Has anyone else experienced their child hitting their head on purpose? My two-year-old son has recently started hitting his head on the ground when he doesn’t get his way. He doesn’t kick or scream while throwing a tantrum just hits his head on the ground or wall and then looks at us and points to what hurts. We have tried ignoring him when he does this, putting him in a time out chair, and babying him. Nothing so far has made him stop. I’m concerned he is really going to hurt himself. We also have a six month old, so I thought it had to do with not getting enough attention but he only does it when we tell him no or he doesn’t get his way. Thank you for your help.
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Ignore him and walk away…he’s doing it for attention. My little brother did the same thing when he was little. It’s just a phase.
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My son did this when he was young. Its a phase. He did it one time so hard he did hurt himself (he cried) it didn’t last long after that… he is now 14 and is fine… no worries Mama.
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Its normal. Just dont let him hurt himself lol. Careful tho. Moms on this page are so judgey that him smacking his head on purpose is going to be your fault! I find this page useless half the time and just wind up arguing with people on it
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Yep, he would bang his head on stuff. Dr said its a phase. And it was.
My son did this as well. The pediatrician said to ignore it, he was doing it for a reaction. It was a phase he grew out of after a while.
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My son did be outgrew it quickly
My 1 year old does it she thinks it’s funny.
Before you get all the normals, my oldest did this and he has autism and adhd and did this. He still does this from time to time, but not as much. Honestly, I wouldn’t ignore it. I would make him stop and talk to him why it’s not good and how he can really hurt himself.
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You’ll just have to ride this one out I’m afraid. My son was the same, his communication’s and frustrations are not as easily expressed at that age xx
Make extra sure there are no ear or sinus issues going on.
My 2 year old grandson started doing that & acting out & he ended up needing tubes in his ears for inner ear infections & daily sinus medication.
The head hitting has now stopped & his behavior is much better.
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My son used to do this. The doctor said he won’t do it hard enough to hurt himself. But he did and ended up needing staples in his head. As soon as the doctor finished putting the staples in my son got mad and smashed his head again right there in the emergency room. He finally outgrew it as he got older
My son did the same thing when he was around 1 or 2. He eventually stopped on his own not long after
My daughter use to gag herself or hold her breath when she got mad. They just do it to see reactions of others. Just ignore they’ll eventually stop doing it.
My son does this because he has a sensory processing disorder not saying yours have it but its normal for my kid to do it .
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I teach children with disabilities. My son also has autism. Please don’t ignore this. It’s a sign of not enough stimulation. Could be signs of developmental delay.
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My 2 year old thinks its funny he doesnt do it when he mad though but he still does it idk y but he does we tell him to stop and he will
Ya just walk away and don’t feed into it. My kids dr once said they’ll never do it again if it really hurt that bad
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Wow that is scary. Sorry your having to deal with that.
My middle did this a lot. He outgrew it thankfully
Yes! Mine did that too. Gave tight hugs during tantrum and that helped a lot and got him a sensory swing. It was like a pressure thing that helped him when upset. He has stopped now. He’s 3. Now he throws things but taking them away and ignoring or talking it through are helpful now.
My son did this as well, started about 1 1/2 took him to the doctor and they wanted him screened for autism. He didn’t have that but what we did find out is he had a significant speech delay. Started taking him to therapy and he has completely stopped! He’s able to express himself better now instead of hitting his head to express emotions. Of course still go to doctor to see as it could be different, good luck!
My son would but not just one at a time he would hit and hit and hit didn’t matter if it was bricks, a table or what. He wasn’t able to communicate well so we got him into therapy that helped him learn how to communicate and also simple hand signals until he was able to talk
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My son does this but does it because he thinks it’s hilarious. He’ll hit his head on the wall then look back and laugh
Your pediatrician should be able to do simple screening to determine if he may need other testing by developmental doctor. I work for one but we have extensive waiting list so check with pcp first.
My adhd son did this when he was younger. I kept reinforcing being kind to yourself and ignoring it. He eventually outgrew it.
