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Home › Articles › Toddler Safety › Little Head Bangers

Little Head Bangers

How to Deal with This Unsettling Behavior

By Melinda Copp

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Is It Normal?
Head banging is a normal way for nonverbal babies and toddlers to soothe themselves when they are tired or frustrated. However, not all kids do it.

"It starts around 8 to 9 months," says Dr. Lorraine Stern, a pediatrician in private practice in Santa Clarita, Calif. "Studies vary from 5 percent to almost 20 percent of 1- to 2-year-olds, and by age 2 to 6 drops to 1 to 3 percent. About 10 percent of those who head bang at 3 years will still do it at age 7."

Can It Cause Permanent Damage?
Although parents may be concerned about head banging causing brain damage or skull fractures, the risks are minimal. After all, toddlers are built to withstand a fair amount of bumps and falls, and pain usually makes them stop before they really do any damage.

"The most I have seen is a kind of 'perma-bruise' on the forehead," Dr. Stern says. "But the child cannot do it hard enough to cause serious injury."

Although head bangers can't really hurt themselves, they can make a negative impact on other family members' sleep.

"Sometimes these children rock their cribs enough when they bang their heads on the mattress that they keep the family awake until they go to sleep themselves," Dr. Stern says.

When Will It Stop?
As with other baby behaviors, like sucking, drooling and crawling, your child will likely outgrow head banging by his second birthday. If not, you may want to talk to your doctor to ensure that the behavior doesn't indicate another problem.

As far as being proactive, there isn't much you can do. If head banging bothers you, you can try distracting your child with another activity. When your child bangs his head as part of a temper tantrum or other attention-seeking measure, you can ignore it or pretend not to notice, and then give your child attention after he stops. This may discourage the behavior in the future.


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