9 month old favouring right side for waving and pointing

[LucyBKI]

Hi all,

Just after a bit of reassurance really. My 9m old has been waving for a couple of months and in the past month started pointing but she only uses her right hand. She doesn’t clap at all and even though we try to encourage her she doesn’t copy. I was wondering now if it’s related to her not using her left hand.

She does use her left hand for feeding, is crawling and pulling herself up. She’ll pick up toys with her left hand but most often will transfer them to her right hand. I noticed it when she was much younger when she’d spin toys on her bouncer but she eventually seemed to catch up with her left hand.

She had forceps delivery and I took her for cranial Oesteopathy and they said then her left side was a little tighter. Could this be related?

Thanks for any advice in advance

She might simply be right handed!?

Did she have treatment with the CO? I found it very helpful with my little boy, he wasn't forceps but had his cord over his shoulder and I pushed for hours. He's right side was very tight, they released it in 3 sessions and he's fine now.

I think the advice is that if there's a clear hand preference at this age, it's worth a check with the heath visitor or GP. I think it usually turns out to be nothing, just normal handedness developing (or just baby quirkiness), but they like to have a look just to be safe.

That said, my daughter definitely learnt some skills with one side then the other – she'd practice one way for days, master it, and then turn around and start on the other side. She also had a weird phase of eating only with her left hand (but still playing with both hands, etc.) that stopped after a couple weeks as suddenly as it had started.

Hey, my son had this. To the point he didn’t use his right hand / arm at all. Went to an osteopath and it did amazing things. Also went to physio and paediatrician, it ended up being birth trauma that corrected itself with some physio. I was told crawling is best as it works all the muscles. If you’re not sure then get a referral. I would say it sounds positive she’s using it- my son is now 18 months and I wouldn’t tell although he definitely has a preference for eating and pointing with his right hand. Hope that helps. Take care 😊