but on the flip side, it’s fun and magical.

Do your best to remain patient yet still allow your baby to try to do for themselves. Allow your child to practice feeding and dressing themselves. Say “help me” when you’re picking up toys and they may help.

The more your toddler practices, the faster they will learn more independence. #childdevelopment #toddlerlife
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After all, that is what you want.

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When your baby begins to stand and walk, mothers often ask, “Should my baby wear socks while walking?”

Experts have long agreed that walking barefoot is best for babies. The reason is that the soles of the feet contain thousands of nerve endings that are stimulated more when barefoot than when wearing socks or shoes. When your child can fully experience the surface they walk on, it teaches them a great deal about the world around them.

For example, how sand feels and how hard it is to walk on. Water is slippery and can cause you to fall. How painful it is to step on something sharp, like a small toy. And, most importantly, how to balance and navigate on all kinds of surfaces without taking a tumble.

Are Socks Harmful

In years past, doctors believed that children should wear shoes as soon as they began walking. Shoe companies saw a market and sold shoes for new walkers. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with your baby wearing shoes, socks are another matter entirely.

Socks are slippery, even those with nonskid bottoms. Walking in them increases the risk of slips, falls, and serious injury.

Footed onesies usually have nonslip soles, but those get twisted, so the baby ends up walking on slippery fabric. Walking in socks provides more sensory feedback through the soles of your child’s feet than shoes, but socks can be slippery and more hazardous. Barefoot is ideal.

Prevent Falls

We’ve all learned that walking on slippery surfaces, such as wet floors or icy sidewalks, can be challenging and may cause a fall. Anytime we fall, we risk serious injury. Broken bones, busted teeth, and concussions are not uncommon, even when wearing shoes with good traction.

Your baby is learning to walk and is not yet as skilled as you are. When you place slippery socks on their feet, it increases the chance of a fall that could cause harm. I’ve treated children who’ve broken legs, strained muscles, and suffered concussions from slips and falls. Many of them feared a return of the pain when trying to walk again.

Barefoot is Best

There are approximately thirty muscles in each foot. Those muscles get stronger the more you walk. Your child needs strong feet to maintain balance and develop the ability to run, jump, and climb.

Walking barefoot stimulates all those nerve endings and strengthens the muscles in the feet.

Walking in socks can lead to hard falls and injuries that cause pain and a fear of walking. #newwalker #babywalking #babysocks #grossmotordevelopment
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What are your thoughts on footwear vs. bare feet for new walkers?

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Once your baby begins to move around, it’s time to transition away from using containers, such as seats, exersaucers, or jumpers. Too much time spent in these types of equipment prevents exploration and falling, and will not help them gain the balance necessary to move safely.

The Purpose of Stationary Baby Holding Equipment

Let’s explore what baby-holding equipment accomplishes beyond the marketing claims. Baby seats (such as a Bumbo) do not help a child learn to sit. These devices support a child who cannot yet hold themselves up in a sitting position. They are merely places to put your child when you don’t want to hold them or lay them on the floor. Learning to sit without support requires practice and protection from injury as they develop this skill. Mastering sitting is best done on the floor or in a playpen where a fall is safe.

Exersaucers or standers of various sorts are excellent places for your baby to stand and play without falling. Often, babies spend most of their playtime sitting in these, which is why they do not aid standing. Standing requires balancing when you lose your balance. Exercising those balance muscles occurs only when not safely held by equipment.

Ditch your jumper, please. Babies should not learn to jump before they walk. Those skills are out of order according to the gross motor development timelines. And if your baby loves jumping, they may suffer a delay in walking because they’ve not developed the balance necessary to walk.

Learning to Move Requires Practice

There’s an old saying that says, “You learn what you practice.” For babies, that saying is true, as well. Suppose you want them to learn to sit without support. In that case, they must practice it, including mastering the skill of righting themselves when they wobble.

When learning to get in and out of a sitting position, practice is again required. This transitional movement cannot be mastered while being safely held in a baby-holding device. Sitting should be learned on a firm surface, such as a playpen or a designated play area on the floor.

Crawling and pulling to standing need lots of practice and many tumbles. Again, a safe play area on the floor or a playpen offers a place where your baby is happy, and you are free from chasing them around constantly to prevent injury.

The Epidemic of Gross Motor Delays Created by Lack of Practice

Over my years as a pediatric physical therapist,

I've seen many cases of children being delayed with their gross motor skills because they had inadequate practice moving around. #motordelays #childdevelopment
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Moms must get engaged with their babies as they learn these motor skills. There is no app or anyone to call to help. You are the one who must attend to and offer opportunities to your child during those six months or so as they learn these all-important motor skills.

Get a Playpen

Most families have a pack-and-play for overnights and travel. These can double as a playpen. If you can afford a stand-alone playpen, get one. For those with more space and extra cash, consider setting aside an area of your family room. Have a padded or carpeted floor. Remove most toys (tripping hazards) because a fall on one can cause harm to your baby. Ensure your baby can’t reach electrical outlets, cords, or access a higher surface and pull something down onto themselves.

Remember, this phase of moving around is just the beginning of the excitement you’ll feel when your child begins walking. Start today by baby-proofing your home because when your child crawls and walks freely around the house, you want it to be as safe as possible.

