13mo banging head on floor

[LaMadrilena]

My DD (13m) has started smacking her head on the floor when we stop her from doing something or take something off her. She cries, sits down with her legs out in front of her and hits her head really hard. We have wooden floors.

All her development has been totally normal - walking at 12m, says the odd "word" - the only thing she's slightly behind on is eating solids. Everyone comments on how cheerful she is, she never stops giggling and chatting away

Is this normal? What can I do? Do I put a little cycling helmet on her, or tape a cuddly toy to her forehead?

Today she hit her head so hard she's got a purple egg. I wasn't expecting this for another year!

It’s normal, I have a 16mo and he did this around that age whenever he was frustrated and I panicked and thought either something was wrong with him or he was going to give himself a brain injury! Someone told me literally to not react to it or just distract him with a toy and within a month he’d stopped doing it

Thanks for your reply! That makes me feel a bit better. Dr Google only seems to talk about repetitive headbanging for comfort or stimulation. DD just gives herself a one-off whack. I'll try the distraction, but she is having some teenage-level tantrums recently, complete with dirty looks and waddling off in a huff. I'm afraid a lot of the time I find those bits hilarious (not when she hurts herself, obviously)!