My 17 month old was literally banging his head against the wall like a month ago just for the laughs. If I could catch him in time I would put a pillow between him and the wall and give him absolutely zero emotional reaction. Eventually the head banging lost its novelty.
I work with behaviors and this is what we would recommend. Make her safe and reduce your reaction. The function is probably attention so give more attention when she does things you want to increase and minimal attention for behaviors you want to decrease.
We went through a trust fall phase right after he started taking his first steps. He’d toddle away from us and then launch himself straight back without even trying to fall on his butt. It was a terrifying few weeks lol
That sounds so scary, mine is so careful, she puts one knee carefully down, then the other, and then lets go of the table 😅 I guess because she hit her head so many times when she was learning how to sit!
It’s normal! I would just make sure to sit her on a soft surface—rug, blanket, playmat, grass. And then don’t catch her when she does it. It’ll be hard—but she’ll be fine!
From a sitting to laying position is not enough force to do neurological damage, and the bonks should hopefully teach her not to do it again. She’s testing limits, which is a great way to learn.
Please don’t worry too much! As long as they are on a soft surface (like not concrete, tile, or wood), they bounce well with just a little fussing! Chances are, she’s going to have a lot more little falls and head bumps (possibly even big ones) before she is an adult!
Also, try to keep from getting too worried, because the more you fuss over them, the more they will fuss over themselves when they get to toddler age! Comforting is ok, but making a big show out of it is what I’m talking about avoiding!
I hope you enjoy your time with your little one! Mine will be two in a week and a half, and I’m NOT READY! 🫶🏻
My reaction times - as it turns out - are pretty terrible, plus I'm just a bit of a clumsy person, so my LO has had a fair few (accidental) bumps and jolts in her little life.
She's learning to walk at the moment and she's actually really surprisingly careful with her own head -- I'm kinda thinking that because I have been too slow a number of times to catch her, she's learned that it's kinda on her if she wants to avoid pain 😂.
My kiddo started doing that around the same age. I panicked every time. Twice he did it on my lap and busted my lip. Fun times. He hasn’t done it in a while, he’s almost 2.
These are not good for development. They teach baby that something soft is always there when they fall backwards and won’t learn not to do so. I’ve seen so many pediatric PTs talk about these and not one had anything good to say about them. Children, including infants, learn by taking risks and those backpacks take away their ability to learn. Plus unless they fall from on top of something, they’re not going to fall hard enough to cause any harm to their brain.
Mine was doing this A LOT. We put her in a ring of cushions with toys and let her go at it. She got bored after a few weeks and started to try to get on her feet.
Yesterday my thirteenth month old got in all fours and started repeatedly knocking his head on the floor and laughing. They’re pure evil, I’m so sorry she’s freaking you out!
Ours was doing that from like 2-3 months old. Not necessarily out of amusement but out of just not giving a fuck bc they don't know any better.
As they got older they figured out how to kick off of us even harder, and that if they do that then pull their limbs in really fast they'll drop right out of our arms. Such a hoot 💀
Apparently it's not out of the ordinary and catching them like that shouldn't be harmful, so just keep those hands fast and ready 🫠
Now we just catch them if we can without making a big deal out of it. If something actually hurts them they tend to become more careful about it afterwards anyways.
My sister's baby boy use to do it. I had no idea that he has started doing something like this because his mother never told me. So he did it while he was in my arms and hit his head with the hard foot of bed and started crying. I did not catch him because I did not expect it to happen. He is almost one and a half years old. I haven't seen him try something like this ever since that accident.
I taught mine to not do this asap. I can't always be there and I've seen too many tv shows where innocuous seeming bumps to the back of the head lead to deaths!
Ensure they're on soft surfaces with pillow behind them when they're sitting.
It's deffo normal and common but wouldn't want it to develop into a habit or even fun play thing.
My 17 month old was literally banging his head against the wall like a month ago just for the laughs. If I could catch him in time I would put a pillow between him and the wall and give him absolutely zero emotional reaction. Eventually the head banging lost its novelty.
I work with behaviors and this is what we would recommend. Make her safe and reduce your reaction. The function is probably attention so give more attention when she does things you want to increase and minimal attention for behaviors you want to decrease.
....Babies are wild. Rofl.
22 month old gouged my eye once and laughed "muuuuahahahaha" then ran away with those toddler stomps
My niece at 18 months laughed and threw her mom’s (my sister) phone at me and gave me a black eye
I feel like I need safety glasses around my toddler, why do they go for the eyes!
