hitting his head.
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hitting his head.
| Thu, 01-26-2006 - 9:31am |
jacob (16 months) has started hitting his head when he is frustrated. I have tried to ignore him and I have also taken his hands and told him no. This morning he did it and looked at me like he was wondering what i was going to do. I am scared that this is going to evolve into something more like banging his head on the floor. Is there anything else I should be doing to prevent this? I know part of it is language based as he only has about 10 words. He does communicate by pointing or reaching for things.
Another concern I have is teeth brushing. He hates it. how do I make it better?
And at what age did you kids start walking? Jacob cruises well, will walk between DH and myself but is afraid to go it alone. I am tired of lugging him around. DD walked at 13 months. Is this typical?
Thanks
Sonya
Another concern I have is teeth brushing. He hates it. how do I make it better?
And at what age did you kids start walking? Jacob cruises well, will walk between DH and myself but is afraid to go it alone. I am tired of lugging him around. DD walked at 13 months. Is this typical?
Thanks
Sonya

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Sonya,
Jake would bang his head of the wall in the dining room. I completely ignored it and just redirected him and he stopped doing it. I think he might have been around the same age as your son when it started. I think it could be related to his speech and the frustration of not being understood, most kids get frustrated around that age and they show their frustration in different ways. Ella cried most of the day before she started talking and as soon as we started to understand her it stopped for the most part.(LOL)
Neither of my kids walked early. Jake was almost 17 months and Ella was almost 15. I understand how you feel about carrying your son around everywhere. When Jake was six months old I found out I was pregnant with Ella. He still wasn't walking when she was born(a month early). I swear she was early because I had to carry him up and down the stairs twice a day because back then he was napping twice a day.It dosen't sound that bad but Jake has always been a big boy for his age.
As far as the tooth brushing goes, Jake hates it but I think it's because he has motor planning problems so it's hard for him. I usually have to help him because he's also undersensitive in his mouth so he dosen't brush hard enough. Ella loves it and I have to fight her to get the tooth brush back.I usually have to sing a song about brushing your teeth or else I get my own toothbrush and pretend we are having a race to see who can brush their teeth the fastest.
HTH,
Teresa
Sonya,
Nathan is 7yrs old (on Sunday!), and he will still bang his head with his hand sometimes. He didn't do this when he was younger though...he was mostly oblivious and real spacey! But now he will do it on occasion. Nothing real bad, but I do make him stop and tell him that we don't do that. He does have a speech delay, and even though he is talking well now....this is how he gets out his frustrations!! Constant reminders, constant redirecting. It gets tiring having to keep repeating myself, but this is what works for Nathan.
Nathan walked at 12mo, so I can't really help with that one. He also brushes his teeth ok too. I do remember hearing advice somewhere on the toothbrush thing though. Have you tried having him carry it around, no toothpaste, and let him do it himself? Just like something to play with, experiment with....so he gets used to it?? There are lots of "fun" toothbrushes out there now too! Wish I could be more help!! Sorry!
michelle
I can't speak to the walking issue, but I think you have some good advice here and just try to remember there is "wide range of normal" in this area of development.
I can tell you about head banging, as Eric did that at about the same age. First he banged the walls, then the floor. For him, it was tied to frustration about speaking. Once he got better at talking, it cleared up. We were advised to first redirect. If that did not work, then make sure he was not hurting himself. If he is, move him to a safe, padded spot, then try to ignore him. That worked for us and it really got better once he could talk a little more, but that was not until he was a little over 2, so we had to deal with the head banging for a while. It is maddening and really upsetting to watch, I know.
As for the tooth brushing, I let Eric pick out his toothbrush and got a really sickening sweet kid's toothpaste that he likes. When I found out he was sort of "sensory seeking" in his mouth, I got him a fun, cheap, kid's electric toothbrush. The drug store has all the characters, etc. Eric had fine motor issues too, but didn't mind me helping him at first and once he realized he liked the sensation, he enjoyed it.
For your son it might be fine motor, or maybe he is sensory avoidant in his mouth. How is he with eating? If that seems to be the problem, maybe your OT can give some ideas?
Just try to be calm about the head banging. I know that is easier said than done. Make sure he is safe and hopefully it will improve soon. There is always the fear that the more attention you to pay to it, the more he will do it to get the attention, and that would not be a good thing! But those self-injurious things are so hard to deal with. I really sympathize with you.
Hang in there!
Katherine
I think 16 months is still in the acceptable range for beginning to walk, but it is a little bit late and you might want to mention it to the doctor. The good thing is that he is cruising which means he will be walking independently really soon! I think you probably don't need to be concerned; if he wasn't cruising at this point, that would be a cause for concern. --Lisa