Help! My 10 Month Old Bangs His Head on the Wall!

is he talking at all yet? doing any other odd things?

My 7 year old has autism and he started banging his head on things including walls at about ten months or so.

I have to echo everyone else. Ignore it. When my oldest (he's 8 now)was about 18mos he would bang his head on the front door frequently. He'd laugh and keep on doing it. Sometimes I could distract him, but more often than not he'd continue until he was done.
At 8 years old he's more wonderful than I could have ever hoped. No permanent damage, and he just shakes his head when I tell him how he used to act.
Good luck.
-K.

I feel you, for I am going through the same thing with my 2 year old daughter. This stage has been going on for a while now, I do ignore it, but I can reassure you that when she bangs her head on the floor, wall, table, I cringe. But she is doing this to get her way. I try to distract her with other things.

I am also waiting for this stage to go away.

Good luck.

Dear H.,

Well, for one thing, 10 month olds do not have a lot of memory, so you need to just take his hand, saying nothing, and then take him outside or do something that he enjoys doing. No, this is not spoiling him. The important thing is to not reward this banging on the head and then waiting for your reaction. He is not going to stop because you tell him, he will stop when you divert his attention to something much more intereting. O.K.? C. N.

I have two 15-month olds and they both did this for a while. One would bang his head against the wall or couch or even his toys. The other one would hit his own head with his hand. It really bothered me (of course) so I'd say "No" and I'd say, "Don't hurt [name]". The only thing that worked was ignoring it, like you said, and after a few days/week of that, they both stopped completely. It's got to be simply for attention.
Also one of my guys would bang his head against his crib while he was sleeping - he rocked. But this disturbed me too - I didn't mind the rocking, but to hit his head each time he rocked forward was upsetting. Our doctor said that to him, this is soothing. So it was okay.... good luck!

Hi H. -
My son did that when he was about that age, but stopped after awhile when I ignored it. He'll grow out of it and then you will have to deal with the next funny little thing he comes up with, like throwing toys at the cat...we're still working on that one, but "time out" is pretty effective. Godd luck! - L.

H.,
My son who is now 19 months started hitting his head on things about the same time. And I can tell you now, it is totally for attention. He still does it occasionaly but I just turn around and walk out of the room. In fact I do that with any unacceptable behavior and he has started realizing he doesn't get praise for bad behavior. My son is a praise maniac. Wether it be positive or negative. I just wish I had started the leaving the room thing earlier. I will tell you though I have been in stores and had many people say "I'm so glad to see someone elses baby does that". So I think it's just a baby thing. On another note... My husband and I do the switch thing like you and your husband. Until we were on the same page the behavior will continue. My husband is always afraid he is going to hurt his head. My thought is if he does it enough he'll figure out it hurts and stop. My husband use to walk around with him blocking every corner that he might hit. He was his invisible bubble. Once I explained my theory about leaving the room he has shown great improvements.

THANK YOU H.. and I thought my son was the only one. He is 5 now. But H., my boy started doing this,maybe around the same age. His dad would run and put his hand on the floor so he wouldn't get hurt.I told the doctor who couldn't answer why. But I think it is because we would react and he loved the attention.I hate to tell you yhis but my son even did the cement. He didn't care. I think he did it to make himself cry, and when they cry, they get they want.He also did it when he got mad.I had to ignore this and all I could do was give him a pillow and tell him not to hurt the floor.3 years old he started to slow down but I tell him I would help him if he wanted me to and that would end that one.You know I realize now he only did this at home.He was in school since 2 mo old and never did his head banging at school.I wish I could help you but I saw that my son was not the only one. I really thought there was something wrong with him you know what I mean. Let me tell you this he used his head as a weapon and would coconut people and boy did that hurt. He gave his sister a bump and him nothing. all he did was laugh.All you can really do is soften the floor and try not to make an issue about it.GOOD LUCK GIRL

My son would hit himself at the same age. The pediatrician told me to totaly ignore it. He was at an age where he was very interested in anything that got any kind of reaction. My advice ignore it totaly and he will get bored with it. Kid's don't like getting hurt, so he won't do it hard enough to hurt badly, and if he does he won't do it again. Think about how it is when you head but someone. If you've ever done this it doesn't hurt you as badly as it hurts the other person, same with what he is doing. He'll lose interest. Another suggestion is if he does start crying tell him he shouldn't have hit his head on the wall and that is that, no big deal. He'll be fine alot of kids do it. ~V

Hi H.. Let me tell you this. When he hurts himself, he WILL stop. My son is almost 2 and he still does this. Its not too bad of a thing. Just don't pay attention to him...do not give in either. I wouldn't worry to much. I hope this helps. Good luck and Best wishes, T.

H., how are your boy.Does he still have the problem banging on the door? I have speccial need child, I know the problem exist in some cases CP and ADD.Did he get over on his own or you thought of some way?
A..

Hi H.:

I agree with Vanessa who also responded to your ad. I have a two year old who bangs his head on the wall also and he mostly does it when he does not get his way. I used to tell him to stop when he first started to behave this way, but after a while I noticed that he was doing it for attention. After calming him down and explaining to him the reason why he wasn't getting his way he would just go on about his day. Wouldn't think too much into it, and I wouldn't say that it's autism (unless you are seeing other things that are out of the norm).

I actually have a similar schedule that you have as far as a husband who works nights and I work days, so when I get home he leaves for work. I feel your pain, but it has to be done. Day care is ridiculously priced!

My son does the same thing, he is now 14 months. What seems to work best is just ignoring the behavior. My son doesn't seem to go as far as hurting himself. The hard thing though is you have to get everyone that ever takes care of him to recognize the behavior and ignore it. As long as he thinks someone will give him attention for it he will continue to do it. He may continue to test you for a while though. Everyone just has to stay consistent.

hello H.,

Well I too had a daughter who did that, and it was only for attention, i thought that something was wrong with her, and i actually was worried and i took her to our nutritionalist, and she told me she was lackin one a vitamin she didnt have enuf, dhea, so i had to give her some of that , and that i was to simply discipine her and not reward her bad behavior with any attention.

I tried that and it was really hard, beciz i wanted to keep saying : no stop that" and pull her away from the wall, but as she noticed i wasnt paying any attention to her, she simply stopped doing it, and hasnt done it for months now!!

It will take alot of hard work, but it can be done!! :-)

My son used to hit his head on the floor. He grew out of it. I discussed it with my pediatrician and she said to ignore it as long as he wasn't doing it on hard floors and wasn't in danger. If your son is banging his head on things ignore it as long as he isn't hurting himself. If he is doing it on a hard surface I would just pick him up and move him and then distract him with something else. Hope that helps. He'll eventually stop, so don't worry.

L.

My daughter had a phase of banging her head on things. Instead of saying No, I didn't do anything. This way she didn't get the extra attention that she was looking for. Within a week or so, she stopped doing it because it wasn't getting any response. They love it when you say No. While it is important to make sure they don't stick fingers in sockets, at this age they don't understand the concept of No. All you can do is distract them to do something else. Your solution is in your request. He looks around to see if you're paying attention. Don't pay attention. When you say no, it escalates his enjoyment. He stops when you ignore him. Keep ignoring him while making sure he doesn't hurt himself. Or, distract him with something fun and safe. They don't get No right now.
Good luck.

Hey H.! you know I don't really have any advise but my 14 month old daughter does the same thing and she does it on the walls & pillows, It is crazy I know, I tell her "No" and to Stop but it doesnt work she thinks it is funny. I usually just remove her from that spot and direct her attention some where else. Im sure it will just pass. Let me know if you get any good advise!! Good Luck.