My daughter is 1 yr old and bangs her head on the crib mattress while she is trying to fall asleep. She also is doing a lot of night waking and head banging to fall back asleep. Our pediatrician said to ignore it. Has anyone else experienced this? Any suggestions to stop the behavior would be helpful.
As long as its not the wall you are safe, I had one mattress bumper, he stopped around 18 months old.
I don't think you have anything to worry about. I do not have any children that do this but my younger brother did it from the moment he could lift his head till about 6 years old. By then he would put a pillow on his lap and pound his head up and down on it to fall asleep. It was a security thing for him and is what would put him to sleep. And now the funny thing is, is that his 2 year old son does the same exact thing. Perfectly normal.
... I thought my son was the only child to ever do this! He would bang his head up against the crib mattress, headboard of the crib.. the walls.. you name it and he did it. Not hard enough to hurt himself, but it was still strange to me. Your little one is having a difficult time sleeping, that's why she is doing it. I'm not sure why they think it will help matters any, but they do... so... what I've been telling all the moms on here is instead of giving your baby milk at bed time, give them Chamomile tea without any sugar in it. Warm water and tea. It will help soothe her back to sleep. I'd get a little music box too and play it while she is trying to go back to bed. My son would stop the banging after about five minutes and fall right back to bed... now my next battle with him is how to get him off his bottle! Good luck with your little one!!! I hope this works for you!!
You didn't mention whether or not this is happening since you took the crib pads off. If so...I went through the same thing. My kids got used to pushing their heads against the crib pads, so when I removed them, they were hitting against the bare crib rails! I removed the pads at different times for each child, but it didn't make a difference...each one had to "learn" to stop butting their heads up against the rails. My pediatrician also told me to ignore it and they would learn. It took each one about 2 weeks to learn. (A very long 2 weeks!!!)
When I was a teenager, I babysat for twin boys that did that. I was so scared I had to call my mom and dad to come see what I could do. I the mean tine the twins' mother came home and said I shouldn't be scared..her dr. said it was o.k. To this day I think of shaken baby syndrome and my heart goes out to you. It's nerve wracking!!!
Sounds like she somehow found this soothing and it is helping her. I think you'r ped is right and you should ignore it. If it is helping her to sleep, what harm is it really doing, especially on a mattress. She'll probably just grow out of it.
Hi D.,
The headbanging sounds like a sensory issue. Nothing to be afraid of,its just the way your daughter soothes herself. We are in classes right now for sensory integration issues and my son is a jumper. He absolutely has to jump to keep himself calm. I run and jump with him as much as possible throughout the day- especially right before we're going someplace where he'll be asked to sit still for a bit. Also, he pulls on his neck at night while getting himself to sleep. Whenever I wake him when I creep in there to check on him, he puts himself back to sleep by tugging on his neck- sometimes he does it so hard he gets a bruise. So I feel your frustration. But I have been assured that these are merely things that he does to soothe and calm himself. If you're interested in finding out more info. about sensory integration the Chicago Public Schools are mandated to give free screenings to all children. All you'd have to do is find out which school is nearest you and call them up for an occupational therapy screening. Since she's only one though, chances are they might make you wait. But if you're concerned, its worth a try- for you peace of mind at least. We go to Tuesday's Child for our servies. They're also a great source of information for this stuff. I hope that helps! :)
Blessings,
J.
Our daughter did this briefly for a time (about 4 weeks total)on our harwood floors as an attention getter when we weren't paying enough attention to her or were asking her to do something she didn't want to.. I agree with your pediatrician. Ignoring this behaviour will help her move on to another method of getting your attention. Since the mattress is relatively soft, I wouldn't be concerned about her harming herself. And if it continue's on for more than a few weeks, check back with your pediatrician.
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Ahhh, I feel your pain!! I have a 2 1/2 year old boy that was a chronic "head banger". He banged his head on the side of the crib to sooth himself. It seemed like he would down for naps/bed okay but if something work him up he needed to bang his head to get himself back to sleep. It was PAINFUL to listen and was a daily occurance but my pediatrician assured me it was not hurting him and he would grow out of it. Good news – he DID grow out of it and at 2 ½ no longer bangs his head! He did just stop about 2 months ago so it won’t happen overnight but she will be fine! My older son never did this so it was hard to take but at the same time totally normal. I was worried about autism, etc but he is totally normal!!
