DD hurting herself on purpose

[tomhardy]

she's 15 months and this has been happening a few months now. i thought at first she was just testing to see what pain was but i don't know wether to worry now.

she will bang her head on things (sometimes repeatedly) and then cry. i thought it might be for attention to get a cuddle but she gets cuddled constantly! she did it again today, banged her head quite hard on the bathroom floor tiles it sounded like it really hurt.

is this normal toddler behaviour or something else?

I would speak to your HV for advice in this.

Are you sure she didn't just fall over in the bathroom? They're not that steady at 15 months. If it really seems deliberate I'd bring it up with her pediatrician.

My youngest used to do this when he started crawling. I didn’t understand then but realise now it was a sensory thing (he has asd). It doesn’t mean that your bairn is though. It is worth flagging it with the hv at her next development check if she’s still doing it.

it's definitely on purpose, she's been walking since 10 months and has very good balance. she

@gamerchick that's interesting as i've also noticed she has a few traits of sensory processing disorder.
i will speak to the health visitor

All of mine have done this when they’ve had limited vocabulary, they grew out of it once they learnt more words

My DS (13 months) started banging his head against the cot recently - it's wood and it sounds awful. We try to go in and stop him but can't do it constantly in case it reinforces the behaviour (i.e. he realises it gets him attention).

If it makes you feel better apparently I used to do it as a baby too and I don't think I lost too many brain cells..