14 month old keeps hitting her head

[CurlyBoo]

My 14 month old DD has started throwing herself backwards when she's sitting playing and consequently smacking her head on whatever she lands on, as if she thinks there is a wall behind her that will catch her fall or something. She does it when she's over excited and finds it hilarious although it often ends in tears obviously! I'm so worried its doing her some serious damage or that there's something wrong with her developmentally! We have wooden floors throughout our house and no matter how much I try to persuade her to play on the rug it doesn't happen. Has anyone else had experience of this - will she be doing herself some damage? Is it just a phase?

[MolotovCocktail]

My DD1 used to do it at about the same age. Really used to freak me out ... You obviously can't reason with your child at this age to make them stop, but it IS just a phase. They grow out of it. It stopped for our DD as soon as it started. They have tough little noggins; don't worry unduly :)

[sarahloula]

My DD used to do this when she was teething, trying to get away from the pain.

[MrsC1969]

My son does this all the time, I have perfected a very handy foot movement to try and prevent damage...it drives me mad especially as we have wood flooring in our house and the crunch is awful :-( I am told that they grow out of this so for now, I would just try and "catch" as much as possible and not worry too much.