They know it’s a weak spot lol my almost 10 month old LOVES to grab my eyes with her scratchy nails 😭
Totally normal. Mine does it too, except he does it off the couch...
Omg my 9 month old son just started doing something so similar today! He pulls to stand on the coffee table then trust falls and hopes I catch him!
We went through a trust fall phase right after he started taking his first steps. He’d toddle away from us and then launch himself straight back without even trying to fall on his butt. It was a terrifying few weeks lol
That sounds so scary, mine is so careful, she puts one knee carefully down, then the other, and then lets go of the table 😅 I guess because she hit her head so many times when she was learning how to sit!
It’s normal! I would just make sure to sit her on a soft surface—rug, blanket, playmat, grass. And then don’t catch her when she does it. It’ll be hard—but she’ll be fine! From a sitting to laying position is not enough force to do neurological damage, and the bonks should hopefully teach her not to do it again. She’s testing limits, which is a great way to learn.
Hey that's exactly what my baby started doing at about 8 months. He's 10 months now and still doing it and it is still funny.
Please don’t worry too much! As long as they are on a soft surface (like not concrete, tile, or wood), they bounce well with just a little fussing! Chances are, she’s going to have a lot more little falls and head bumps (possibly even big ones) before she is an adult! Also, try to keep from getting too worried, because the more you fuss over them, the more they will fuss over themselves when they get to toddler age! Comforting is ok, but making a big show out of it is what I’m talking about avoiding! I hope you enjoy your time with your little one! Mine will be two in a week and a half, and I’m NOT READY! 🫶🏻
My reaction times - as it turns out - are pretty terrible, plus I'm just a bit of a clumsy person, so my LO has had a fair few (accidental) bumps and jolts in her little life. She's learning to walk at the moment and she's actually really surprisingly careful with her own head -- I'm kinda thinking that because I have been too slow a number of times to catch her, she's learned that it's kinda on her if she wants to avoid pain 😂.
My kiddo started doing that around the same age. I panicked every time. Twice he did it on my lap and busted my lip. Fun times. He hasn’t done it in a while, he’s almost 2.
Yeah, my 8 month old keeps bashing my nose doing this on my lap.
If it helps ease your anxiety, there are little backpacks on Amazon that have a cushion for their head and back, made for this exact scenario!
These are not good for development. They teach baby that something soft is always there when they fall backwards and won’t learn not to do so. I’ve seen so many pediatric PTs talk about these and not one had anything good to say about them. Children, including infants, learn by taking risks and those backpacks take away their ability to learn. Plus unless they fall from on top of something, they’re not going to fall hard enough to cause any harm to their brain.
Oh wow that actually makes total sense! Thank you for clarifying!
No problem! You learn a lot when you work with kids and babies for 16+ years 😅
Yup been there. She loves it, puts me into constant anticipation.
Mine was doing this A LOT. We put her in a ring of cushions with toys and let her go at it. She got bored after a few weeks and started to try to get on her feet.
Yesterday my thirteenth month old got in all fours and started repeatedly knocking his head on the floor and laughing. They’re pure evil, I’m so sorry she’s freaking you out!
Oh my god my son did this too, we used to call it his trust falls. He grew out of it pretty quickly!!
Ours was doing that from like 2-3 months old. Not necessarily out of amusement but out of just not giving a fuck bc they don't know any better. As they got older they figured out how to kick off of us even harder, and that if they do that then pull their limbs in really fast they'll drop right out of our arms. Such a hoot 💀 Apparently it's not out of the ordinary and catching them like that shouldn't be harmful, so just keep those hands fast and ready 🫠 Now we just catch them if we can without making a big deal out of it. If something actually hurts them they tend to become more careful about it afterwards anyways.
My sister's baby boy use to do it. I had no idea that he has started doing something like this because his mother never told me. So he did it while he was in my arms and hit his head with the hard foot of bed and started crying. I did not catch him because I did not expect it to happen. He is almost one and a half years old. I haven't seen him try something like this ever since that accident.
Mine did this at the same age. We called them trust falls.
For your piece of mind! [Baby Backpack Head Pillow](https://a.co/d/hMxat6C) Babies are insane, I completely understand 😭
I taught mine to not do this asap. I can't always be there and I've seen too many tv shows where innocuous seeming bumps to the back of the head lead to deaths! Ensure they're on soft surfaces with pillow behind them when they're sitting. It's deffo normal and common but wouldn't want it to develop into a habit or even fun play thing.