3-Month-Old Baby – Left-Handed or Right-Handed?

[Rozzzeto]

Our son is 3 months and 22 days old, and we’ve noticed that he is significantly more active with his left hand—he prefers to suck on it and tends to stretch it upwards more often. He does the same with his right hand, but to a much lesser extent. Currently, when placed on his back, he is trying to roll over again to his left side. We found out that his great-grandmother was left-handed. Both of us, his parents, are right-handed, as are all his grandparents—except for his great-grandmother.

We took him to a neurologist, who told us that it’s too early to determine whether he is left-handed, and that this can only be confirmed after the age of two. The doctor did not find any other physiological concerns.

We would like to hear your thoughts: have you observed similar patterns in other children, and what is the likelihood that our child might be left-handed?

You actually paid for a neurologist to see him because he seems to preference using one arm over the other? I’d understand if it was flopping and seemed like he couldn’t move it but he just prefers to use one arm over the other for now and that’s completely normal for a baby that young, he’s only just past a newborn!! Is left handed really that rare? I have 3 left handed kids, neither myself, dad or grandparents are left handed just one auntie.. it has no bearing on anything they do, Unless his arm is showing to have little or no movement I’m not sure why you’re even concerned about what arm/hand he prefers to use. Also just to add every baby uses both hands for the first couple of years.

I was convinced my eldest was left handed. Gently, OP, it’s far far far too early to tell.

She DID note a significant difference. She stated he uses his right arm "to a much lesser extent." Those are her words and all we've got to go on.

What we do know is that the neurologist she consulted also noted a stiffness in one arm (she didn't say, but I'm assuming the right arm). So no need for alarm bells as yet but also no harm in OP taking steps to try and adapt the way she holds her son to see if that will make a difference to the arm stiffness, etc.

Was there any issue during birth? Sometimes if babies have a tough birth, the brachial plexus nerves can be pulled/stretched/avulsed and cause weakness (BPI).

He’s only starting to use his hands at this age, at least give him a chance to develop a little, perhaps if he was 6/7 months and barely using one hand since he started grabbing etc, she stated he does the same with his right but just much less so he does in fact use it, all 7 of mine done that when they started using their hands, they’d grab and reach out with one hand the majority of the time over the other but changed as the months went on, never even crossed my mind at 3 months to start looking for problems.

One of my sons favoured his left hand until he was three. He is actually right handed . Both parents are left handed and all three are right handed.
Just relax and enjoy your baby.

There are just so many factors and possibilities.

My eldest DC is left-handed. There are not many lefties in our family (though there are in some families) but all of the ones we have are eldest children, which is interesting - maybe.

But also, he had a torticollis as a newborn, which no one took very seriously (imo) so maybe that was a factor.

And there was some research at the time that showed babies who were ultrasound scanned more than some number of times in utero - and he was - were marginally more likely to be left-handed.

And I think there is also a theory (not sure how well evidenced) that lefties were originally one of mirror-identical twins where the pregnancy reduced naturally to a singleton.

So there are lots of factors/theories and you may not ever know the whole story, even if your DC does indeed transpire to be left-handed. Just keep an eye on it and let them use whatever hand feels best.

DD, DNephew are both left handed and it was blindingly obvious from as soon as they started reaching for things. it’s genetic, I’m left handed and my dad is too.
Our right arms work just fine, just very clumsily.

There are a few bonkers posts on MN atm, this is probably the most ridiculous.

Why would they pay for a neurologist?

unless they’re in the US which would make a whole lot more sense as to how it even got that far. I doubt a UK GP or even HV would have referred to a specialist unless there was significant issues with muscle tone.

o/p why is left handedness such a concern? I showed a left hand preference as a child, so my parents started discouraging me from using it until I became right handed for writing etc. I am now ambidextrous, but still find using my left easier.

My DGS was the same as you've described your DC @Rozzzeto The pediatrician didn't think this was noteworthy. From then on other neurological signs were present...couldn't sit up easily until 8 months, didn't crawl in a normal fashion, didn't walk until 19 months, had trouble sitting himself into his little chair, couldn't figure out how to climb up on a bed at 3 years. Clearly, there were some issues, but the doctor dismissed them. Now at 6 he still is having trouble learning to ride a bicycle. If only his issues had been addressed earlier, he could have been treated by an occupational therapist and the muscles on the affected side could have been strengthened to help him with his core balance.
Where his lives in the US, the state offers free assessment and treatment until age 3....if only the ped dr hadn't dismissed the early warning signs.. Early intervention is the key sometimes to correct problems and helps to prevent future issues.
I'm glad to hear you are taking any early signs seriously.
Don't let the naysayers discourage you..only you know your baby.

