Head banging at night

[sugarsugar]

Hi. I don't know if anyone has had or is experiencing the same problem as me at the moment, but my 2 year old son has started ferociously head banging in his cot at night/to get himself off to sleep. Everyone keeps telling me it's normal and he'll grow out of it and won't do himself any harm but i'm really worried as it's so loud and can't be doing him any good. He does it more some nights than others but doesn't seem to be related to how tired he is/what we've done in the day etc etc.

he will grow out of it my ds was the same and now never does it, although i would make sure he is not bruising himself or doing it on any hard surface

I thought it was just me!!!!!????? Both my DDs do this as they are going off to sleep - Hoping they grow out of it soon, it is making me go prematurely grey - and makes an awful racket at night as they share a nursery together!!!

They normally grow out of it. My brother was head-banger at sleep time. I doubt he does it at all now (he's 33) but I think even into his teens and twenties he very occasionally head-banged himself to sleep, during stressful periods. Lots of people use childhood methods of comfort even into adulthood, but the more usual thing is to outgrow it. I wouldn't worry because even if he doesn't outgrow it immediately, he really will outgrow it eventually. (It did my brother no harm, by the way. . it certainly didn't injure him, or ever subject him to teasing.)

Thanks for your reassurance everyone! I have been reading up about this a lot/talking to people and it seems it is very common, especially in boys of this age. I am going to try putting a loudly ticking clock in his bedroom - aparently this has worked for a lot of children as they are soothed by the repetitive noise. I will let you know how i get on!

Thanks Bethron, that's really good to hear. I'm not worrying about it so much now (hopefully he'll outgrow it soon) but am now trying to deal with the fact that he's started waking his little sister up (but that's a whole new issue!)

Mine kept doing it in his sleep, and obviously waking himself up! Took him to a Cranial Osteopath yesterday and for the first time in ages he slept like a log for 10 hours. May just be coincidence, will see how it goes.

My ds did this from about 10 months, it was a comfort thing - rocking motion to soothe himself. He did it during the day too, if he was over tired or wound up. Apparently it's more common in children who are very active, kind of a physical way of winding down. We put him in a soft sided travel cot, becuase the neighbour downstairs ( flats ) complained about the noise. Then he used to sit and rock against the side of the travel cot. He became very attached to the travel cot and "rocked" himself to sleep until he was about 3 and three quarters. We moved him into a bed then, and it took him a few nights to get used to going to sleep without rocking, but we haven't looked back and he hasn't done it since.

Thought I'd post an update! We put a loudly ticking clock in his bedroom about 5 nights ago - as suggested by HV and Dr Ferber in his Sleep book! - and miraculously he has been going straight to sleep, sleeping through and waking up happy without any banging at all. It had seemed like a miracle, but this morning he woke at 4am and head banged like crazy until he called me to get him up at 5:45 (too early!). I'm hoping it was just a blip and that the clock is working but I am also wondering if it has something to do with his back 4 molars coming through. He got bad earache/swollen ear drum when his first 4 molars came through a year ago and i've been told that head banging can sometimes occur when they have bad earache. Anyway, i will keep you posted!