We care about the safety of our babies even before they come to this world. Babyproofing can cost a lot on top of baby expenses but still, we invest in it to ensure the safety of our babies. The babies are born sweet although they cry a bit and take away your sleep. Until they start moving by themselves, there is a small room for an accident to happen in a baby-proofed house and if you keep an eye on them it is all avoidable. But what to do when your baby starts to hit himself with his hands? There is no way to prove him from that hitting as he is hitting himself.
This aggressive behavior appears the baby transit to the toddle age of their life. So the toddlers between the age of 12- 24 months are more likely to hit themselves in the head. Toddlers are little people who are with big emotions that they cannot put out efficiently. Hitting himself on the head is mostly an expression of a strong emotion such as anger, frustration, or disappointment.
Although it is scary for us parents to watch them frantically hitting their heads with little hands, it is normal behavior among toddlers. This article will cover why do babies hit themselves with their hands and how to help them.
CONTENT
1. Why does my baby hit himself on the head?
2. How to stop my toddler from hitting himself?
3. When to be concerned about the toddlers hitting themselves?
1. Why does my baby hit himself on the head?
Inability to communicate.
At this age, the toddlers start to feel big emotions such as anger, frustration, envy, and fear. Their communication skills are not developed enough yet to express these overwhelming feelings to the adults. Indeed, most toddlers speak well at this age, but their vocabulary is still not rich enough to articulate their feelings. So they will hit themselves in the head to express to you what is going inside his mind.
Sensory seeking / self-soothing
Young toddlers are aligned to seek physical sensory experiences than kids of other ages. Hitting himself on the head can be your baby’s way of physical stimulation. They have a slightly dulled sense of pain so they do not feel the impact of hitting as worse as it looks to us. Some toddlers hit themselves rhythmically to self-soothe when they are tired or sleepy.
Bothered by something
If your child is having physical pain or some discomfort but does not understand how to tell that to you, they might hit themselves as a clue for their illness. Teething pains or an ear infection can lead to such behavior.
Attention
Toddlers crave your attention throughout the day. If they did this once and you reacted in a manner that they felt like they got extra attention, they will continue to do that. You are not to blame if you got scared to see him hurting himself and tried to stop him. But the toddlers can interpret it as a way to get your attention. When his aggressive behavior is laughed at or acknowledge as funny, your toddler may continue it to entertain others so he can get more attention.
2. How to stop my toddler from hitting himself?
There are long-term and short-term solutions for this problem. As a short-term solution, you can simply give your toddler a big hug or cuddles. If your child is having a deep emotion and hitting himself because he cannot express it, hugs and cuddles will help him to settle down his emotions. Hugs will also provide the physical stimulation sought by a toddler through the behavior of hitting himself.
As a long-term solution, you can choose to avoid this action done by your kid. When your toddler identifies that he can get all the attention for himself when he hits his head with his hands, he will continue to do that when he is bored or does not feel like he is getting enough attention.
Here are some other steps that you can use to stop your baby from hitting himself with his hands.
Identify what bothers them.
The toddlers are hitting themselves to communicate with you something such as hunger, thirst, wet diaper, or pain like a headache or teething discomfort. Watch when your baby hits the head and try to minimize such situations. If your baby hits himself with his hands when he is overtired, put him to bed before he wears out in tire.
Hunger and thirst can also be reasons for hitting behavior and you can minimize it by feeding your baby at the right time. Simply, identify the cause of discomfort they are trying to communicate and fix it.
Practice techniques to redirect the anger.
Your baby can hit himself with his hands just because he cannot express his anger. A little thing that looks trivial for us such as the disappearance of their favorite toy can cause them a big emotion that can only be expressed by hitting on his head.
You can teach your toddler a few techniques to apply when he is angry. Techniques like leaving the room, singing, dancing, squeezing a soft toy, or jumping can help to redirect a toddler’s big emotions. You can also introduce mindfulness exercises to your toddler if he is old enough for that.
Validate their feelings
Toddlers can go frantic when their demands are not met. But if you can talk to your toddler and acknowledge their feelings, the problem can be solved easier and quicker than you think. You should make your toddler realize that it is normal to have such big feelings and there is a right way to address them.
The first step must be to calm them down by validating their feeling and when the situation is settled, you can take a moment to suggest to him how to handle anger. Frustration, disappointment, or fear next time.
If your child is hitting himself on the head because you refused to take him out for a walk at night, validate his feeling by saying things like “I know you want to go out and watch stars while walking, even I would love to do that, but it is too cold outside now”. When has calmed down, you can suggest him not to hit himself next time and use a redirecting technique instead.
Guide them to identify and express big emotions
Your child is hitting himself on the head because he does not have words to express how he feels. If you can teach him the words and ways to express these big emotions, he will stop being aggressive at himself. There are many to teach your kids about their feelings.
- Use colorful flashcards and posters to introduce feelings.
- Use toddler-friendly picture books that address emotional regulation.
- Role-play difficult situations with dolls or stuffed animals.
- Watch together with the television shows that focused on emotional regulation and talk about it with your child.
- Be a role model yourself and label your own feelings in front of your child in day-to-day life.
3. When to be concerned about the toddlers hitting themselves?
- None of the above strategies or anything else could change the hitting behavior and it keeps getting worse.
- The toddler is injured because of hitting himself by causing bumps, bruises, or scratches.
- The toddler is showing signs of physical illness, like fever, loss of appetite, fatigue, or irritability.
- The child shows symptoms of a developmental condition, like autism spectrum disorder or sensory processing disorder.
- The child is delayed in speech or you feel like he is unable to hear you clearly.
If your child has any of the above symptoms, seek medical attention.
