are son hits himself in the head and hits and bangs his head on the floor. We do not know what to do

Carrie - posted on 07/18/2009

This is not uncommon among toddlers. He knows that this gets attention immediately from adults. Gently move him to a soft floor surface, preferable in his room and walk away. Do not say anything or give him any attention while doing it. He will quickly learn that there is no benefit to him with this behavior. When he comes out of his room let him know you are really happy to see him and so glad he made the choice to stop and join you like a big boy. It should go away within a few weeks if you are consistant. If it continues cunsult your pediatrician.

Penny - posted on 07/17/2009

Hey, my 16 month old has been doing that on and off for several months now. I take him to a cranial osteopath for treatment and he stops it immediately. The treatment is very gentle - the osteopath just places her hands on his body and his head - apparently they can feel currents in the body and help to get things back on track. Sounds strange but it works! Apparently it's due to birth strain that most babies suffer from. As soon as he starts head banging again, I know he's due for another treatment. Hope this helps.

Rebecca - posted on 07/17/2009

My Daughter is 19 months old and does it too. She use to fling her self backwards and hit her head on the floor and laugh about it. I was worried so I asked our doctor and she said that she has never had a child come in with brain injuries from it, and it was just a stage that she would grow out of.

Shaun - posted on 07/16/2009

My 17 mth. old does this on occasion to show off when he is being silly. He doesn't do it as much as he did, but still occasionally. The Doctor when questioned with this said to just ignore it or try to stir his attention elswhere at that time. Must be a "normal" thing because i see a lt of responses that other kids do this too. Good luck!

Sarah - posted on 07/16/2009

i had the same problem with my son. i was told that it was out of frustration but not to react to it or he would do it more. it was hard at first, but he will start to do it less the less you react

LINDA - posted on 07/16/2009

The only reason why i said ignore it is because it is a tempertantrum and my sons doctor gave me the idea of just walking away. Take him in if you want and have it documented, because there are people out there that might say that you are hurting your child as long as the doctor has it on paper then you have help with it in the future.

Amanda - posted on 07/16/2009

I would talk 2 the doctor about it, being that marks could get you accused of bad things you would want 2 have addressed the situation with a professional first, but I say let them grow out of it, my sister held her breath and ran into things to make herself pass out and my son hit his head on our steel door all the time, it only lasted a few months and they will find another way to release their anger without inflicting themselves with pain... lol they usually learn to break things then hehe

Cortney - posted on 07/16/2009

my son use to do it all the time when he got mad or you just told him no. He would head butt really hard anything he could it didn't matter if it was the door, table or hardwood floor..I asked my doctor and she said he would do it till it hurt then he would stop..he is now 2 1/2 and doesn't do it any longer we would just ignor him and he eventally stoped on his own.

Ella-Marie - posted on 07/16/2009

I made the fatal mistake of laughing the first time my son did it and now he does it all the time just to make me laugh! rarely he does it through frustration and only once has he hurt himself enough to cry about it, he'll grow out of it!

LINDA - posted on 07/15/2009

Ignore him my 1 1/2 year old does the same thing and if it bugs you put him in his crib for five minutes everytime he does it.

Kelly - posted on 07/14/2009

Our son does it too, especially if he is mad or upset. We have tried telling him NO, and ignoring it. Neither one seems to work too well, however, I have been told repeatedly that he will outgrow it. Lets hope so!

Michaela - posted on 07/14/2009

my daughter does it to she is nearly 2... we have found that its when she want attention they can difrintiate betweenn good and bad attention so they think if they cry mum will give me some attention or if we say no to something she will do it .... we have just found completly ignoring her and even to the point of walking away she soon stops

Stacie - posted on 07/14/2009

My daughter did the same thing she is now 12 and is completly normal and she did grow out of this she only did it when she was mad or irritated. Watch for sighns of what could be bothering him, make sure their is nothing in his way to hurt him and he will eventually grow out of it. If you have a huge concern ask your doctor. Sorry I am not much help just know you are not alone it is normal and he will eventually grow out of it.

Jesna - posted on 07/14/2009

Hi Nikki, Well my daughter used to do this when she was 1 / 1.5 yrs old, when we tell her something she dislikes or scolds her she used to immeidately bang her head on the wall or on the floor. We sometimes used to try and distract her or more so i used to ask her to continue banging her head on the floor and told her that her banging will not get her my attention. These are jez attention seekers or simply to show their frustration. When they do it, simply walk away from them and they will get the message!

Amanda - posted on 07/13/2009

My son, who is 6 years now used to do the same thing when he was little. He did not quit until recently (about 6 mos to 1 year ago). I found out that he was having trouble communicating his feeling and the only thing that he could do to get the frustration out was to hit his head on either the floor or the wall or beat his hands on his head. We (with the help of doctors, teachers and our local child development center) learned to tell him that he needed to use his words and give him cues as to how he was feeling (such as if he was playing with blocks and they kept falling over, we would say to him "use your words, are you upset because the blocks won't stay up?" and then we would help him to get them so that they would stay up and praise him for a good job. We also told him that if he was going to throw a fit he could go to his room because we did not want to see or hear it. Soon he got to where he knew he was getting upset and would go to his room by himself and stay there for awhile (we never bothered him when he was in there, just made sure he was okay) and we did not have to see the fits and pretty soon he quit because he was not getting the "negative " attention and it was not fun anymore. Hitting himself in the head or banging his head could also be a sign of autism and should be checked out. I would strongly suggest you talk with your pediatrician and if you have a child development center available through your school system, use them, they were a big help with both of our children. I can tell you more if you are interested, just let me know. Hope this helps a little. Amanda

Teresa - posted on 07/13/2009

My girls taught their brother that it was funny to bang his head on things, so he does it all the time and laughs whenever anyone else bangs their head.....

