I have noticed that in many photos and real life situations, adults cradle babies in their arms with the babies’ heads to the left.
When I had my children, I always did this, and in fact my left boob produced way more milk than the right! At the time I put this down to my being left handed, but looking at right handed friends, photos, you name it, more than half the time it seems that the baby is being held with its head to the left.
Is this a documented phenomenon, or am I just seeing what I want to see?
I was wondering what the reasons might be, and tentatively came up with the fact that the baby’s ear would be up against the adult’s heartbeat, maybe soothing the baby, so that it settles more easily that way. Or that it leaves the right-handers with their dominant hand free?
What do you think? Midwives or pediatric people, have you noticed this, or is it just me?
If the woman’s right handed (as most women are), she can hold the baby in her left arm, with its head near her left breast while her right hand reaches for something, scribbles something down, etc.
When I hold my baby, I often like to have my right hand free so I can do stuff-- like eat dinner one-handed… I think that, more than anything else, is the factor that comes into play.
I’m left-handed, and if I hold someone’s baby or a pet, I hold them with my right arm. It doesn’t feel “right” to do otherwise. I suspect that Hokkaido Brit is within the minority of lefties who’d do it with their left arm.
Same with me. I’m left handed. I never gave any thought to it; I naturally cuddled each of my darling three babies with their heads on my right side.
There is hidden benefit of being a left-handed mother, with a right-handed husband. Whenever I wanted to hand a baby over to my husband, all I had to do was hand the baby straight across to him. With two right-handed parents, you have to first turn the baby around before the hand-off.