Head banging should I be worried

[MrTunbridgeWells]

Hi all

Our 16 month old boy slams the back of his head in the car seat quite often and I get so irate at him. It’s really violent... won’t be long before he breaks the seat!

He also at times slams his face repeatedly in to the sofa cushions.

These aren’t tantrum cases. He’s usually fine before he starts doing it

Should I be worried / get him booked in to be checked out?

[Wenttoseainasieve]

My DD used to slam herself back repeatedly in her high chair and pram when she was about this age. It looked pretty bad. She stopped doing it at some point and is a totally 'typical' five year old now!

[MrTunbridgeWells]

Yeah he does it in his high chair too. Thanks for the clarification. First time parent so overthinking is natural

[MrsT1983]

My son is a head banger. It started at 1 peaked at around 18months and has started to settle down a bit now at 2.5yrs. He mainly does it in bed, he gets on all fours and rocks his head into the headboard, he’s been known to do it for hours on end! He also throws his head back into the sofa/car seat/high chair or whatever when he’s tired, I think it’s a way of them venting frustration and soothing themselves and although annoying, it’s just a development thing and nothing to worry about. Hopefully your son will grow out of it. soon!

[Tricia31a]

My 1 year old does the same thing, but he doesn’t do it on soft areas, for example he will crawl to a room and bang his head on the floor, I’m very worried as he will bang his head on his cot as well by throwing himself backwards. My eldest son did this when he was around a year old and it turned out that he had a brain tumour so obviously I am stressing loads as worried my youngest has a similar condition. Took me ages with my eldest to get the doctors to do a scan and diagnosis didn’t happen till he was 2 ( he is well now considering at age 7). He also doesn’t sleep through the night and wakes as though something has frightened him. He used to be a great sleeper but now he isn’t and hasn’t slept through the night for a while now. Keep being told it’s nothing to worry about and he is just going through a developmental stage however I am exhausted and running out of ideas.