The human system has all sorts of checks and balances built into it. It is a self-generating, self-healing machine that knows how to develop if we manage to get our thinking brains out of the way of our brilliant bodies.
As a parent it was my goal to do as little as possible (interpret that how you will). One of the ways those goals manifest was to stay out of the way as my children fell their way to standing.
Infants and toddlers tend to fall a lot and they have no fear of falling. They tend to fall on the hands and on their butts. The body is an amazing machine that has taken this reality into account and made accommodations for this necessity.
A newborn baby basically collapses in on itself in order to makes its way from the womb to twist into the world through the birth canal.
When a baby is born the pelvis is made up of eleven bones that will become three bones. The two layers of carpal bones that make up the wrist start out life as cartilage. Both of these factors allow for the free-falling that is necessary for a baby to makes its way onto the standing and walking stage successfully.
Three bones- the ilium, ischium and pubic- solidify to form the hip while five bones of the low spine (S1-5) will solidify into the sacrum, a triangular bone that fits between the two hip bones. Â The carpal bones will calcify from cartilage to bone sometime after our first year as we become steadier on our feet.
The sacrum and the wrist start life as soft and malleable objects that can take a pounding. This goes away within a year or two so if you can, let your babies take advantage of their built-in defense systems.
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