My 7 month old has just started to bang his head against the back of his high chair. He smiles when he does it. He has also just been diagnosed with GERD. What should I do about this?

Thanks,

DeAnn

If he is happy while he is doing it I would not be too worried. My little guy went through a phase of banging his head. I think he just did it becuase he thought it was fun.

If he starts doing it all the time or looks like he is uncomfortable while doing then I would start to worry that it may be due to reflux pain.

It "could" be a sensory issue or just something new that he has learned to do himself. Jason does it when in his highchair but only when he is not getting his way or not getting 100% attention. He actually laughs and smiles as he is doing it. It's like he knows it is something he shouldn't be doing. Drives me nuts!! I take that as a cue to put him in his hammock swing and it calms him down.

My son has been a head banger for a while now...for a while it was mostly out of curiousity, I think. He'd find a new thing to check out, then bang his head on it.

Now that he is a busy, strong willed toddler, he bangs his head when he is frustrated or tired...or both, lol.

I'm new to the world of sensory issues...Ava will be starting OT soon, but I don't think the head banging is a GERD thing.

Does he seem uncomfortable when he does it?

I would say that it is not a GERD thing, it is really common in non gerdlings.

I would just give a warning that it isn't appropriate, and that next time they get time out, I know he is little but it is the reaction that you are giving that is making him smile, he thinks it is a special thing. If he is in the highchair or something, just ignore it, and don't smile or talk except a no, it is generally a phase and as long as he isn't hurting himself, you can see if it goes away by itself.

Interesting question, and one that I have gotten mixed answers to myself.

Initially, my son started head banging just in his highchair around 11 months of age. I saw this bizarre behavior within a 2 week time frame of his reflux starting. As the reflux got worse, while waiting to be referred to a GI, the rocking became more frequent. All of sudden he was rocking prior to nap, bedtime, even just sitting on the couch watching tv, in addition to in his highchair. Since they both started at the same time I was told by my GI doc that it was a "self soothing mechinism" because he was in so much pain from the reflux. When we finally got the reflux under control, he stopped banging with the exception of prior to nap and bed. I no longer see it during the day at all, but I can hear him in his room before he takes his nap. It can NOT be because he's looking to get a reaction out of me because I am not even in the room!

Now he is 30 months old and is showing some speech delays and a few sensory issues. The rocking is now becoming problematic in that the speech therapist said it may be more than a "self soothing mechanism". I am having him evaluated by a developmental pediatrician next month for all of his issues.

So I don't know if the rocking is now out of habit and started because of the reflux, or if there is something more wrong with him. Please be aware though that MANY MANY kids rock and it means absolutely nothing. Babycenter.com says that up to 20% of kids rock and outgrow it by the age of 3.

JMHO, but I am very happy I never punished my son for this behavior because if it turns out he does have something like Sensory Integration Disorder, I would feel incredibly guilty for in essense, punishing him for showing symptoms of the disorder--which he cannot control. In the meantime, make your doctor aware of the situation and give it some time and see if the behavior decreases, or stops on its own.

I think in most cases it's just a infant/toddler thing. The fact that he is smiling when he does it seems to indicate that it's behavioral and he knows it's attention getting. I don't think it's really either a GERD or sensory going off what you are describing. Just a baby being a baby!

Please be aware though that MANY MANY kids rock and it means absolutely nothing. Babycenter.com says that up to 20% of kids rock and outgrow it by the age of 3.

I am going to confess here and say that I rocked WELL past the age of 3 to get myself to sleep, to the point that my hair would often be matted and snarled in the AM from it. My brother also did the same thing for quite a long time. We did not suffer from reflux and I would say we are relatively normal in most aspects (no comments from Leigh thank you very much!).

Carson is a head banging baby.. its so bad his forehead stays bruised.. the dr actually said that is very typical of todllers its their way of throwing a temper tantrum.

Aubrey is also a head banger. I noticed that she does it mostly after dinner when she is getting tired. She goes around and bangs her head on the couch or tries to head butt the dog. The whole time she is laughing and smiling so I try not to worry about it. Like the other said, she's just being a silly little toddler.

Braydon (19 months) was just diagnosed this week with autism and the head banging is getting so much worse. He is constantly on the move walking, only to stop long enough to bang his head on the door frame, etc. It is driving my daughter crazy. He has been on breathing treatments for asthma for almost 5 days and we are wondering if this is making it worse. My daughter called the doctor, said he no longer needs the nebulizer and wrote another prescription to counteract the breathing medicine and maybe help him sleep. Shouldn't he have told us about that when he ordered the treatments? Deh! Braydon has not NAPPED for 3 days now AT ALL and he hasn't gone to be until close to 10:00 p.m. His normal bedtime is between 6:00 & 7:00 p.m. He also was born with and continues to have REFLUX. He still takes meds every day. We tried a couple of times to take him off, but it did not work. Therefore, I do not think the head banging is a "reflux" thing. I feel it is definitely "behavioral" or "self-soothing". We are trying desperately to get him scheduled for an EEG. Hopefully, this will happen soon. Why do they work so slow in the world of PEDIATRICS? I will never understand. Sorry to vent, but I am a very upset grandma right now and still trying to deal with his prognosis of "autism". We still don't know to what degree he might have autism. I guess it is just a wait and see thing. MAYBE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT SHOULD PUT SOME MONEY TO HELP OUT OUR POOR CHILDREN THAT CANNOT HELP THEMSELVES. SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY CAUSING AUTISM IN ALL OUR CHILDREN.
Braydon is also schduled for speech therapy, PT & OT. This should be FUN FOR ALL.

Good luck with getting the answers you need. XO


Interesting question, and one that I have gotten mixed answers to myself.

Initially, my son started head banging just in his highchair around 11 months of age. I saw this bizarre behavior within a 2 week time frame of his reflux starting. As the reflux got worse, while waiting to be referred to a GI, the rocking became more frequent. All of sudden he was rocking prior to nap, bedtime, even just sitting on the couch watching tv, in addition to in his highchair. Since they both started at the same time I was told by my GI doc that it was a "self soothing mechinism" because he was in so much pain from the reflux. When we finally got the reflux under control, he stopped banging with the exception of prior to nap and bed. I no longer see it during the day at all, but I can hear him in his room before he takes his nap. It can NOT be because he's looking to get a reaction out of me because I am not even in the room!

Now he is 30 months old and is showing some speech delays and a few sensory issues. The rocking is now becoming problematic in that the speech therapist said it may be more than a "self soothing mechanism". I am having him evaluated by a developmental pediatrician next month for all of his issues.

So I don't know if the rocking is now out of habit and started because of the reflux, or if there is something more wrong with him. Please be aware though that MANY MANY kids rock and it means absolutely nothing. Babycenter.com says that up to 20% of kids rock and outgrow it by the age of 3.

JMHO, but I am very happy I never punished my son for this behavior because if it turns out he does have something like Sensory Integration Disorder, I would feel incredibly guilty for in essense, punishing him for showing symptoms of the disorder--which he cannot control. In the meantime, make your doctor aware of the situation and give it some time and see if the behavior decreases, or stops on its own.

Many baby's will bang their head and it usually not a problem...but if your mommy instincts are screaming then I would have it looked into. You know your baby better than anyone!

Good luck!

I guess I would categorize it in the "self-soothing" category.....We have a few crazy sefl-soothing habits here....Emmalani likes to rub her "silky" blanket between her fingers and she's 8!! Emett rubs/ pulls the very front of his hair when he's tired or stressed, and C constantly chews on the front of his shirt.

OK. Hmmmm. We're a bunch of psychos here. I have nothing to add to this conversation.