1. A method for querying a structured document stored in its native format in a database, wherein the structured document comprises a plurality of nodes that form a hierarchical node tree, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing at least one child pointer within at least one of the plurality of nodes in the hierarchical node tree, wherein the at least one child pointer points to a corresponding child node in the hierarchical node tree; (b) storing a hint within the at least one child pointer, the hint being related to the corresponding child node, wherein the at least one child pointer further comprises a node slot number of the corresponding child node; and (c) utilizing the hint to determine whether to navigate to the corresponding child node during query evaluation.