My 15-month old bangs his head on his crib mattress when he is trying to get to sleep. He has done this since he was about 8 months old. It seems to me that he's trying to calm himself down, because he is such an active kid even up to bedtime. He rarely does it for naptime, because he usually is exhausted enough to just fall asleep; however, he will do it if he wakes up in the middle of his nap. I have yet to talk with the pediatrician about this, as he isn't hurting himself, but I just wanted to know if any Moms out there have had this experience.
actually... yes! go to this link: http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/toddler/toddlerbehavior/...
A friend of ours have a 2.5 year old son who does this every once in a while. Then he started doing it daily. They found he had an inner ear infection and was banging his head as a result. They guess he had mild irritation when he was doing it less often and had more severe "head banging" as the infection became worse.
Just a possibility!
Either this is completely normal, or I have two very odd boys! Both of my boys have done this. My three-year old even kicks his foot still when he is going to sleep. If he isn't doing it hard enough to hurt himself I would not worry about it. He will grow out of it eventually. From my experience anyway.
Dear T., I would watch it and talk to your dr. about it. Does he tantrum and hurt himself at all??? I have two kids with autism and they did stuff like that. But it was violent. My daughter would hit herself so hard at 15 months of age that she would leave bruises. This can be a normal calming thing too. Just watch him close I don't want to freak you out. Take Care, M.
Hi T.,
My daughter kicks her foot on the crib to soothe herself for naps and bedtime. I would say it's probably the same thing your son is just using a differnt body part to soothe himself. But you might just check with your peditrician for your piece of mind. Wow a 15 month old and you are 9 months preg. :-) Good for you. Take care.
J.
My girlfriends son did this also, except he banged his head on the bed rails until he was all black and blue on his forehead. He grew out of it and it never really seemed to bother him. I saw a couple of moms state that their children kick their foot to fall asleep, now if he starts that he may never grow out of it I still do that:) but it is more to shake the bed like I am being rocked to sleep maybe that is what he is doing? What ever he is doing it sounds like it is working for him to fall asleep.
