Spread-squat position

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The spread-squat position (ASH) is the posture that a newborn automatically adopts when you lift it up: the legs are crouched, the knees at navel level and the thighs slightly spread apart. This posture is predestined for the child to be carried on the hip of an adult and is based on the human evolutionary development.

Tribal history basics

Peculiarities that ensure the survival of a species have developed over tens of thousands of years. For human survival, it made sense to carry the young ones with you. This is why the children have adapted to being carried: the so-called spread-squat position, the slightly curved shape of the lower leg bones, a rounded back, clasp reflex, screaming when lying down - when lying down, the child feels fear of death because it was originally only able to survive with the help of the mother . His scream is a contact call.

People in industrialized countries have only had a lifestyle for a few hundred years that would allow them to lay their children down safely. A few hundred years (including the 10,000 years since the vast majority of people settled down) are not enough to extinguish reflexes that have arisen over millions of years.

The baby - adapted to be carried

Anyone who watches an infant will notice how he bends his legs and spreads them slightly; he is unable to straighten his legs. Especially when someone he knows comes up to him, the baby pulls up its legs in anticipation of being picked up. If the baby is picked up, this is even worse. It crouches on its legs in anticipation of being carried. If you sit the baby on your hips, you can see that this squat-spread position is the optimal position to be carried by the person carrying it. For support, the lower legs of a small baby are also curved slightly inwards, which makes it easier for them to hold on to their hips when riding. The baby's rounded back also fits into the picture: the baby does not need to stand up in order to be carried on the mother's body. Rather, it makes sense to bend forward in order to be able to lean against the mother. Leaning against it, in turn, makes sense because it avoids falling backwards.

These reflexes are innate in the child and, among other things, distinguish it as a baby . This type of boy was introduced in 1970 by the biologist Bernhard Hassenstein .

Anatomical facts

hip

The adaptation to being carried can also be seen in the child's skeleton . The newborn's skeleton is not yet completely ossified. Certain parts are still cartilaginous, such as the acetabulum and the femoral head . The ossification begins with the ossification nuclei in the middle of these structures. Often times, a baby's hips are still immature. This is not a problem, because the child brings the above-mentioned reflexes with them, which automatically take the squat-spread position and the rounded back when lifting. On the hips - the place naturally provided for carrying the baby - the child's thighs are at an angle of 100 ° to 110 ° (thigh compared to the extended leg, the thigh is therefore stronger than when sitting (about 90 °) angled) and the legs are about 45 ° apart (thigh-pelvis angle / hip joint ). In this position, the heads of the thighbones press into the center of the acetabulum. The load on the pan edges is evenly distributed. The ossification can take place optimally - without deformation. Well-developed femoral heads and acetabular cups are formed. In other positions, on the other hand, for example with hanging legs, the heads of the thigh bones press against the still cartilaginous and thus deformable socket walls and edges, and deformations on the thigh bone heads and edges of the acetabulum can result.

Not only the bones, but also the ligaments and muscles benefit from the spread-squat position. In this position, the muscles and ligaments of the legs are at rest and are not stretched. Movement while wearing also promotes blood flow to bones and joints as well as muscles - and thus the faster and better ossification and earlier strengthening of the muscles.

Because correct carrying ideally promotes the development of healthy hips, carrying can be used, especially in a baby sling, as a preventive or even supportive measure for hip dysplasia . This carrying method can also be used to prevent loss of contact between joint-forming bone ends ( hip dislocation ). However, if it is used incorrectly, consequential damage can occur, which is why parents are recommended to work with an orthopedic surgeon and a certified babywearing advisor .

move

It makes perfect sense for a baby to have a round back: a baby does not have to be able to stand up in order to be carried on the mother's body. Rather, it makes sense to bend forward in order to be able to lean against the mother. Leaning against it, in turn, makes sense because it avoids falling backwards. The core of the double S-shape of the back is already created in the womb, only develops over time and is then completed when the child can walk independently and is no longer dependent on being carried.