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You survived the pregnancy and birth. The nursery is complete, and the baby is now home. You did it, Mom!

Now, in those quiet moments between feedings and changings, you may wonder, “What toys do we need?” or “What activities should I do to help my baby develop properly?”

Before addressing how to boost your baby’s brain and body development, give yourself some credit. You are asking the correct questions and want to do what’s best. Great job!

While providing loving attention and meeting your child’s needs is your main duty, offering play opportunities that boost their brain and body development is also essential. So, what should you be doing with your baby?

10 Ways to Boost Your Baby’s Development

Before we address what you should do, let’s address how you can harm your child’s development. Things such as daily excessive screen time, inadequate attention, or absent emotional attachment. Most mothers do not realize how easy it is to do the wrong things each day and how simple the right activities are. Let’s help your baby excel by doing my top ten things to boost your child’s development.

Do tummy timeTalk to your baby a lotMake direct eye contact frequentlyTouch and move your babyMinimize the use of baby holding equipmentMinimize the use of electronic screens, including TVRead and explore physical booksPlay with a purposeStructure regular daily routinesTrack your baby’s milestones

While these activities may seem too simple, they have been proven to be the best ways to help your child meet the first-year milestones.

Common Causes of Developmental Delays

Having evaluated hundreds of babies and toddlers, some of the common causes of developmental delays are the result of environmental deprivation, poor emotional attachment between mother and child, and conditions associated with delays, such as Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy (CP), etc. While we can’t prevent or cure Down Syndrome, CP, or other such conditions, changing the child’s home environment is doable.

What is environmental deprivation? It occurs when the child’s home environment lacks attentive parents, age-appropriate toys, good books, predictable daily routines, and safe outdoor play environments. In other words, the home environment deprives the child of the necessary ingredients for healthy development. Often, it is associated with poor families who lack resources. But not always. Some well-to-do families lack emotional attachment, attentive parents, and regular healthy routines. So, financial status is not the cause.

What You Should Do

Children need parents who pay attention to them, talk frequently using loving language, take time to explore picture books, follow predictable feeding and sleeping routines, and offer daily outdoor play time. Without these foundational components, a child’s development is often delayed, and milestones are not met.

To learn more, download my FREE resource, 10 Ways to Boost Your Baby’s Development. And also, sign up for my quarterly newsletter to receive even more information to help you and your baby succeed during these vital early years.

Don’t wait, get started today!

 

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The W-sitting position is when a child sits on the floor with their legs splayed outward. When you stand in front of your child and look down directly over their head, their legs form the letter “W.”

Physical therapists and orthopedic surgeons dislike children sitting in that position, especially if they have motor developmental delays or low muscle tone. However, if your child moves in and out of that position to sit in other ways on the floor while playing, the W-sit position should not pose a problem for your child. However, if it’s the only way your child sits, it becomes something to worry about.

The Problem with W-Sitting

Under age two, the bones and joints are not fully hardened and are prone to deformity caused by poor alignment. For example, the femoral head (top of the femur or thigh bone) grows into the preferred alignment when a child sits in various positions during the first year. Suppose the child mostly sits in a W-sitting position. In that case, the femoral head will develop an abnormal alignment, leading to poor hip, knee, and ankle joint development. Surgical repair is the only remedy for these problems.

Therapists and doctors recommend limiting W-sitting to prevent joint issues, future surgeries, and the associated pain.
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What Does W-Sitting Cause?

Developmental experts caution against young children W-sitting because the hips are forming. If the baby sits in the W-sitting position most or all of the time, the hip sockets will form abnormally. Abnormally shaped hip joints can cause the rest of the leg to be crooked. Common problems that develop are are knock knees and fallen ankles (flat feet).

Remember, your baby’s bones are forming. If abnormal stresses (W-sitting) are applied to the bones and joints while the bones are hardening and forming, deformity can result.

Why Do Low-Toned Children Love To W-Sit?

Some babies are born with lower-than-normal muscle tone. Some conditions, such as Down Syndrome, cause low tone, and sometimes, no known cause exists. Low muscle tone causes weakness. When the core muscles are weak, the W-sit position is easier for a child.

Low muscle tone often goes hand in hand with lax joint ligaments, leading to joint instability and pain. While there is no cure for low tone or lax ligaments, increasing the probability the child’s bones and joints form normally is a primary goal of physical therapists (PTs). PTs also treat adults with hip pain, hip joint replacements, and arthritis. Your child can develop these conditions later in life if the bones and joints form abnormally. Prevention of these future problems is why PTs discourage W-sitting.

What To Do About It

If your child prefers to sit in the “W” position, please do not nag them. Some children can not sit in other positions due to hip or muscle tightness or weak core muscles. If your child has these conditions, sitting in other positions feels unstable. Try helping your child sit in a side-sitting position while playing on the floor. You can gently reposition their legs during the day. Expect your child to return to the preferred W-sit position because they feel comfortable and stable there. Your plan should be to reposition consistently but not nag.

Finally, seek a referral for a physical therapy evaluation to get personalized recommendations and assistance.

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Disclaimer: All information presented is general education and is not intended as specific prescriptions for your child. If you have concerns about any aspect of your baby’s development, talk with your doctor. If your child receives any intervention or therapy, this information is not intended to be used without their knowledge.