Sarah - posted on 07/13/2009

My daughter does that too. She does it when she is frustrated or just looking for attention. I usually ignore it when its for attention. I can tell the difference between attention and frustration. I learned that it really doesn't hurt them. It sounds like they are hitting hard but I think they know when they do too much. I take her out of the situation. She doesn't talk very well yet, but I look at the situation that caused it and deal with it that way!

Wyatt - posted on 07/13/2009

My son use to do that for about 2 months but he stopped after a while. I keep telling him that he will hurt himself, so i would put a band aid on his head everytime he did that. He stopped doing it.

Angelica - posted on 07/13/2009

My sons both do this. When they are upset and do not get what they want. I have a 3 yr old and an 1 yr old. They started banging the back of their head on the high chair when they were frustrated and so on. Then the sofa. At times my one year old will fall to the floor and will hit his head on the floor one or twice. Sometimes I just let him as long as he is not hurting himself , I figure if it does not hurt him it's okay. It also might be for sensory stimualtion that your child or my child may need. Try to hug them tight for a few seconds or hold their head tight. They may like it. I have worked with kids who do this as a special education teacher. Hope this helps.. Take care.

Ashley - posted on 07/13/2009

oh my goodness, my son does the same thing and all the other parents just give me a look. We try to stop it but sometimes he does it out of the blue, like he will be laying on the ground and just hit his head on the floor or smack his head himself. I'm not sure what to do...my son doesn't do it as often as he use to but I see it when he gets upset. let me know if you find an answer

Heather - posted on 07/13/2009

My son is almost 5 now, but he went through a period when he would bang his head on the floor too - really hard! Mostly when he was mad about something...thankfully it passed. We mostly tried not to respond to it, the experts say that is what the kids are looking for - a reaction....that they will stop when it hurts and at least in my case that theory proved to be true. Good Luck!

Jasmin - posted on 07/12/2009

Your son may be frustrated...or tired. When children are tired they tend to become hyper as odd as that sounds. Since he is only a little over one, he may still not know how to tell you he is tired and sleepy, or even hungry. Try to pay attention to him but ruling out the basic needs - hunger and sleep. If he is fully rested and has eaten, then you can rule those out and consider his emotional needs. If after several attempts you still have no success, then take him to see his pediatrician. There may be something else that is bothering him. I wouldn't recommend ignoring the behavior unless you know what it is related to.

April - posted on 07/12/2009

My 1yr old does it as well, nothing to worry about. Boys will be boys! They will do never anything to extremely hurt themselves. My 2 yr old used to do it as well, but he eventually grew out of it.

Steffanie - posted on 07/12/2009

start reading about sensory processing disorder or sensory intergration. If you read about it you will probably be able to figure out if that is what is going on with your son. From the little you wrote it sounds like a real possibility. There is info on the internet. Type in Lucy Miller and a great web site comes up (she is the expert on it). Also she wrote a GREAT book on the topic. There is another wonderful book called the out os sync child. It is WELL reading up on if you are having these difficulties. This is a specialty of Occupational Therapists. I have a Ph.D. in school psychology and a toddler who is a sensory seeker. Anyway, hope it helps.

Robin - posted on 07/12/2009

My daughter never did this...but I did when i was a child! I turned out fine..no brain damage...no anger issues and i am very balanced and healthy. My mother would just scoop me up when i started doing it and hold me very tight in her lap until i exhausted myself. While she held me she would just keep saying..."use your words, it's ok to feel angry, but just use your words." She always validated my feelings..let me know that it was ok to be angry, frustrated or sad, but would explain how to handle it (while she kept me safe on her lap) I think i was around 5 or 6 when she said that i just stopped doing it and started using my words. Good luck!!! If you really have a big prob....drop me a message and i'll give you my mom's email...she is AMAZING! She knows how you feel

Anne - posted on 07/12/2009

My daughter who is 4 used to it as well. I noticed she was doing it for attention seeking or when she didn't have her way. I spoke to the Health visitor who advised me to ignore. Eventually she grew out of it.

Kirstin - posted on 07/12/2009

My son used to head butt everything from about 12mnths to 2yrs. He use to hit it really hard to out of frustration, anger what eva the reason.

My brother also done this when he was lil but my lil man did out grow it. I just kept ignoring it and eventually he stopped.

Good luck

Beth - posted on 07/11/2009

I have heard from some of the articles in my magazines that it is a soothing mechanism- it stimulates an area in the brain that releases an endorphine or something like that which can bring them comfort and somewhat stimulates them, a stimming of sorts.

Julia - posted on 07/11/2009

my son who is know 10 years old did that too. he used to hit us bite us throw himself on the floor when we went to the mall he do that and hit his head down on the floor so pick him up and took him home.he was around 3 to 4 years old what we did was put him in playschool with other kids and he got over that, the doctor told us to distract him with something he likes right away when we saw him starting to act up. I remember that was the worst part i felt like a bad mom, but it's just boys going threw there 2's and trust me they will get over it. with my son he was just bored he needed someone to play with and attention he had a 2 1/2 year old sister at the time,

Rebekah - posted on 07/11/2009

I've actually read an article on this in my doctor's office, experts say that it's them learning rythym and stuff like that (I wasn't interested in the article then). They said it was normal and nothing to be concerned about. I wish I would have paid attendtion to the article then because my 20 month old is doing it now.

Savannah - posted on 07/11/2009

My son does it, too. He does it when he's happy or mad or whenever. It's just like, his thing to do! He's always got little bruises on his head but he never cries or anything. He's just being silly, I guess. I don't know how to get him to stop though. I wish I did!

Kelly - posted on 07/11/2009

Is it in response to something? When he's frustrated? Is there a pattern to it that you've noticed?