ds has been banging his head on purpose

[francine1985]

ds has started to bang his forhead on the floor, table... or the back of his head on the wall, back of the chair... I dont know why hes doing this. my mother said some kids do this and its just a phase. has anyone elses kids been doing this. if so and it has stopped what did you do to stop it. i dont know if he is hurting himself or not but it still bugs me a lot. he doesnt hit others and is a gentle boy. i've tried ignoring it, telling him no, taking his hand to walk him to some toys, picking him up and cudling him. (he does it when hes calm not during tantrums)... i really dont know what to do about it.

[Zonny]

I think this is pretty common, especially with boys. Mine had a perpetual bruise on his forehead when he was two-ish, from getting on his hands and knees and bonking his head on our hardwood floors. It happened especially when he was frustrated, but sometimes not. I don't think there's much you can do about it, it's just another thing they go through. It does suck though, I feel for yoU!

Z

[KK7]

Is there any other signs like dosn't like his routine changed, attachment issuses ect or is it just this?

[francine1985]

its just this. he only started a couple of days ago after he got a cold. the cold is now gone but hes still doing it... it isnt a constant thing i've only seen it a couple of times and i try to stop him right away. i took him to the doctor about the cold and his ears and throat were fine and his lungs sounded clear.

[NancyM]

how old is your son?

is he's school age could it possibly be an issue he's having at school?
have you had his eyes checked? the reason i ask is that when i was young i used to suffer and well still do from horrible headaches due to having very little vision in one eye and the pain used to be so bad that i would bang my head against the wall out of frustartion

[francine1985]

ds is 17 months. we havent gotten his eyes checked. we do however do the follow test where we get him to follow a toy with his eyes from different distances (its a game that i heard about on a different parenting forum) and he doesnt seem to have any problems following from distances. i know his depth perception is ok because he will stop in front of things (some people with depth perception issues will constantly walk into things)

[Patty Smyth]

My friend had a son who used to do this to fall asleep and he always had a bruise on his forehead. I don't know what she did to stop it but at least you know yours is not the only one doing it.

[NancyM]

ds is 17 months. we havent gotten his eyes checked. we do however do the follow test where we get him to follow a toy with his eyes from different distances (its a game that i heard about on a different parenting forum) and he doesnt seem to have any problems following from distances. i know his depth perception is ok because he will stop in front of things (some people with depth perception issues will constantly walk into things)

oh he's just a little guy it's probably just a phase then Francine all kids have little phases and i'm sure he'll stop soon and move onto another phase that will bug you just as much well my 2 boys do good luck francine

[DH666]

He may have a headache from the cold. In my case, I always get a headache just as I am getting sick. He may be doing it because he has a headache.

[nadiabreckon]

DS does that too, but only on occasion. I think mainly he does it in frustration when trying to communicate and he doesn't really know how to do it (in our son's case anyway, all kids are different...)

I wouldn't worry too much about it unless he's actually harming himself, which I would then bring up your concern to your doctor (like someone mentioned, could be a headache...but those can turn into migraines)..

[annedougherty]

Have you been listening to Metallica at all?

lol, sorry...I couldn't resist.

[mrsjanuary]

my guy (14m) just started doing it. he does it when he's upset. strange!

[ninna]

It's probably a phase...and if there's attention being given for the behaviour, you can expect it to continue.

That being said, it's smart to rule out the possibilities (eg. medical issue? boredom? gets a rise out of mom)

You might be comforted to know though that I read an article once about head banging in children (forget the source, sorry. Probably some parent mag) and it said that often children with very high intelligence will bang their heads.

And yes, boys tend to bang their heads more often than girls.

gah...just add a little faulty reasoning to what I just wrote and I think I've opened up the possibility for a war on SC over why boys are then smarter than girls.

Gheesh. "The road to you-know-where is paved with good intentions." LOL.

[francine1985]

wow glad to read that ninna. dh is smart. he would have been on the honor roll if he hadnt gotten less than a 70 in one class lol. his fault for taking advanged calculus lol. i always just squeeked by in class. i got really high marks on tests but never did my homework lol.

[mdutka]

the one thing i learned about little boys is that they are weird. really really weird. right now my 3 year old licks his finger and then wipes his eye or nose or cheek or whatever. just weird. i know its just a phase and that he will grow out of it and into a new weird phase....