Head Banging

Hi R.!

My 14 month old is a head banger. He bangs his head when he is tired, frustrated or when he seems to be understimulated.
It is scary, but the more I have read about it, the less afraid I have become. Here is a really great link to an article about it: http://www.drgreene.org/body.cfm?xyzpdqabc=0&id=21&am...

So according to the article, it is normal and very common among boys.

The way we have started to cope with it is that we tend to not make a big deal about it and he has been doing it less. I am thankful to read that they grow out of it...hope this is helpful!

Hi R.: my son is 21 mons old and he sometimes does the samething. He has for the most part grown out of it but my husband and I would put him in his crib and tell him he was bad and not to do it anymore. When I asked the doctor about it he really wasn't much help he just told me he would grow out of it and make sure he didn't hurt himself. I honestly know that my friend's son use to do it all the time and he stopped when he turned 2 so it isn't uncommon if that is any comfort.
~S.~

Hi R.,

My son, now 3, use to do that when he was mad or fustrated. His pediatrician said to just ignore it and its a phase. My father was concerned about it because the outburst would last a half hour between screaming and hitting his head on the floor. He stopped doing it after a month when he realized I was not paying attention to him when he did that.

YES!!! My son went through this SAME thing when he was around 2. I tried all the same options as you have, and still no change. When I did see the doctor about it, I was recommended to take his mind and attention elsewhere! I started to figure out WHAT triggered this behavoir. I then picked him up and took him to stimulate his mind in something OTHER than what had caused the tantrum. It moslty is a form of anger that children need to release and they only know ways to draw attention in order to do so. This is just my experience, not that it works for everyone!!

hi R..... i know it's going to sound really bad, go back to just ignoring it. it's really hard believe i went through it with my 4 y/o girl, when she was this age. you're right they do it harder and more, but believe me when she realized it didn't get a rise out of me and she was hurting herself she did stop. the light bulb will go on and he'll realize it hurts him more than you.... i'd still mention it to your ped. but it's a great attention seeker on his part. good luck
kell