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left/right handed

Printed From: OHbaby!
Category: Have A Baby?
Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=14090
Printed Date: 14 September 2025 at 10:56am
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Topic: left/right handed
Posted By: cuppatea
Subject: left/right handed
Date Posted: 31 January 2008 at 2:18pm
At what age can you tell whether they will be left or right handed?

Just out of curiosity not fussed either way.

Have noticed that he will always take finger food with his right hand, but will grab a spoon with both and recently was holding toys in right hand and banging with left (which seems the wrong way to me, i.e I would hold with left and hit with right) but now he is doing it the other way. So was just wondering at what age the dominant side comes out?

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Replies:
Posted By: CuriousG
Date Posted: 31 January 2008 at 2:24pm
Not for a wee while I would say. Char used to use her left more than her right but once she got interested in pens, she is def right handed. Interestingly tho, she throws (and has a good range and aim!) with her left!

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Posted By: mylilmosaic
Date Posted: 31 January 2008 at 2:29pm
Its hard for me to remember (my boys 12) but I would think that once they start drawing pictures then you will see a dominant side unless they are ambi-dexterous (sp?) also once they start using eating utensils eventually a pattern will develop. Maybe by one to two yrs you should definately be able to tell.

Sorry not much help

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Posted By: emz
Date Posted: 31 January 2008 at 4:18pm
On naught to 5 I think they said about 18 months they start choosing a dominant side? Up till then you can't really tell and just to offer things at different sides at different times.


Posted By: yummymummy
Date Posted: 31 January 2008 at 10:05pm
18 months sounds about right - Gina uses both hands at the moment and almost always picks things up with the left one

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Posted By: AliaDawn
Date Posted: 31 January 2008 at 10:30pm
It will be interesting to see how Seb turns out - He has shown signs of using both hands, and since I'm right-handed and Mike is left-handed and we both teach him to do it our way just by habbit, it's going to be a tough call I think Mike is actually ambidextrous too, just learnt to write with his left hand. I've seen him trying to draw with his right hand mostly, but sometimes left, and he usually tries to eat with his left hand.

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Posted By: Bayley
Date Posted: 01 February 2008 at 12:57am
I always offer my son things in the middle of his body, so that I'm not favouring a particular side. Sometimes he'll use his right hand to grasp the object and other times his left. There doesn't seem to be any particular pattern to this. But as Emz said, I think its around 18 - 24 months or so that they start choosing their dominant side.

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Posted By: jack_&_charli
Date Posted: 01 February 2008 at 9:59am
we still can't tell if jack is a lefty or a righty, but he seems to be favouring his left at the moment

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Posted By: Bayley
Date Posted: 01 February 2008 at 10:55am
Jack & Charli - maybe he's going to be one of those clever ambidextrous people!

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Posted By: Katherine
Date Posted: 01 February 2008 at 7:39pm

Babies tend to use the hand that is the most convenient for them, and they do this right throughout infancy, babyhood, and toddlerhood. When they show a preference for one hand over the other varies -- some babies can show a true hand preference as early as 18 months, but many children don't "decide" on which hand they will use dominantly until age three or four, or even older. Interestingly, a lot of the problems children in kindy face can be related to whether or not they have "chosen" a dominant hand. If they haven't shown a dominant hand preference by the age of three or four, it could be a sign of delayed maturation.




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