Baby deliberatly banging his head

emerald21

Hi my 9 month old grandson wakes in the night and bangs his head on the side of his cot hard enough to see marks after. It s like a habit. I ve never heard of it really. Have any of you experienced this ? He s got cot bumpers but they dont seem to be that effective.

fluffnutter

This is more common than you think. According to one site I visited up to 20% of babies do this. It's thought to be a self-comforting gesture (ouch!) or a way of venting emotion, is far more common in boys and most babies grow out of it completely by the age of 3.

It's worth his parents mentioning it to their GP though so that he can checked over, both to ensure that it's not a sign of anything serious such as developmental delay and to make sure he's not hurting himself too badly! (This is unlikely).

I can see that this is very upsetting for you but rest assured babies rarely hurt themselves doing this. Give it a google to get some more info and perhaps suggest to your son/daughter to mention it next time they're at the doctor's.

Incidentally babycenter.com suggested that bumpers shouldn't be used, but I don't have the necessary background to support or oppose this view.

emerald21

fluffnutter wrote: »

This is more common than you think. According to one site I visited up to 20% of babies do this. It's thought to be a self-comforting gesture (ouch!) or a way of venting emotion, is far more common in boys and most babies grow out of it completely by the age of 3.

It's worth his parents mentioning it to their GP though so that he can checked over, both to ensure that it's not a sign of anything serious such as developmental delay and to make sure he's not hurting himself too badly! (This is unlikely).

I can see that this is very upsetting for you but rest assured babies rarely hurt themselves doing this. Give it a google to get some more info and perhaps suggest to your son/daughter to mention it next time they're at the doctor's.

Incidentally babycenter.com suggested that bumpers shouldn't be used, but I don't have the necessary background to support or oppose this view.

Thank you i ll tell her. She was going to try and video it on her fone and show the health visitor. He seems to be all there almost walking, alert strong little boy its just upsetting for them to see it i suppose.

Mado

A long ago, I used to baby sit a little girl who did the same.
It freaked me out a little (although the parents had told me).
She eventually grew out of it. Without any damage I could see as a result.

traleegirl

My daughter did this for a long time, her head was constantly covered in old and new bruises. I knew I had to do something when the neighbours thought someone was breaking into their house one night!!
We spoke to the health visitor who told us to take the cot out of her room and let her sleep on the mattress on the floor. But then she started banging her head on the wall instead......
Eventually I bought packs of cheap pillows and taped them to the wall, it looked like a padded cell but it did the trick.

cazziebo

My daughter did this for a while - quite a long while - until she was maybe 14 months. She would also do it if she was in a temper. HV said not to worry (easier said than done!)

My niece also did it and it was later found she had problems with her ears.

so always worthwhile getting it checked.

emerald21

traleegirl wrote: »

My daughter did this for a long time, her head was constantly covered in old and new bruises. I knew I had to do something when the neighbours thought someone was breaking into their house one night!!
We spoke to the health visitor who told us to take the cot out of her room and let her sleep on the mattress on the floor. But then she started banging her head on the wall instead......
Eventually I bought packs of cheap pillows and taped them to the wall, it looked like a padded cell but it did the trick.

Oh dear lol

daska

At 9 months he's experimenting with a lot of things and his systems are developing so he's seeing what happens 'if'... so it's absolutely correct to say that a lot of babies do this and grow out of it.

But please suggest to her that the GP check him over, just in case it's because he's in pain.

And at the same time as telling you not to worry I would also suggest you keep an eye on this and any other 'odd' behaviours just in case it's the first sign of a sensory problem (don't expect the HV to know anything about this LOL). One of the most frustrating things with DS2 was all the medical/educational professionals discounting a lot of his behaviour and telling us that as his language improved it would stop - when in fact the problem needed to be treated in order for his language to develop. Head banging was one of the first signs we had.

anguk

My son used to do this as a baby, we had foam bumpers all around his cot (I don't know if you can get foam ones now or if they're on the huge list of things you shouldn't do). As he got older he grew out of it but when he was about two he used to bang his head on a door in temper or frustration, it really freaked me out but my health visitor said it was quite common and just to ignore it! He stopped doing it after a little while and is now a healthy strong 25 year old!

System

My 2 year old son did this and he worried me sick. His head was covered in bruises because when he couldnt get his own way he would bang his head on the floor.

He did grow out of it eventually. His younger sister tried it once... it hurt and she didnt do it again.

SkipE

My nephew used to do this and bang his head on the floor. As the floor was tiled it was always a worry. I used to just pick him up and put him on the rug so banging his head hurt less. When we didnt react to it he just stopped and moved on to the next thing. He grew out of it pretty quickly and is a happy and very bright 4 year old.