PARENTS>> Baby question...left handed/ right handed?

Question

Is it at all possible to tell if your 7 mo. old will be right or left handed?
If they have certain mannerisms like grabbing toys with one hand rather than another, is that a sign?
Or do I have to wait and see when he/she is older?

Answer 1

i have one lefty. when he was small he DID use his left hand but he used his right hand as well... we had NO CLEAR indication that he was left handed until he was about one year old: he was CLEARLY using his left hand exclusively for silverware by that time. once your baby is old enough to "kick a ball" that is another fun way to tell. our lefty EXCLUSIVELY uses his left foot for kicking objects!

there has only been one down side to having a lefty... he has 2 big brothers that are right handed... so we can never pass down baseball gloves, golf clubs... BUT, on the up side he is pleased that everything he has is NEW...

Answer 2

I do not know what the scientific evidence is. However, I have been a mom for 27 years, I have 4 children, and I have been a child care provider for 20 years, caring for over 50 children. I have been privileged to care for numerous children from infancy all the way through school-age. In my personal experience, some babies do exhibit a strong left-hand or right-hand dominance when they are as young as 7 months. Most, though, seem to use both hands for picking up toys, eating, and other things until closer to 2 years old when the left or right dominance begins to develop. Some children, like my youngest daughter, switched between left and right hand fairly often. She is now 10 and writes with her right hand, but uses scissors with her left. She could write with both hands before going to kindergarten, but naturally began using her right hand most often. So, while it is possible to determine if your 7 month old is more right or left hand dominant, you may want to wait a few more years before assuming which he/she will be.

Answer 3

My youngest child is definitely left-handed (she's 2 1/2 now) and showed definite signs of being left handed by the time she was just a few months old. She always grapped toys with that hand, held her bottle with her left hand, etc. She would even suck her left thumb. We shrugged it off at first thinking it might change later but never did. She's definitely a lefty!

Answer 4

They say you can't tell until they are older. But i knew when my daughter started sitting up. She would hold her bottle with her left hand, grab toys with her left. I would put a toy or the bottle in her right hand only to have her switch to the left. She is 3 now and is a lefty. her father/grandfather and step brother are all left handed, so she was born with it.

Answer 5

I was just going to say there is usually just the one leftie in the family (obviously it can just be chance..especially if it is a large family..the odds of another leftie are greater I would think).

My older brother (I am one of 3 children in our family) is left-handed but my younger brother parents and I aren't. I am not sure when my parents found/worked out my brother was left-handed. I guess the way he held toys (his strong hand) and obviously he grabbed the crayons and pencils etc with his left hand.

Answer 6

Ive been wondering the same thing. My son is 18 months and he always uses his left hand but some days he will use his right. I think we just have to wait untill there a little older.

Answer 7

I think you can tell from an early age which hand they naturally favor. When babies start to do the dexterous things, like toys that require interaction, putting shapes in holes, and etc., you can see which hand they prefer to use. If one seems to be favored in these types of things, then that would be an early clue. Sometimes you can help them to use the other hand more and they can become ambidextrous. Hand them things with the hand they aren't using as much. That is only if it matters. I think it would be pretty handy (lol) to be able to use both hands equally...just in case your child is like my kids are and very active...the use of both hands can sure help if one hand gets injured accidently! Plus, just think, if they play baseball, they can sure throw a pitcher off by being able to switch-hit!

Answer 8

Your signs do usually begin with what hand that they reach for things with first or when crawling what hand they star with first, but when you can really tell whether a baby is right or left handed is when they begin playing with toys. Left handed babys' lay things down backwards. They see things the opposite way of right handed children. As you are teaching them to not only write right to left, with their left hand, you also have to teach them to read from right to left.

Answer 9

With my baby....I knew she was going to be a lefty because she grabbed everything with her left hand whether it was her bottle, toy or even food. For example, when I would sit her at the table to eat I would test her by putting her spoon in her right hand.....as soon as I did that, she would switch it to the left and proceed with eating. She does the same when she is coloring. Its something you would know as soon as they begin to independently hold things. It is a terrific advantage. Its such a miracle for me because when she was born the doctor pulled her arm during delivery and she was diagnosed with erb's palsy. With love and physical care from us we didn't give up and we proved the doctors wrong!

Answer 10

I thought my 1st was going to be lefty like me, due to her mannerisms at this age and she ended up being right handed. She used to do everything with her left. So I would say wait a little longer.