I would bring it up to the pediatrician to do an early screen for Autism. If he’s continuing to do to it despite it hurting him I would be concerned . Try to block what he’s doing with a pillow or your hand without giving verbal attention to what’s he’s doing and redirect him. It’s ignoring the negative behavior while keeping him safe . Reward him as soon as he stops and directs his attention to an appropriate activity
My son did the same thing, I was scared and took him to the pediatrician for this, his advice was to let him do it and one day he would hit it hard enough he would stop on his own. This was very hard me for to do , but I was finally exhausted trying to get him to stop so I did follow the pediatricians advice and sure enough he about knocked himself unconscious one day but he never did it again.
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Manipulation…walk.away…dont look back
So he knows thats not working…get the vacuum.put him to work…tell him.help me. Clean …distraction tactic…
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I would speak to his pediatrician about it.
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My son did the same thing and quit when he hit the wall and put a knot on his forehead. Usually he got lucky and hit just the sheetrock but that day he hit a stud and it didn’t give like the sheetrock did.
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Could be seeking vestibular and/or proprioceptive input. A sensory processing thing.
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Maybe you should see a Dr sounds more severe than jealousy or any thing else.
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It’s an anxiety issue.
Could be stimming. Please don’t be offended, but maybe consider autism. Autism mommy here.
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My little brother used to bang his head repeatedly on the kitchen floor when he had a tantrum. Not on the carpet, just the hard floors. He’s a very successful game designer now. No worries.
Mine did this. I couldn’t stop him. One day he did it in a garage and hurt himself pretty bad. For a few weeks after that, he did it, but would give a few test super soft ones first. Then it kind of faded away. It’s a phase.
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My brother would do this.
He would be on all 4s banging his head so hard on the ground repeatedly. THE NOISE I CAN STILL HEAR IT CRACK! We tried everything to stop him. As soon as he wasn’t getting his way he would start banging. He used to get in actual trouble because of it. Sometimes he’d get a smack and sent to his room (he got smacked because the noise of his head actually banging and hitting the ground would scare my parents and they had no way to stop him. 30 years on & As we all now know smacking also fixes nothing)
Im not sure how to help but just know that it will stop and he shouldn’t hurt himself often as we seem to be very in touch with our own pain threshold.
I will ask him why he did it- if he knows or can explain it now & I’ll update my comment.
Does he talk at all yet? Our son did the same thing but that was because he couldn’t talk and that was the only way he could communicate with us til we had his ears checked and he had to have tubes put in.
That’s a common trait of Autism. When a child is non-verbal or struggles to verbally Express their feelings, they cause themselves physical harm out of frustration.
My 18 month old does this, my HV said its normal around this age x
When he stars beating the top, then you beat the bottom
One day I do e this my son throwing paddy in Sainsbury’s age three ish. So I laid floor and had paddy with him he soon got up same him he went stage doing this I copy. B he used laugh me lol x
This isn’t your fault! It’s normal, if he isn’t hitting it in pavement, or anything hard, he will be ok. Try to get down on his level and tell him it’ll be ok. But this is normal!
My daughter did this I would just stand her up and say if you’re gonna cry you’re gonna do it standing. Took a couple days off standing her up but she didn’t do it again
Have him checked for possible autism. My grandson does the same thing and He’s been recently diagnosed with autism
My oldest son used to do this don’t react to it he won’t knock himself out and if he does then make sure you discipline him for it and he will never do it again but crying and scaring yourself is him asking for attention in a violent manner.
Yes my son did it all the time…pediatrician said let him do it till.he hits it hard enough welp that surely happened he dont do.it anymore
Get him in to see a doctor to make sure nothing is wrong with him. In the mean time, put a helmet on him.
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My son did this and we had him tested for everything including autism and he was fine. He just couldn’t talk yet so he was frustrated that we didn’t know what he wanted. I started telling him to “show Mama what you want” and that helped. We also started him with a speech therapist who has worked wonders and he is almost 4 now and talking up a storm!