I have a two year old that occasionally like to bang his head
on the floor or inflict some other kind of pain upon himself. Now I’ve heard of babies doing this when they are
upset but mine does it when he is perfectly happy! (He actually thinks its funny) Has anybody else heard of this?
Yes, he is crazy.
I imagine at that age they are learning the world and testing and I would not find it unusual. I would just try to keep him from harming himself.
Think of it this way. You would not think he is crazy if he puts his fingers in the electrical outlet because you understand he does not yet see the danger and is just experimenting. In an older child you would think he is stupid but not in a younger one.
What you are describing sounds pretty mucch the same to me. Of course, if after a few bumps he keeps doing it then I can only think he os not learning, but hey, we have older people in this board that don’t seem to learn!
My second oldest used to do that.
He stopped the day that he tried it in the bath tub.
Most kids will do this and many other odd things while exploring the limits of their bodies: blinking repetitively, putting fingers in and out of ears, spinning in circles, that sort of thing. They are experimenting with cause and effect.
We went through the head-banging-as-tantrum with my son. It was difficult to watch. He never raised a bruise, but it was still hard to wait it out.
The only reason I can think of that this might be a problem is if the child engages obsessively in numerous repetitive activities, to the exclusion of normal social interaction. Austistic children (or so the theories I have read explain it) engage in rocking and similar activities to mask the overwhelming stimuli they are receiving and cannot control or tolerate.
Head-banging can be a self-comforting behavior. I should know, I try it against my computer screen at least twice a week at work. Seriously though, one of my child care books says it’s not uncommon, and they’ll just outgrow it, especially if it doesn’t get a big parental reaction.
Holy cow. Children do this sort of thing? And it’s not unusual?
I really am wholly ignorant about kids. Can anyone direct me to a site that tells about other weird shit that they do? They sound entertaining, these children.
I thought it was alarming at first with my son. I asked the pediatrician and she didn’t seem to concerned with it. He does it less now at 3, but sometimes he does a cool WWF head-butt to our Jack Russell terrier. The dog ain’t too crazy about this, but it’s a normal stage kids go through.
pPllze dut’n wuriie hebbout theez. Hwi diiidd tis nmuuch ant itz heezzen’t effffffekktud mei ta auwll.