Son's Weird Sleeping Habit

I have a friend with a 4 year old daughter that does the same thing, she even bangs her head on her carseat when she is tired in the car. Her daughter has been doing it for years. When my friend asked her doctor about it, he said many children actually do this, it is a soothing technique for them. He said as long as they aren't hitting their heads so hard that there is swelling or bleeding then they are fine. Some children like to be rocked, some like to suck on something and some like to bang their heads.

I'm sorry but I had to laugh! MY son who is 5, has had the strange habit of rocking on his hands and knees, covered in his favorite blanket-ever since he was an infant! The behavior comes and goes. My husband and I think it is a rhythmic form of self-comfort. I've discussed it w/ his ped. and he's not concerned. He'll outgrow it...sometime!
Sometimes at night, when I hear the rocking, I yell out for him to stop, as it's keeping Momma up at night!
On another funny note, we had a couple spending the weekend with us when we moved in our new house, they heard the noise and thought,"Gee, they sure are comfortable enough to "get it on" with us here, but sheesh!" Well, in the morning, they sheepishly brought it up, and we had to laugh and say it was Graham's rocking!! It still gets us laughing! Good Luck and relax, I bet he'll out grow it, too.
p.s. glad to know there's another one "out there"!LOL

My brother used to do the same thing...he even did it in his sleep! He is 27 now and his girlfriend says he still does it from time to time. My brother was diagnosed with "hyperactivity" at the age of 2...which was SEVERE! He got an ADHD diagnosis in elementary school. He has really struggled with this his entire life, but has been doing very well the last 7 or 8 years. I am not saying that the "head banging" is a tell tale sign of a larger problem, but I would definately check into it just to be safe. The others may be right too, it may be just something that soothes your son. Best of luck to you.

Your doctor can suggest a behavioral specialist that can teach you what to do to get him to stop this. Maybe you can rock him instead until he's out of the habit? Don't get emotional about this, kids love attention even negative attention.

you need to talk to your Dr. about this I have a friend that her daughter did this and she has a disorder I think it is called rocking child syndrum and they can treat it. But if it continues it can cause damage.

my little one used to bang her head on my arm as I rocked her to sleep. i talked to her pedi. at an appointment. she said as long as it's not very hard and she doesn't hurt herself she's ok. she also is a do and did cranial osteopathy on her. you can find more info about this at www.cranialacademy.org it really helped my daughter. hope all goes well for you.

WHEN I WAS A CHILD MY FATHER USED TO ROCK ME IN A ROUGH BOUNCING MOTION AND IT LULLED ME TO SLEEP. I STILL FEEL COMFORT FORM THE THAT BOUNCING TYPE MOTION. IF YOU ARE REALLY CONCERNED CHECK WITH YOU PEDIATRITION TO MAKE SURE THERE ISNT ANYTHING WRONG OTHERWISE BE GLAD HE HAS A WAY TO COMFORT HIMSELF AND LULL HIMSELF TO SLEEP IT IS A GREAT STEP FOR HIM.

When I was a kid, I shared a room with my sister... she had similar behavior for many years. She also sang to herself while she "banged" her head.

I don't recall that my parents were worried about it or did anything to try to change her behavior. In fact, I think they were grateful that she had figured out a way to comfort herself by "rocking" herself to sleep on her pillow.

My sister eventually out grew the behavior and learned to go to sleep in a more "conventional" manner (and she also went on to earn multiple degrees, including one in engineering and another from Cooper University)... Hope this helps... kids can sure do some pretty curious things :-)

My now 9 yr old daughter banged her head on anything when she was younger(2-4ish?) including hardwood floors. We finally decided it was her way of "venting" when she was frustrated or overly tired. She did it fairly hard, but never caused any damage to herself. She is now very healthy and adjusted. Since it is not happening all the time, I wouldnt worry too much. We mentioned it to our Dr. at a regular appt. not a an appt just because of the head banging.
S.

I DID THAT WHEN I WAS A CHILD FROM A BABY TILL I WAS 18 OR SO AND STILL ROCK MY LEG BACK AND FORTH TO GO TO SLEEP NOW AND IM 32 . MY PARENTS CHECKED WHEN I WAS YOUNGER AND MAKE THEN I WAS NO BIG DEAL AND I TURNED OUT FINE.