The spine is stretched in three phases:

  1. After giving birth, the back is round (total hyphosis ). After about 6 weeks, the child begins to lift his head. When the child can lean on their forearms at around 4 months of age, the cervical spine is fully extended (or: the cervical vertebrae straighten upwards and forwards) (cervical lordosis ).
  2. Next, the child begins to sit up. To do this, the thoracic vertebrae are straightened up and back. The so-called breast kyphosis is complete when the child can sit independently, that is, comes into the seat by rotating on its own.
  3. Finally the lumbar lordosis follows . The lumbar vertebrae straighten upwards and forwards as soon as the child begins to pull himself up on objects. This phase - and with it the entire extension of the back - is completed when the child walks freely.

The intervertebral discs are not fully developed at birth and have a strong blood supply. They only get their full function when the respective section of the spine is straightened. If the back is compressed during this sensitive time, development problems can arise for the intervertebral discs and the still soft vertebral bodies.

Relationship between squat-spread position and rounded back

Small children, who still have a round back, adopt the spread-squat position of their own accord, because the coccyx sinks downwards and forwards through the round back , the front part of the pelvis rather rises upwards and "takes" the legs up at an angle . This posture proves to be ideal for a small baby, as it gives him a good grip on the mother's hip and at the same time leans against the mother. This mechanism also still exists in adults: the pelvis cannot be tilted backwards and the tailbone “dropped” down and forwards without giving way in the knees and rounding the back. It would not be possible to comfortably round your entire back with your legs completely straight. So legs, pelvis and back work together. For a baby, this means that a rounded back and a spread-squat position are mutually dependent. It can only be properly crouched when its back can be rounded, and the back can only become rounded when its legs are correctly crouched. Conversely, it means: If a child is flattened (be it by an unsuitable baby carrier or by using a sling) so that the tailbone of the child points more towards the back and up, in extreme cases a hollow back is created and a squat-spread position becomes impossible.

The child is even more in need of protection in sleep: because then the child's musculature slackens and the back would collapse without support, which could have the aforementioned negative consequences for the spine.

Results from this for carrying babies and toddlers

  • The child must be able to adopt their innate posture in the sling or in the baby carrier: round back and spread-squat posture, which are mutually dependent.
  • The angle between the legs is about 90 °, the angle between thigh and calf in the ratio of straight leg - bent leg is about 100 ° to 110 ° (the knees are approximately at the height of the child's navel).
  • Since the back is still very sensitive and should never sag, particularly good support is necessary, especially when sleeping.
  • Therefore, the sling or the baby carrier should be able to nestle around the entire child like a bandage.
  • The head should remain free so that the child can keep their head straight and have a good view. At the same time, the neck area must be able to be supported well. Insufficient support of the neck area can lead to a dislocation of the cervical vertebrae! And yet nothing should press the neck, as unfavorable pressure can have unfavorable consequences as well.

literature

  • Ashley Montagu: body contact . Stuttgart 1992.
  • A. Manns, AC Schrader: Bringing it into life. Development and effect of carrying small children under socio-medical and psychosocial aspects (= CE Gottschalk-Batschkus, J. Schuler (Ed.): Contributions to Ethnomedicine. 1). Berlin, 1995.
  • Jean Liedloff: In search of lost happiness. Against the destruction of our ability to be happy in early childhood (= Beck series. 224). Munich 2001
  • Evelin Kirkilionis: A baby needs to be carried. Everything about suitable baby carriers and the advantages of carrying them . Munich 2003.
  • Conference proceedings of the Dresdner TrageTage from November 2007, available from the Trageschule Dresden.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bernhard Hassenstein: Young animal and human child in the view of comparative behavioral research . Gentner, Stuttgart 1970.
  2. ↑ Johannes Büschelberger: Investigations on the peculiarity of the hip joint in infancy and its significance for the pathogenesis, prophylaxis and therapy of the dislocated hip . Habilitation thesis, Dresden 1961.
  3. ↑ Ewald Fettweis: Hip Dysplasia. Useful help for baby hips . Stuttgart 2004.
  4. ↑ What is the spread-squat position? Retrieved May 10, 2016 .