V.H. asks from Saint Louis, MO on May 13, 2008
Color Preference in 10-1/2 Month Old
This may or may not be nothing, but my 10-1/2 month old really loves the color yellow and frequently crawls around with a yellow toy in his right hand. There can be five different colors of the same thing (the rock-and-stack rings, for example) and the yellow one almost always ends up in his right hand. He has no problem playing with other items but I find it interesting that he has such a strong preference. I'll ask his pediatrician at his checkup in 6 weeks, but I just thought I'd see if anyone out there has any insight. Should I be worried? Any toy he's really seemed to have an attachment to his whole life has been yellow. And I have no intention of pointing this out to him or making it an issue, it's just something I've noticed and I'm curious. Thanks for any input!
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C.G. answers from Columbia on May 14, 2008
I also think this can be normal, but the only different thing from the other responses I wanted to add is that you want to look at his overall development. Yes, this may be just a quirky little kid thing, but if he is fine in every other aspect, I wouldn't worry. Like another mom said, if he starts regressing in speech later, does other repetitive behaviors, etc, later on, you may want to look into it more. But, it sounds like his development overall is great so I don't think you have anything to worry about with an isolated behavior.
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L.B. answers from St. Louis on May 14, 2008
I think some kids just do that. I told my nephew when he was four that he didn't need anything else yellow because he had everything. He said "I don't have a yellow sink." He was right! lol He doesn't do that anymore it just stopped.
L. B
C.M. answers from St. Louis on May 14, 2008
2 of my 3 kids did the same thing. My daughter, now 11, started to grab this green toy when she was between 5 and 6 months, didn't matter where it was, across the room or right next to her, she always went in the direction of green colored toys.....for 11 years now, her favorite color has been green. My son, who is now 3, always went towards the color yellow as well. He was about 7 or 8 months when he started doing it. But even today if yellow was the choice of a cup, popcicle, a toy, he seems to choose items that are yellow.
K.C. answers from Wichita on May 14, 2008
My oldest loved the color yellow when he was a baby & toddler. Now he is 6 1/2 & his favorite color is now green. I think it is normal for babies to have a favorite color (a lot of kids & adults do). I would only be concerned if he never played with or touched other colors.
God Bless!
P.H. answers from Wichita on May 14, 2008
The Mom who suggested the possibility of color blindness is right, he'd see yellow, but not reds, according to one of my brotherinlaws, pink is a ghastly shade of yellow, and he always hated it when my sis would put pink on his baby girls.
On the other hand, my daughter was about 9 months old when she was sitting on the floor playing with colored blocks. I realized she was "tasting" the different color blocks to see if they tasted different. She was associating tastes with color and it was fascinating to see her make the connection.
Her preference was red.
I think it's pretty common for them to start showing preferences for colors at this age.
D.B. answers from St. Louis on May 14, 2008
for my son it was green things. for my daughter it was yellow things. It's normal as far as I can tell. my niece liked blue things. It's interesting the little quarks that kids have.
As for color blindness, it's an x-linked trait, so look for any men in your family that were color blind. your husband can't pass it on to your son. If there is no history of color blindness in your family then it's unlikely that he is color blind. There is always a chance of a genetic mutation that caused it but that is not very common. It wouldn't be anything to worry about until you send him to school, if his teachers don't know he's color blind they won't understand why he doesn't learn the colors like the other kids.
Don't fret about his color preferences, just enjoy his individuality and the time you have with him, it will pass too quickly.
C.M. answers from Kansas City on May 14, 2008
I agree with the others that this is pretty normal but I thought I would add my 2 cents about color blindness. All of my brothers are color blind to some extent and one of my uncles (on my mom's side) is completely color blind. He only sees black and white with shades of gray. This is rare but does happen occationally. Most people who are color blind can still see most colors. The problem comes mostly with similar shades of different colors. My brothers have a hard time distingishing certain shades of red, green, brown, and sometimes yellow too. The warmer earth tones are usually the hardest. However, bright colors are usually not a problem. My mother has always told me that she knew my brother (who has the most problems with colors of the three) was ready to learn his colors when he was wearing a red shirt one day and told her his shirt was ketchup. So since most baby toys are bright colors, even if you son does have some color blindness, he would most likely still be able to tell the difference between the colors of the toys. You probably won't even be able to really tell that he is color blind until he is much older. And unless it is extreme, it will not really effect his learning abilities. Like so many things, kids who have it just learn to adapt and don't even realize it is a "problem".
M.A. answers from Kansas City on May 14, 2008
Hi V.,
My daughter did the same thing, nothing to worry, my dad loved yellow, and I used to love orange (my least favorite now) my little one loved yellow until 3, now she likes pink.
it's fine, little ones usually choose bright colors like red or yellow, they are the ones that catch their attention that's all:)
M. Abadie
www.Maiacreations.ecrater.com
H.H. answers from Kansas City on May 14, 2008
I think kids change their color preferences in different ages and stages of life. My son liked green in preschool and noticed a lot of other kids this age also preferred green. He is a 2nd grader now and prefers blue more now. A lot of infants will respond to seeing black and red things more than any other color.
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