Hi everyone,
My son is 22 months old and when I tell him "no" he proceeds in hitting himself in the head or banging his head on something. Today he has banged his head on the ceramic tile floor three times, only to cry because it hurts aftewards. I don't know how to break him of this habit. It is driving me crazy! I am really afraid he is going to hit his head too hard one of these times and really hurt himself.
Any advice would be very much appreciated. By the way we have NEVER hit anywhere other than an occasional light spanking with his diaper on, I don't know where he is getting this from!
Thanks!!!
Hi,
I have a 10 month old who is doing this already but I can tell he's doing it for pleasure because we haven't taught him "no" yet. He will smile & laugh & very gently bump his head on something. Then a second later he'll do it a bit harder. He loves it. I think it's strange but I've heard of kids doing it. Hopefully, it's just a phase!
T.
D., I have not had this with my own child, but my nephew whom i am very close with did this for about a year around the age of 1-2. If you pay no attention and don't give in to the tantrum he will stop. If he is getting his way by doing this or knows he is driving you crazy it will continue. To prevent him from hurting himself you could always try putting pillow or towel under his head to soften the blow, but he may move it. I really don't think it has to do with your spanking, my nephew was not spanked. You might also try putting him in his room when he starts, atleast then it's hopefully on carpet. Wish you the best!
When I was in Child Care we use to say this was a sign of intelligence! So, you have one smart little guy there.
It is attention seeking behavior. Ignore this behavior, if you draw attention to it, you are only reinforcing the negative behavior. After a while he'll relize it does not get your attention, and actually is only hurting himself.
GL:)
The One Step Ahead catalog sells soft helmets for kids so they won't hurt themselves when they fall...it might be silly, but if you are really worried about him hurting himself, you could always get him one.
Our daughter did this! On our concrete steps ALL THE TIME!! IGNORE IT!!! I know that is difficult to say, but we had 3 doctors tell us that she will not do it hard enough to cause damage. The crying afterwards is not because he is hurt but for attention. And even a spanking is attention. Walk away, turn around, do whatever you need to so that you are not seeing the behavior.
