When did you know for sure that your DC was left or righthanded?

[IWishIWasAFrog]

... because DS is only 6 mo but seems to favour his left side - for a long time only rolled to the left, BLW going v well with the left hand and now points with his index finger on the left hand. We have never had a leftie in the family before , when is that bit (left or right handedness) 'finalised'?

DD is 2 and im still not sure! She favours her left hand to draw and eat etc but also uses her right! We have also never had a leftie, so not sure if she is going to be the first! Or if it is finalised as you say when they are older?
Im convinced she is just very clever and multi talented using both lol

OP - we pretty much knew when DS was that age. Everything 'new' he did from when he was very tiny he did first with his left hand. We left him to it, but when he started using crayons, etc he would grab them with his left hand instinctively.

That said, he is not 'very' left-handed (he's 7 now) - he writes with his left hand, but plays all sports right-handed (phew - no special equipment) and uses scissors etc with his right hand.

I knew with dd from very early on that she was going to be left handed. I knew for sure by about 18 months. She is the only leftie in our family.

DD is left handed.

I would say that she was ambidextrous with a slight favouring for the left side (maybe 60/40) for the the first 18mo, but she was definitely 'decided' by 18mo.

2/3 of our kids are lefties.

DD is definitely left-handed, its been obvious for about a year now as she eats and draws etc with that hand. However, I wouldn't have said it was definite until the last three months since she turned 2.

From the first time she grabbed something at about 2.5 months DD has been totally and utterly left handed. She's still only 2 so I guess we still don't know for sure but I'd be stunned if she turned out to be right handed.

Thanks all - we will watch with interest!

Edlest DS and DD were obviously righthanded from very early on. (about 6 mths)

Youngest Ds is ambidextrous with a slowly developing preference for his left hand when drawing, although this depends on what he is drawing. He is 4 1/2.

My DD1 is 25 months and we still don't know.......she uses both hands equally. I guess some of them show a preference sooner than others!

DD has always favoured her right hand. Grabbed with it, drew with it, ate with it. Even at 6 months she had a clear preference.

DS1 was using both hands for feeding himself but once he started actually writing at 4 years, it was clear he was right handed.
DS2 was obviously right handed by about 3 but up until then would favour one hand for drawing and another for throwing but use either hand for holding a spoon.
DS3 on the other hand has used his right hand for most things like scribbling, holding a spoon etc from as early as 2yrs old.

Apparently 'they' (whoever they may be!) say that most children don't settle firmly on one hand or the other until between the ages of 5 and 7 but can begin to show a preference earlier. However, in my experience if children are strongly right or left handed then this can often be picked up at a much earlier age through observing the child in a variety of situations. That said we were convinced my daughter was going to be a 'leftie' till she started playgroup and now seems to do everything with her right hand. I guess it is yet another 'watch this space' development

ds is 26 months am still not sure i am left h and dh is right h and it seems that whichever hand we pass spoon etc to he accepts. i tend to always give him spoon/toothbrush to left hand as that is natural to me , but dh does opposite.

luckily ds wants to join the circus so this will come in handy for juggling

well DS is 4 in June and we thought until fairly recently he was left-handed. He has always since babyhood reached for things left handed, eats with a spoon or fork left handed etc. Predominantly to start with with crayons it was left handed. Then he had 6 months or so of swapping hands when drawing (but still doing everything else left handed). Within the last 2 months he now predominantly draws and writes with his RIGHT hand... but still does everything else lefthanded. We've never pushed him either way (because I was) and so we're still not sure at all.

However he has friends and cousins who were very clearly one or the other months ago.

I said when my son was about a year old that he was left-handed and everybody told me it was too soon to tell. But he is left-handed.

My daughter was entirely lefthanded as soon as she could reach for things. From feeding herself, drawing, throwing balls, kicking footballs and using scooters with left foot, etc.

At 4.5 she changed her preference to writing/drawing with her right hand literally overnight and hasn't changed back since. She's now 10.

Having said that she still is left-footed in physical activities.

I am still not entirely sure that DS is a true right handed person (he is 6 now). He writes fine with his right hand but I was never sure at all when he was younger. I think if I had "encouraged" him to use his left hand more he probably would have done.

With DD I have always felt she was right handed. And she is.