23 mo head banging in frustration - not sure what to do!

[windymama]

DD is 23 mo and recently started banging her head on the ground/wall etc when she's frustrated or having a tantrum.  DH and I are at a loss as to what to do.  She has a bruise on her forehead from where's she's hit the floor too hard (we have parquet floors) and she keeps hitting it making things worse.

What we have been doing is removing her from where she is and placing her on our bed, so if she needs to bang her head at least it's on something soft.  For the most part moving her in there calms her down.  We're also offering more snacks and drinks through out the day so it isn't usually started by hunger.

It's compounded by the fact that she's delayed in speech (has a vocabulary of about 10 words) and gross motor skills (she's just learning to stand on her own and is finally crusing but not walking yet) and she doesn't nap (she's tired but I cannot get her to sleep without resorting to CIO - which I won't do).  Oh, and I'm due any day with another baby so I know that's probably not helping.

So any other ideas as to what to do?

TIA!

[scottishmommy]

My DD used to do the same thing. Honestly I have no idea how to stop it, but I feel like eventually they get that it hurts and stop. Our kid is extremely sensory seeking, so that may have something to do with it. It's vey distressing, but as long as she's doing it out of frustration and anger I think it's pretty normal. DD hit her head hard a few times. She even broke a bunch of capillaries on her forehead, but she eventually stopped. She hasn't done it in months.

[bigjooba]

My son used to bang his head, however he used to lie down and bang the back of his head, not the front (don't know which is worse). He also has severe delayed speech, so like you said, it is likely because of the frustration. Our paediatrician told us as long as he is not banging his head on a sharp object (like the corner of a table), then he is unlikely to do any damage. Bu my son used to bang his head repeatedly and with such force, I was sure he was going to fracture his skull!!  The more we yelled, threatened to put him in his bed, actually put him in his bed - WHATEVER we did, he would do it even more. So our paed told us to just walk away, and IGNORE it. Go in the actual next room and practice deep breathing. Before we would walk away, we would have to get down to his level, and say "Ashi STOP" quite firmly. Once that was said and the banging continued, we had to just up and walk away. Well, I tried it a few times, and guess what.......IT WORKED. To my utter amazement. Once he knoew that the headbanging wasnt going to get ANY reaction from us - good or bad - he realised he couldnt get our attention this way, so he just stopped.

I was really sceptical at first with this approach, but after literally a few days, he completely stopped. Granted the tantrums didnt stop (d othe yever), but the head banging did. He was 2 years old when he started with the headbanging, now he is receiving sppech therapy, having just turned 3. So hang in there, and we can only do our best for our kids.

[MomtoDandJ]

First -- big hugs to you! This will pass!

To help with her frustration about the speech delay, have you considered introducing a little baby sign language? We used it with my son who was slightly delayed speech-wise and it really worked for us. He was able to communicate with signs until he got a hold of more words and it avoided a lot of meltdowns.

Good luck to you!

[journeywooz]

Originally Posted by MomtoDandJ 

First -- big hugs to you! This will pass!

To help with her frustration about the speech delay, have you considered introducing a little baby sign language? We used it with my son who was slightly delayed speech-wise and it really worked for us. He was able to communicate with signs until he got a hold of more words and it avoided a lot of meltdowns.

Good luck to you!

i second this!!