17 Month Old Hits Her Head and Pulls Her Own Hair When Angry

I'll preface this with I'm old school. My 4 kids range in age from 9 yrs to 28 years. 2 of my 4 did this sort of thing. My answer was to just totally walk away. Out of sight. No reaction. And I never EVER gave in. Honestly they did it a very short period of time. My youngest would sometimes have bruises on his forehead, but he'd also done it at daycare and they were fully aware of it, so no one ever questioned me. It doesn't take them long to equate what they are doing with the pain they are experiencing, and it fades quickly with no attention. And I'm fully aware that many people disagree with me.

Step over her and walk away. She will realize she does not have an audience and will stop.

If you are in a public place, pick her up, place her in her carseat and do not
give her further attention. Make sure she is safe in the car and then you can either drive home with no words, or wait for here to calm down and then drive home..

We only had to do this once with our daughter and she never did it again.

My daughter does the head banging too! And we have very hard tile floors so she really hurts herself. I totally ignore her and walk away. Then she gets no attention from it. The behavior has not ended yet, but I suspect it will soon (she is 16 months).

my daughter wouldnt have that extreme of a tantrum but she would throw herself down in the floor and throw a fit. So i would pick her up and tell her no and sit her in time out and i would walk away. Its def. worked and she is 2 now and no terrible 2's yet. I think kids all have there own way of throwing tantrums and thats good that you are telling her no but i would also make her sit in time out for it as well.

why don't u try to hug her when she does this and help her..its not about ignoring or putting her alone for a time out ..i would hold her and hug her..then i would talk to her about what is going on..i'm not into going head to head w/ a toddler b/c they don't understand..i've done the hug it out thing since my son was 1..now he's 4 and i still do hug it out ..even when he's spazzing out i stop him and we hug and it calms him down..he's so well behaved from this..that i have teachers at his school tell me he's a favorite ..i also used to put my foot on his butt when he'd get on the floor and have a tantrum and i'd help him which would make him laugh..they just want love and attention and they don't understand their feelings..they come into this world feral..and need us to help and guide them..and yes they do crazy things but try hugging it out..then explaining what and why..
like i tell my son, that its my job to make sure he's safe and if what he was doing was good or safe i would let him do it all day..
now i don't really have to deal with tantrums but when i did..i had to remind myself to try to hug it out first..and then it became natural and i could end a tantrum in seconds..

ok we're both home ill so i have to pay attention to him

good luck

D.

I wrote a very similar question on mamapedia awhile back and feel free to look up my past post. I just want to forewarn you that you will get people telling you extreme things like your child may have a brain issue, autism, get help immediately! I'm here to tell you that my son is 4yo, does not do it anymore and is a very normal little boy. He is the youngest of four and the first one to have tantrums in this manner so I was at a loss. I went with helping him find the words and with time and patience he came around. Hope this helps!

take her to her room, tell her you don't like that behavior and don't want to watch it, and she can come out when she is ready to act nicely. she's only hurting herself. this way you're giving her negative attention, but also sending the message that it's not okay and you won't deal with it. you're right to keep the emotions out of it and pay as little attention to it as you can. she will get over this phase.

Talk to her doctor. She may be showing signs of autisim. Eary diagnosis and therapy are the best things you can do for her.