Head Banging - Fort Sill,OK

My son did the same thing when he was a little boy. I think it is frustration because they want something they cannot have or do and sometimes little kids think they are big people.

I think that a hug and a little talk will with this. It is not always a temper tatrum, it is frustration.

How often is he going to time out? Are thier other discipline options you could use (help pick up the mess he made, etc...) I would save time out for really bad behavior (for my 2 year old that includes hitting, biting, and throwing dinner on the floor) and work to avoid some of the day to day struggles.

How are his communication skills? If he is unable to explain what he wants, what he feels, etc... he is more likely to become frustrated. He doesn't know how to release the frustration so he bangs his head.

When people say "this is a phase" that is what they mean, he will learn other ways to express himself.

L.,

My son did this when he was little. He is venting his anger by beating his head on the floor. When he hits it hard enough, this will stop.

I thought something was seriously wrong with my son when he was doing this - I had him tested. My doctor told me my son had was having temper tamtrums.

Hope this helps.

A grandmother now.

Hi.. Even at the age of 2 your child will know how to make you feel bad. If you say stop banging your head and he doesn't then you need to take the moment and hold him still for 2 minutes. Don't ever exceed one minute for each year of life for each infringment. I know it is going to be trying but you have to let him know you mean what you say the first time. If you don't you are teaching him he can break the rules up to a certain point and that is not how real life is.
Good Luck!
J.

My son is 17 months old and he does the same thing. For the the most part it is when I put him down, but it does happen when I take something away from him that he is not supposed to have.
I have found that when I see him going into a rage that and he starts to throw his head back or forward to the ground, I hold his head, or back to prevent the action until he stops that particular.
I do not pick him up, only hold his head until he stops. He actually calms down a little, but I still let him get mad as I have been told that it is just a stage where he is learning emotion and agression etc.
This may not help for you, but it is worth a try. It has worked for me.
Good Luck!

My son used to do this when he got angry. He'd slam his head into the floor at home, or the handle on the grocery cart at stores (which was embarrassing as well as upsetting). He ended up looking like he had a unicorn horn trying to come through, the bruise was so big. It was quite distressing, but we realized that he was doing it primarily for the attention. Once we stopped fussing over it, or running over to try and cusion his head before he did it, he quit. When he realized that we were still going to get onto him for acting up, and not going to baby him when he "bumped" his head, he decided the pain wasn't worth it. I wouldn't try to discourage you from speaking to your pediatrician/family doctor, though, just incase there is something else going on.

My 2 year old little girl falls out in the floor. She even would quit breathing, turn blue, and almost pass out sometimes. Took her to the docter because it was scaring me to death! His advice was put her where she can't hurt herself (rug, carpet, etc.) and walk off. Totally ignore it. I reluctantly took his advice and it worked. Every now and then she will lay down to throw a fit, but I walk off and she always gets up.

Not uncommon behavior for that age. Our kids know when they do something that bothers us, they use that to get a reaction. It wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on him to make sure nothing is wrong physically but probably this is just normal 2 yr old behavior. I would suggest reinforcing good behavior and avoid responding to poor behavior. Since children that age want to be "big boys and girls" you can try quickly putting him in a playpen or chair for smaller children and while you are doing it tell him that since he is acting like a baby he has to sit in the baby chair until he can behave like a big boy and then leave the room (stay close enough to make sure he is safe but don't let him see or hear you and don't respond to him unless he is seriously hurting himself) That puts the responsibility on him and gives him the control to get out, all he has to do is behave himself. It also puts him in a situation where it is harder for him to seriously hurt himself if he trys to hit his head and where you are not giving him sttention when behaving poorly. He will learn quickly not to behave that way because it doesn't work and he doesn't like the consequences. When he has calmed down them you can let him know you like this new behavior and offer to do something fun together. That is how real life is; it mimicks consequences of poor behavior in the world he will live in as an older child and adult. That is my version of some techniques of "love and logic". It is a parenting style reccommended to me by a counselor when I was having lots of trouble with my daughter's behavior. I can't tell you how much progress we have made just by my handling her behavior a little differently. You can get some good suggestions at www.loveandlogic.com which is their web site. They have free articles there that give you the basic principles of the style and if you like it and want to do more they have seminars, books, videos, etc. for sale. Hope that helps, good luck.

