Head Banging 14 month old

[Bonney]

Hi Everyone,
My 14 month old likes to bang his head on things. This in itself is fine as he doesn't seem to do it for very long or very hard. But now as his personality is 'developing' he bangs the front of his head very hard on the ground repetitively when he is not getting his own way or is upset. The health nurse said to ignore and/or distract him (as I have always done anyway) and he will soon learn that all this behaviour gives him is a sore head and nothing else. I am worried he is going to eventually really hurt himself.

Any ideas??

From Bonney

[carls]

I was watching 'Taming Toddlers' on Foxtel and a family had exactly the same problem. Whenever bub had a tantrum he was put into a playpen (with no toys) and he then proceeded to bang his head on the wooden edges over and over again!

They were worried that he was going to do himself damage but eventually he banged his head less and less as he realised that it actually hurt and was a pretty silly thing to do!

[*Sal*]

Hi Bonney,

Unfortunately my son does the same thing (he is 2) and we ignore him, hoping he'll grow out of it. I am not that worried because my daughter used to do it as well, and she did grow out of it after a while.

My guess is that your son is using this behaviour to test the boundaries, as all kids do at some stage. He won't hurt himself too much if he has done this before. It's horrible to watch though. My son never bangs his head hard enough to get a bruise, so I think he is learning that all it does is hurts him.

Good luck!

[Bonney]

Thanks Carla, I guess I just have to be tough and keep ignoring him even though it sickens me to hear his head 'cracking' on the tiles. Admittedly he does stop immediately when he accidently does it too hard. :eek:

[carls]

Maybe make him a little foam hat? :D

[Bonney]

A foam hat!!! That should work, it would embarrass him into submission!! :D

[Mummy-2-2]

Hi Bonney,

thats funny you should mention this topic today, I just got a newsletter about it from

http://www.babyzone.com

not sure if it helps, but its better than nothing!!

my T used to do it a lot too, but has seemingly just grown out of it, thank goodness. To be honest, I havent read the info from above, so have a read and see if it helps you :)

[tickle]

Oliver started doing that too. Very painful to watch but after ignoring it for a while he just stopped on his own. He has now taken to lying on the ground flailing his arms and legs. Still gets him no where, but I guess they have to try. :rolleyes:

[Foxymoron]

My first child was a head banger... to the point where she had a permanent bruise in the middle of her forehead, that we called her bindi... The only thing that worked for us was to turn our backs and ignore it. It was really hard to do because you think of your little one as so fragile and you don't want to see them hurt. ;) They do grow out of it soon enough though... my now 7 year old has no inclination to bang her head on anything these days :D

[rynosmum]

My little one did the same. I ignored the headbanging and it stopped after a couple of weeks however some previous BH advice is invaluable:

Drop Preservative 282 from their diets (found in breads etc), his tantrums dropped in intensity once we stopped buying anything with 282 - maybe a coincidence, maybe not...

OrlandosMum bought a beanbag for her little one. Whenever a tanty like this would hit, she'd put him on the beanbag. He can bang his head all he likes then !

Tiles :eek: I'd have trouble listening to that too. Good Luck ! :)

[cobysmummy]

my eight month old son bangs his head on everything too!!
walls... floors... the fridge.. his highchair you name it.. he will bang it with his head... he even does ity with my knees when hes on my lap...
must be a boy thing!!