favouring left hand

Cris - posted on 02/03/2009

Thanks for the  advice guys. She is back to using both hands again. She has been trying to push herself up to sitting from laying down position and I have noticed she has gone over on her wrist a few times. She seems ok again now as of yesterday so I guess she pulled/hurt it somehow. All is good now and she can now sit herself up by herself  now so cool.

Jodi - posted on 01/30/2009

leave her be, she'll learn on her own which hand to use, its not our desicion and all kids go through that. she's probably a lefty, and thats cool.

Cris - posted on 01/30/2009

Quoting Melanie:

I would take her to the doctor just in case. Better safe than sorry. I'm left handed and up until my son started school I though he would be too. He used his left hand as a dominant hand for mostly everything but he did use both hands to play with. My concern for you is that you're saying that her arm just dangles to the side. Of course every child is different and this most likely is nothing to worry about but it won't hurt to just have her looked at and get that reassurance. Good luck.

Thanks Melanie. Yeah is was the dangling right arm bit that concerned me too not the left handed. Will get checked out if she is still doing it over the weekend. As it is a sudden thing it did seem strange.

Cris - posted on 01/30/2009

Quoting Lucy:

hi, my little boy is 2, he is constantly using his left hand more so than his right, he has done since about 6 months. i worried at first because he was 3 1/2 weeks early, this was not a worry but at the time his right eye wouldnt move, i consulted a doctor and thay said not to worry as it would sort itself out, because he was early this might of effected it. and it did. i always wondered if the fact that his right eye wouldnt work, could this effect everything on his right side, meaning less use of his right hand. But also what i didnt no, until maybe 7 months ago, was that on his fathers side of the family, his brothers and a few other family members were actually left handed. so maybe its a family thing. i personally wouldnt worry unless you are seeing something we are not, but if worried consult a proffesional.

Thanks Lucy she was early too, maybe a reason.

Melanie - posted on 01/30/2009

I would take her to the doctor just in case. Better safe than sorry. I'm left handed and up until my son started school I though he would be too. He used his left hand as a dominant hand for mostly everything but he did use both hands to play with. My concern for you is that you're saying that her arm just dangles to the side. Of course every child is different and this most likely is nothing to worry about but it won't hurt to just have her looked at and get that reassurance. Good luck.

Pati - posted on 01/30/2009

Nothing wrong with being a left handed person, they were just talking about how most of our presidents have been left handed. Could be a gift

Jaimie - posted on 01/30/2009

I wouldn't worry about it - lefthandedness isn't a disability like people used to think it was way back when.

Lucy - posted on 01/30/2009

hi, my little boy is 2, he is constantly using his left hand more so than his right, he has done since about 6 months. i worried at first because he was 3 1/2 weeks early, this was not a worry but at the time his right eye wouldnt move, i consulted a doctor and thay said not to worry as it would sort itself out, because he was early this might of effected it. and it did. i always wondered if the fact that his right eye wouldnt work, could this effect everything on his right side, meaning less use of his right hand. But also what i didnt no, until maybe 7 months ago, was that on his fathers side of the family, his brothers and a few other family members were actually left handed. so maybe its a family thing. i personally wouldnt worry unless you are seeing something we are not, but if worried consult a proffesional.

Ann - posted on 01/30/2009

my lil boy favours his left and always has done, due to the problems at birth he sees a  physio and he actually has a right side reflex due to the left side of his brain its best to get this sort of thing looked at as soon as its noticed it could be sumthing it could be nothing my son has cerebral palsy get in touch with ur health visitor or doc

Wendy - posted on 01/30/2009

There is no longer a stigmatism against people using their left hand like there was in the olden days. Both myself and my husband are left handed and growing up  it didn't have a negative impact on me in any way. If your daughter is indeed left handed, let it be.

Funny enough, even though both my husband and myself are left handed my daughter (5) is right handed  and my son (2 1/2) seems to be right-handed as well.

Hope this helps. :)

Gale - posted on 01/30/2009

When my kids were young, they went back and forth between left and right-handed. The doctor said they don't really choose a preference until about 3 or 4. It's goocd for them to develop dexterity in both hands.

A word of caution: Don't force your child to be right handed. Their body develops the way it's supposed to in order to be right or left handed. When I was a child, I was left-handed. I can remember my mother slapping my hands if I would pick up anything with my left hand (fork, pencil, etc.). She made comments like "I will not have an "odd" child who's left handed. She even instructed the school to do the same. Well, aside from being traumatized, around the age of 14, I started having trouble with my right shoulder and arm. It took two years, a lot of pain killers and other drugs, physical therapy, and many visits to specialists to finally diagnose the problem. It's called Thoraxic Outlet Syndrome. My shoulder cavity was not large enough for all of the veins, muscles, and nerves flowing through it. It took so long to diagnose because I was the youngest patient they had seen with this condition. It is usually a repetitive stress type condition. They did x-rays and showed that my right shoulder cavity was smaller than my left. After questioning me, the doctor determined that I was born to be left-handed and my right shoulder cavity was never to be dominant, and therefore was too small for the extra growth caused by dominant muscles. So, because my mother didn't want me to be "different", I have had two very painful surgeries, developed arthritis, and have to live with chronic pain for the rest of my life.

God made your little girl the way she is supposed to be. Let her grow up that way. (Whichever handedness that is.)

Hayley - posted on 01/30/2009

she could just be left handed. my son is 21mths and he did the same thing from about 6mths and now he swaps over with eating but he does most things with his left and that's fine. we have lots of left handed friends and family members so it's no surprise that one of us would be a lefty. if her arm seems to be limp and not reacting to things then it would be good to get it checked by a pediatrician. better to be sure than question it forever

Cris - posted on 01/30/2009

thanks bobbi just tried it and she took it with her left hand. I just noticed that at times when she is sat she does just leave her right arm to dangle, like the muscle has gone to sleep . If it carried on or gets worse i will defo take her docs. Maybe she has pulled the muscle and is just resting it. ????????????

Bobbi - posted on 01/30/2009

What's wrong with her using her left hand??

My daughter actually favors her left hand is well...though she will switch back and forth for things like eating/ coloring/ etc.

You said the movement in her right arm seems normal so I guess I wouldn't worry so much unless she really leaves her right arm hang and doesn't use it at all.

To ease your worry you could "test" her by holding a toy on her right side to see if she will grab for it with that hand. If she grabs with her left, give it to her and then get something new to offer while she is already holding something in her left to see what she does. Or, if you're truly concerned for another reason, give her doctor a call