My daughter went through this stage too...between 18 months and 2 she would bang her head on the floor when she got mad about something. We just tried to ignore it ( although sometimes it was hard...especially when she tried to do it on our concrete driveway). She eventually stopped doing it. Its just a phase....try to ignore it. Good Luck!

I once cared for a child 18 months old, who had a shunt, who did this. It was dangerous for her to bang her head, and she knew she could manipulate her mother that way. I learned to see it coming, and placed her in a padded playpen every time she started. Then it would turn into angry crying, instead of head banging, but that would pass, as it got no response. As soon as she was done screaming, I took her out. For her, this helped quickly.
She was smart, and saw that it wasn't working.

My son did this too! The hardest advice I have to give you is walk away. He wants you to respond. After he is done with the fit and happy, give him love and attention. We have to reinforce the good behavior.
K.

If he seems to be developing normally I would say it is just a powerplay type behavior. He knows you don't like it and if you let it work for him, he will keep at it. If he has allot of outbursts, odd hand gestures, and extremely out of control behavior then you should have him evaluated.

Hi. I don't really have any advice, but I have been in your situation. My son is now 5, so thankfully he survived. He's a normal, healthy, and intelligent kid. He went through a phase where he did that at age 2. There wasn't much that we could do about it, but he did grow out of it. It was just a short phase.

Unless he's really hurting himself I'd just ignore him. Not many kids are going to bang their heads to the point of true physical pain. Most likely he is doing this to get a rise out of you.

My daughter was a "head banger". It's really disturbing, but, fairly common. Just make SURE you don't reward him for the behavior (like by letting him out of time out, or giving him attention for hitting himself.) You might make sure you put him in time out in a place it's hard to get a good head whack in - like the couch or an easy chair away from the wall.

We finally got our daughter to stop by saying very, very sternly and deeply "NO!! Do not bang your head." It was the sternest, loudest, most serious voice we ever used with her. It did not work overnight, but, while she had some doozies for bruises on her head, she never seriously hurt herself.

Just for the record, though, I'd report it to your pediatrician so that someone outside the family knows about this pattern of behavior. Our pediatrician, in the nicest way, just cracked up and said "Yeah, a lot of kids do that, my third one did..."

If he only does it when you put him in time out, I wouldn't stop him. He's trying to bait you into "rescuing" him. I'd make him sit on his bed instead, and not start timing him until he's sitting calmly.

My son used to do this too. I actually got a blowup punching bag like those weeble wobble toy and told him when he gets angry that it's okay to hit the bag. I explained feelings and used flash cards of faces from happy to sad to surprised and that helped. Also hitting pillows worked too.

My granddaughter was a head banger, one day I just let her have it, she quit when it hurt too much. We discovered years later that it was a symtom of an allergic reaction to vaccination. If you live near Edmond or Okc call the Full circle clinic and take him in for a ionic foot bath to pull toxins out , it is painless and you will see great improvement in so many areas. God Bless

Has he been tested? I think that would be my first step as a mom. I have a 5 yr. old daughter and I'm 26. Pray before taking him...

L., my son used to do that too but finally grew out of it. He is 31/2 now. Don't worry he will soon figure out that it hurts to do that and will quit. I called my doctor several times thinking he might have a mental issue and they reassured me that it was quite normal. Hope this helps.

P. in Ar.

I know this may sound mean but my son would throw tanturms and being in the military we where punished by having to do squats or the motorcycle. So I would have my son in the center of the room arms straight out, knees bent where he was almost in a sitting possition for a minute or two. It worked on both of my very well where if you gave aq warring the would quite because they did not want to do the motorcycle.

H.

Hi L.,
My congrats on your LPN Lic.! You must be very proud of yourself! You have a full plate and my hat's off to you. There is much good advice here, and I agree with the squats and the weeble wobble mainly. My 'Army' Mom used to make me kneel on the bear floor for a while. Also, if your little one chooses to bang his poor head, put a pillow there first.
I feel so sorry for that boo boo on his noggin. Best of luck to you!