Six month old has a dominant hand preference…

[CabbageGin]

I know this is unusual at this stage so I’m just wondering what to do about it.

He is six months old. If I hold out a toy, he will always use his right hand to grasp it.

He will use both hands to hold the toy. But he will never use his left hand to pick something up.

He also uses just his right arm to wave around and hit himself - sounds odd but apparently it’s a completely normal thing to do - but the dominant hand part of it apparently shouldn’t emerge until quite later on.

He weight bears with both legs and always has done.

He learned to sit up last week and will sit unaided for a couple of minutes.

Could this be torticollis? Or something else?

My DS, now 6, showed a very strong preference from a a similar age. Doesn’t seem to have caused any issues. He’s not great at catching a ball and still trips over his own feet a lot, but he’s also learning to play piano, can sew and do other two handed activities perfectly well. I don’t think it’s necessarily anything to worry about, unless they don’t use the other hand/side at all.

When it's a very clear preference like this, I would want a GP or HV to take a look (start with whomever you have a better experience/can get an appointment with). It may be nothing, simply that he's going to be strongly right handed, but I would want it checked and keep an eye on it, so that if he does need a bit of support, he gets it as soon as possible.

I took DS to an experienced private physio. She saw no concerns, typically while we were there DS was using his left hand well to take toys and pass them etc. He is able to unclasp his left hand. She said she saw no signs of anything concerning, such as mild CP. Her advice was to always offer DS toys etc to his left side, to encourage his left hand to take it first.