Have you ever looked at your child and wondered “how to tell if baby will be right or left handed”?
It may interest you to know that this is a very tactical question that would require lots of practical application.
Are you surprised at the use of the practical application? You have to do some helpful homework on your baby to tell if your baby will be right-handed or left-handed rightfully.
This article will give you insights into how to tell if baby will be right or left handed and how best to raise a left-handed baby confidently.
Facts about Dominant Hand
Every individual has a dominant hand, which means that hand with which you can perform tasks quickly and effortlessly.
It is not news that we have hands that are in pairs. We would be lying if we said we could use both hands to do things at the same rate and pace. The use of one will seem more accessible and faster than the other.
In skill, a child’s dominant hand is stronger and nimbler, while the non-dominant is usually weak and the least adapted for task completion.
It is not that we can’t attempt doing things with our non-dominant hands. The truth is that we can, but it will be at a slower pace than when we employ the use of our dominant hands.
Statistically, it is a glaring and non-hidden fact that about 85 to 90% of toddlers develop to become right-handed while the remaining 15 to 10% become left-handed.
Have you heard about ambidextrous individuals? It is the ability to use both hands effortlessly without having any preference, and research and statistics have shown that only about 1% of the population will be ambidextrous.
Hand preference is difficult to trace back in the family tree.
Research suggests that right-handed parents are more likely to have left-handed children, and heredity contributes about 25 percent to a person’s tendency to be left-handed.
Due to the slim chance of left-handedness, most left-handed toddlers use their right hands.
How And When Does A Child Develop Handedness?
Children do not show their handedness until they are about 3 years or even more, and before now, they will be using both hands.
Try to experiment with their handedness and interchangeably use them. Some babies even separate tasks; for example, some may use their right hand to throw a ball and their left hand to eat with a spoon.
If your child shows a preference for a particular hand before 18 months, then there is a problem somewhere. It could signal a neurological problem, so do not hesitate to let your doctor know about it.
Remember, forcing a child to use one hand over the other probably won’t work.
The best thing to do is to let nature do its thing. By the time toddlers perform more fine-motor activities, their handedness will become much more apparent.
How To Tell If Baby Will Be Right or Left Handed
There are certain things that one would look at in other to be able to tell if a baby will be right or left-handed, and they include
1. Having left-handed Parents
Everything that happens to a man is genetic, so once a parent or both parents are left-handed, the chances of passing that trait to their baby are high.
Research has shown that more boys are left-handed than girls, and don’t forget, your baby can be using both hands interchangeably until handedness is achieved.
2. Watch how your baby holds a bottle
Another sign to look out for in your baby to tell if your baby will be left-handed or right-handed is watching how your baby holds a bottle.
Babies that end up left-handed usually stabilize their cereal bowls with their right hand, which is their non-dexterous hand, and then hold the spoon with their dexterous hand, which is their left.
3. Watch the stirring pattern
Experts suggest that left-handed children stir in a counter-clockwise pattern while putting up their mock cooking play, while right-handed children stir in a clockwise direction.
So once your baby stirs the pot in an anticlockwise manner, it is an indication that your baby will be left-handed.
4. Kicking a ball
Most kids that turn out to be left-handed prefer kicking the ball with their left legs, and also, when they stand on one leg, the left leg is more balanced than the right leg.
5. Holding a crayon
Left-handed kids tend to hold crayon and color with it better with their left hands.
Once you notice your child doing this better and at ease with the left hand, there are higher chances that the left hand is the dominant hand.
6. Writing with a pencil
Watching your baby write with a pencil will give you insight into your child’s dominant hand.
If your child is comfortable using the left hand, it is an indication that your child will be left-handed.
Read: When Do Babies Sit Without Support
Reasons for Left Hand As Dominant Hands
Everything about animals, which humans are inclusive of, tends to be genetics are controlled by genes.
The dominancy of the hands is controlled by genes; the same way genes control the same way hair, eye, and skin color.
