Hey there, I have a one year old who for the past 2 or 3 months has been hitting himself in the head. I don't understand this behavior mainly because my first son never did this. It only happens when he's upset, or angry......you guys have helped me out in the past. hopefully again....anything---i will try anything
OK, its been several months and he's still hitting himself in the head. It slowed down for a little while -- maybe a month---- but he started teething again, so did the head hitting. It bothers me to no end because he leaves little bruises on himself. Now he does it more when he doesn't get his way. The Dr. thinks that he's just communicating. I really don't know if these are anger issues that I will see later on in life or what. When he plays by himself w/o his older brother he's fine----completely fine. Not sure what to do....Thanks to all for oyur support!!!! S.
My BabyCenter e-mail just had an article on this geared towards toddler aged kids. My 18 month son bangs his head against his highchair and slaps his ears - for him it's a form of entertainment I think. Here is the link to the article: http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/toddler/toddlerbehavior/...
I just returned from the Ped, and I talked to him about this same situation, except my son is 6 months old and he only does it when he is tired...but still he is hitting himself in the head! The ped said that it is a "self-soothing" technique...although I don't think that there is anything soothing about hitting yourself in the head!!
Some say that it could be a sign of autism as well (I am an autism specialist), but as long as he isn't exibiting any other autistic signs, then chances are that he is using it as a self-soothing technique.
HTH!
My son is has done the same thing! He is my only child right now, and at about a year and a half he started hitting himself in the head - when he would get upset. It really threw me for a loop. I tell him "no baby, don't hit yourself" and he has slowly stopped doing it. He is 27 months right now and I have only seen him do it once in the past 4-5 weeks, which is a big improvement from the daily whaps he would give himself. It seemed like it was his way of punishing himself. He would usually do it when I was saying no to him, no you can't have that, or no put that down... I am also interested in finding out more about this behavior.
Hi S.-
I agree with Trish. When my son was a year old he started banging his head on the floor whenever he didn't get his way. I would get really upset and ask him to quit hurting himself. Eventually I realized he only did it for the attention. Everytime he would began to hit his head I would walk out of the room. The banging would immediately stop. When I would walk back into the room he would start banging his head again. After awhile he quit banging his head. If you leave the room when he starts to hit himself or ignore him he will probably quit. Good luck!
Hi S.,
I am not sure if this is the same kind of thing, but both of my kids went through a phase at around the same age as your child where they would bang their head against the wall when they got frustrated. It was just a phase and eventually passed. I think it was just their way of communicating when they weren't yet able to communicate with words. Just make sure your child isn't hurting himself and say something like "ooh, don't hit your head......you are going to hurt yourself."
Hope that helps. Good luck!!
L.
Hi S.-
Your son is just doing this for attention. My daughter went through the same "stage" and when I started to ignore her and walk away from it, or told her that hitting will get her nothing, finally she got the point and she quit. I havent seen her do it in a long long time. Try to walk away and ignore it. I honestly think that they can't hit them selves hard enough to do any damage. Just make sure they are some where safe when you walk away.
Hope this helps
T.
my son did this for a little while- when he would do it i would say "ouch why are you hurting my head" even though he was hitting his. he was hitting his head because he was mad and would get introuble for hitting his brother so................ but i had to let him know that he should not hit himself- he is hurting himself, thats not good. it finally sunk in.
Hey S.- I would suggest letting it run its course. I think he is doing that because he doesn't know how to vent those emotions any other way. It can be very frustrating for someone to not know how to release those feelings so he is banging his head on the wall. I think once he's a little older and he can express himself better ( with words ) Then it will be better. You would think that he would stop if it became too painful right? Let me know. Good luck.
