12 Month Old Banging Her Head on the Floor

It may sound mean, but you are definitely doing the right thing. Just ignore her. Don't even look at her when she's doing it. Try to walk into another room (where you can still see her) if possible when she's doing this. She is looking for attention and if she gets it (positive or negative), she will continue the behavior. Make sure your babysitter knows how to handle it also. It may get a little worse before it gets better (she will dial it up to see how far she has to go to get your attention), but it will stop when she realizes that it isn't working. Be sure to praise her for getting your attention in more positive ways and try to figure out when this is happening (i.e. is it a specific time of day such as when you first get home and everyone is busy?). She may just need a little one on one time (say 15 or 30 minutes) so that she won't act out. Best of luck to you!

I'm sorry to say that my son also did that. It was one of many troubling signs that he had sensory issues. He also had frequent ear infections, which I often thought were part of the cause. He did it mostly at school, and he was very unhappy there. We removed him from that school and that helped. It may be out of frustration about not being able to communicate what she wants. Once my son got to talking more, he mostly quit, but he still sometimes headbangs a little out of play and sensory imput desire, but he will be happy at the time now. I agree with the previous post that it helps to start looking for any ways she tries to communicate or get attention positively and reward that, trying to ingore the head banging. We kept telling our son to use words, but that didn't seem to help.

hi J., my name is R. and i also had a child that banged his head around the same age. The only advice i can give you is that once they do hit hard and realize it hurts, it wont stop, but they wont bang their head hard. My son did it alot and when he did hit it too hard, he would slowly throw himself backward and until he reached the ground and then would throw his fit. I dont know if it will work for you,but hope it helps.

Well it sound like terrible two's. Tell her when she does that it hurts your head; see what that does. My granddaughter would do the same thing at that age. I told her it her my head when she did that and she stop. She said she did not want to hurt my head. She is five now.
Hope it help you with her.

If you get any great advice on this one let me know. My 12 month old son is head banging too. I think for attention. I think I will try to say a firm no and then move away from him. It is very troubling to see him do this.

My oldest boy did the same thing around the same age. I was told to just let him do it have his fit and walk away dont even pay attention to him when he does it because all he wants is attention and we are of course giving it to him when he does that. I hate to say this didnt work for me of course there were other problems going on though. But it might work for you. Good Luck and Hang in there she will stop eventually either way, just let her dr know what she is doing so you will be able to account for any brusies she might give herself.

What sets her off? She could be tired and over stimulated. Is it a way to get what she wants? Do you give-in to make her stop? If so you may just want to leave the room to where you're net seen, when she sees she doesn't have an audience, she'll give up.
That's also a way they show frustration. and yes you do need to get a handle on it, bitting and hitting may be next. She's only hurting herself now. Maybe find another source of outlet.
I would talk to your doctor about it.