3Yr. Old Hurts Self

It is actually a pretty common things for toddlers to do this. I have always heard that you should "ignore it" obviously not completely, you do need to make sure there isn't anything sharp around or something they really could do damage on when they bang their head. But they will NOT bang it hard enough to cause any real damage, a bruise a bump maybe, but nothing that would really cause harm.

My cousin's daughter used to bang her head on everything! She did this for years and has never caused any damage.

This is true for most of the cases. However, you should still mention it to the doctor so he can take into consideration other things that could cause it, b/c if he is biting himself hard enough to break the skin often then it might be something other than an angry toddler.

Good luck :)

My twins bang their heads off of everything too. The pediatrician told us to ignore it, otherwise they would keep it up. I hated that, but he was right. They still do it, but not as hard and the one will do it to soft things lol. SO they still get their anger out, without the risk of harming themselves though! Try it and see. If it works, great, if not hten I would try and find another outlet for his anger.

My first child did that. She would bite herself to the point that it would actually bruise. Eventually she just grew out of it. I have to admit with her being my first she was (and stil is spoiled). I tried telling her no. I tried ignoring her but honestly laughing at her worked the best. Yes it is mean but it embarressed her and proved that she wasn't the queen she thought she was. Even to this day I try to laugh at her instead of scream now that she is nearly 12 and turning into a preteen mouthy kid. Gotta love them. GOOD LUCK!

T.,
This sounds like a behavior that needs to be watched carefully. It sounds like he has alot of frusteration and doesn't quite know how to handle it. Many times when children do things like this, it is their way of expressing their anger and frusteration about something they feel they can't control. You might want to start encouraging your child to use his words to tell you how he is feeling. And, you can say to him things like " Oh, I see how angry you are" or "I see that you are really mad and your trying to tell me that" I would start out by preventing himself from injuring his body and talk about other ways he can let you know he is mad, frusterated, stressed out or scared. The talking part, you can do when he is calm. Have him show you (like a game) how he looks when he's happy, sad, mad, suprised etc. By doing this, you are giving him the tools to use to express himself in a more appropriate manner.

I am experiencing this as of late with my six year old. he's not hyper active but is very exuberant. A very expressive person. I was (am) too. It's a personality thing, but nervous habbits that come and go (hopefully go)are annoying. I'm going to read up on nervous habbits. I've been considering EFT? You?