As far as autism goes, my nephew seemed to show early signs of being on the spectrum. My DSil started working with him constantly all day long to help new neurological pathways develop in his brain. He's 28yrs now and although he still has tale-tell signs of being on the spectrum, he is able to function in our world, has a demanding job, and is very engaging.
Like pp suggested, you can contact MNHQ to ask them to change the title of your OP to reflect the actual reasons for your concerns...but only if the responses bother you from pp who don't understand what you're really posting about.
Have fun with your little one...as everyone says, they grow up too quickly!💐

Edited to say, DDIL had to have an emergency CSection, as DGS was stuck with his left arm raised straight up in the birth canal.
DNephew was also an emergency c-section..Don't know if there is any correlation. He also had torte collis.

I'm going to ignore the elephant in the room and say my son as always favoured his left hand for thumb sucking, picking things up, weaning etc. He's three and left handed. I did think about putting him up for adoption as he is also ginger but I decided that a good suncream and some left handed scissors would be the most appropriate course of action!

Dr. It does matter. Developing hand preference at a very early age needs investigating for hemiplegia

A truly ambidextrous individual it's extremely rare. You have to be able to use scissors, knife,tools, paint, write,catch a ball and use a Racquet in both hands, equally.most people are actually cross overs, like me. I use scissors and write with my right hand, cannot cut vegetables with it, have to do that and clean my teeth with the left. I can throw a ball and sew with either hand.

Then the OP should have titled her post: ‘neurological issues vs just left handed.’ As whether the child is left handed or right handed, contrary to the title, isn’t the issue here.

Tbf the o/p’s initial post did make it sound like they sought a neurologists opinion solely as to whether their son might be left handed.

not out of concern for any underlying issue. If they had led with that there’d have been different responses.

But that's not what OP said.... even on her follow up post. In fact all that referenced was some stiffness, which at 3 months old could be a birth issue & resolved by baby yoga or similar.

OP either you have a serious phobia or left handed people or you are taking crack. There are no other logical reasons why you would have taken you three month old baby to a neurologist because they favoured one hand to another.

My DC didn’t show a definite preference for R or L hand until they were at least 2. I was wondering if one of them would be left handed because my mum is and both my grandmothers, but DC are both right handed!

How much did you pay for that?!

From reading the other posts the OP has made, it does seem that they are highly anxious and would benefit from seeking support for it.

The Neurologist had to come up with something, I imagine it was a paid for appointment and he felt guilty taking money just say ‘I have no idea, madam’.

Hello, thank you all for your opinions. Some of them were quite strange, but I assume I didn’t ask the question properly, so the fault is mine.
I also apologize for my English, as I am not a native speaker.
Let me give a bit more clarity.
We noticed that our child uses the left hand significantly more than the right one, which is unusual at this age because both hands should be used equally. We went to a pediatric neurologist, whom we paid for privately. The cost of the examination and consultation was 70 EUR. (In my country, it’s perfectly normal to visit several doctors to clarify a diagnosis.) He assured us that he sees no issues with the “physical” side of things and said the right hand is just a bit less active and simply needs more massage. He suggested that the child might just be left-handed and that using the left hand might be more comfortable, which is why I started this thread — to see if handedness can be identified at such an early age.
I have nothing against left-handed people; I’m just trying to find an explanation (don’t you also look for logic in things?). Some traits are innate and can sometimes be observed from a very early age.
Considering that left-handedness is mostly (though not only) inherited and that we have a left-handed person in the family, we started thinking that our child might really be left-handed. I am a person who looks for logic, whenever it can be found, of course.
Kind regards!

Hi we had issues with our daughter’s right hand being stronger and left arm weakness - she kept closing the left hand into a fist. We went and got some baby physio privately and then got some through the public health system. The physio found the weakness in our case was also in the hips/legs which I didn’t realise so after ruling out dysplasia they did work with her to help her crawl etc… By the time we saw a neurologist she was over one and he said if it was neurological that it was resolved as the only thing he could see was an immature gate. They never really worked out what happened but signed us off from physio when she was about 1.5 and she was using the left arm well and walking fine. She is 3.5 now and still stronger on the right with slightly chunkier arm and leg on that side but can use the left side fine, she can’t jump with her feet together and runs slightly funny but otherwise is quite good at climbing etc… she uses both arms separately fine but they don’t really work in coordination- when she runs they both move in different ways so seems a bit uncoordinated. Still don’t know what caused it - genetics, stroke in womb or simply not being able to move one side as she ran out of room in the womb the last 6+ weeks.

I would follow up with doctors, getting a physio was helpful for us as the physio was able to say exactly what the issues were which helped in getting her assessed through the public system. I would treat it like she has an injury and do exercises with her arms everyday while waiting to be assessed as they say if it is an injury babies heal much better than older kids so earlier is better. It also stops them becoming stiff in the weak arm.
https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/family-resources-education/health-wellness-and-safety-resources/helping-hands/exercises-upper-extremities-infant

I’m guessing they’re in the US. No neurologist in the UK would see a child to determine whether it’s left or right handed! And why would you, OP sounds a bit odd!