Most times, children whose parents are left-handed end up becoming left-handed, and the chances are higher when both parents are left-handed.
If one of the parents is right-handed, the child may or may not be left-handed because, during procreation, both parents make an equal contribution.
Biologically humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes that control the genetic make of humans, and these 23 pairs will give you a total of 46 chromosomes that must occur in pairs.
23 chromosomes come from the father while the other 23 chromosomes come from the mother, and these chromosomes carry the genes.
Now, these chromosomes must occur in pairs, which means any expressed gene must be double, one from the mother, the other from the father.
The stronger gene between the two becomes expressed in the child while the other one though the present, is not expressed, hence the terminology dominant and recessive gene.
If a child has left and right-handed parents, both genes will be transmitted, and then the dominant one will be expressed.
If both are left-handed, then the chances of left-handedness become higher.
Read: When Do Babies Get Eyebrows
Tips to Help Your Left-Handed Baby Get in a Right-Handed World
Here are some handy parenting tips to ensure your left-handed baby becomes a confident learner in her environment.
1. Buy Good Pair of Left-Handed Scissors
Children are usually taught always to hold scissors with their right hand, so if they use them with their left hand (which is what they will do), they will only cut the paper or string with the dull part of the blade.
This might make your child feel some way. Sadly, it’s not his fault; the scissors are not made for him! Investing in a good pair of lefty will help your baby thrive in his environment.
2. Use Your Left Hand When You Can
When teaching your left-handed child how to tie her shoe, use chopsticks, or write her name, you may be able to get away with teaching her with your right hand.
Right-handed people may find it difficult to model these tasks with their left hands, but you have an advantage.
When teaching them to use their left hand, you may need to slow down and think through the steps more carefully as a right-handed person.
I recommend you do a little practice on your own before you teach them.
3. Celebrate Your Lefty
Lefties are indeed uncommon, and it’s also true that it’s a right-handed world out there.
Right-handed people might not notice this subtle difference, but many kitchen pots and coffee mugs are designed with handles for right-handed people. In handshakes, right-handed people hold hands, not left-handed people.
There’s also the elbow thing at a crowded table: Lefties will likely be sitting next to righties, which means they’ll be bumping elbows as they eat. Unfortunately!
Luckily, there are gifts to make up for these injustices, like the notebooks with the wire spiral on the right side, so lefties don’t have to rub their hands in pen ink.
Read: When Do Babies Hair Change Color
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better right-handed or left-handed?
Research suggests that Left-Handed People May Have Better Verbal Skills.
And the reason is that scientists have identified, for the first time, the genetic differences between right-handed and left-handed people.
Both sides of the brain tend to communicate more effectively in left-handed people.
What do left-handers struggle with?
Lefties have to endure lots of little daily struggles, for example, Swiping credit cards and cutting with scissors. For righties, this is not a problem.
What are lefties good at?
Left-handed people are good at complex reasoning, leading to many lefty Nobel Prize winners, artists, musicians, architects, and mathematicians.
Research published in the American Journal of Psychology shows that lefties appear to be better at divergent thinking.
Can two right-handed parents have a left-handed child?
Both copies would have to be the left-hand gene to be left-handed. This indicates that two lefties parents would always have left-handed children.
That is not the case for your family or many others. There is a 1 in 10 chance of having a left-handed child if both parents are right-handed.
Is left-handed a disability?
Left-handed people are not eligible for disability, according to a Mouthwire article.
Disability is a program designed for people who are unable to work. Being a leftie does not prevent you from working.
Wind Up
I am sure that you are clarified your question of how to tell if baby will be right or left handed.
You can’t tell if your baby will be left or right-handed until their 18th month.
If your baby shows a dominant hand before their 18th month, it should cause alarm. See your doctor for medical attention and advice.
Observe your baby for the signs listed above, and you will be in a better position to tell if your baby will be left-handed or not.
