DD 12 months, hits herself in the head when she's frustrated. Normal?

[Sushipaws]

It's usually when she's tired and can't get what she wants. She takes the flat of her hand and slaps herself on the forehead, repeatedly.

Is this normal behaviour for a child who can't comunicate yet and is getting frustrated?

I think so. My DS4 used to bang his head on the floor at about the same age. His speech was quite late and he would get so angry. Interestingly he never hurt himself - bruised himself - or anything. My HV used to tell me to try and distract him - but she also said 'have you noticed he never hurts himself.'

He is now 10 almost 11 and is very, very clever. He enjoys doing tests at school and is expected to excel at High School.

Try distracting her if possible - or ignoring, but I know how hard that is.

Hi,

Really quick meassage .... my 12 month dd does this too whilst looking at me.
I just say carmly , ''don't do that darling'', doesn't work , but makes me feel better

xx

As far as I know - only 1 ds - this seems to be pretty normal.

My ds is now growing out of it slowly. He is 3 and has excellent verbal skills and can tell me his frustrations. But he has been known to hit himself when he does not get his way or has just been told off.

I have found that the best way to react to it has been mainly to ignore the action, but crouch down to his level and talk to him as quietly as possible. I basically tell him that I know he is angry, but that x, y or z are the reasons why he is not happy and tell him why they have happened. It generally works. But it is not always easy to stay calm.

By the way, he has never really hurt himself as far as I can see.

My DS is a huge fan of the let's whack anything hard with my head school of thought when he is angry and he has actually bruised himself before.

I used to run right to him and try to stop it but he then used to do it whenever he wanted attention so I had to ignore it (very hard though!) and it has drastically decreased - thankfully!! I've peeked at him doing it as well and he actually looks around to see if someone is watching him - little tyke!