My toddler feels no pain - is this normal?

[toddlerbob]

My 14 month old ds does not seem to feel pain. Yesterday he fell a couple of feet off a slide, got crashed into by a boy on a ride on cart and pulled a pram over onto himself. When he fell off the slide he just looked surprised to be where he was IYSWIM and the other 2 times he didn't show any emotion whatsoever. We have a tiled floor at home and he falls onto that all the time - again nothing. He has had no issues with teething, hasn't lost any sleep over it.

Anyone else got a child like this?

My DD is now 29 months and she is similar in that teething has not bothered her at all. She now has all her teeth so teething is finished anyway but like your ds it has never woken her up during the night. The only clue for me that she had more teeth coming was the horrible poo. Also with her jabs she didn't cry, just gave a little yelp. She does cry when she hurts herself although not for long. I think your ds just takes things in his stride and doesn't make a fuss, that's how I think of my dd, anyway.

There is a physiological condition where a person really doesn't feel pain, and it's horrendous because they can just starve themselves to death, even as babies! They literally have to be taught as children to protect their bodies. But if it was something like that, you'd know.

2yo DD is really "tough" she has always taken minor injuries or aches in stride, no big deal, although she's more aware of bumps as she gets older. She crashed into a wall the other day, was bleeding from her head and hands, cried for a minute then pulled herself together, said "I'm alright!" and continued on with no more complaining. DS is 4yo and would have made the same incident into many minutes of high drama.

Don't want to scare you..and I sincerely hope your ds doesn't have this, but I read an article the other day. Apparently there is an extremely rare disorder where you can't feel pain. It is so rare that only 25 people in the US have been diagnosed with it.
This girl in the article went blind in one eye by repeatedly poking fingers into it and developed cataracts. she has to wear goggles all the time now to save the other eye.One girl lost her legs because she didnt even realise when she'd broken them or something.
Maybe you could ask your paed. abt this just so you can rule it out? I can't remember what it's called..

It may be that your ds is just less sensitive to pain than other children or it could be a sensory issue. Ds1 also feels little or no pain in his body but his hands are so sensitive that he can't stand them to even be dirty. He will quite happily dive onto concrete without feeling pain. Sometimes other children see him doing this, think that it obviously isn't painful, and then copy him. Ds1 looks bemused when they inevitably cry.

It may just be his personality that he hasn't developed the "behaviour" that goes with a fall etc which is usually completely over the top and out of proportion to the actual pain. Maybe he'll always be someone who takes things in his stride and doesn't fuss or he might learn it when he sees the attention others get.

Could it be that he's taking his cue from you? If you're pretty laid back and don't jump 10 feet in the air every time he trips, perhaps he thinks he shouldn't be too worried either?
As someone else said, by the time he's 3 he'll have sussed the protocol for hurt = scream = attention/ excuse not to do something you want him to do.
Kids definitely bounce at 14 months! (I think.)

My ds (2.7) is a bit like that too. He doesn't seem to have developed that "fall = I must be hurt = scream = attention" sequence either. He'll just pick himself up and carry on with what he's doing 95% of the time. On the odd occasion if he does cut himself, etc he will come to us, but even then he'll only cry for a minute.

It's probably just down to a combination of personality and the way the people around him react. If he's never learnt from you than falling is a cause for fuss he'll probably not have learnt it as a response.

Wow I had tried really hard not to jump when he hurt himself, and dh does too. We just didn't realise that it can work so effectively.

He scratches his eczema so he must feel something, so I was pretty sure it wasn't physiological. That has been so sore looking maybe a bump on the head is nothing in comparison.

He also doesn't flinch if he bursts a balloon in his face. I think he has a future as a person who diffuses bombs!

LOL at having a future bomb-diffuser!

Are you sure it's not a zombie?

Hi my 2 year old boy and one year old boy have this condition my 2 yo starved him self he only eats sweets no food at all he dose this because he only eats for the sweet taste not because he actually needs to eat he dose not feel pain so no hunger pain my 1 yo had 3rd degree burns on his hand from sticking it to a lamp and he felt no pain when I took him to hospital they made a point of useing this to see if he had the same condition as his brother they poked at his burn washed it and cleaned it with a dressing pressing on it hard and no pain it’s killing me because no one knows much about this even the hospital drs don’t know how to go about this xx

Hi, my son is 19 months and has just been diagnosed with congenative insensitivity to pain. There are no support groups in the UK for this condition so would be great to get in contact with anyone else who has children diagnosed with this condition

Hi 🙋‍♀️ we are currently under investigation with out 18 month old son, I did find a Facebook group after a huge amount of searching call the gift of pain, it’s for people & their family with CIP and I’m happy if you want to contact me as I can’t find any support in the UK and it’s been hard.. hope things are going well xx @Lowery23