XP: Hitting face on the ground

Maebb

XP from Nov 12 moms. DS is 9.5 months old.

For the past few days, DS has been hitting his face on the ground while crawling. It is not like he trips or stumbles (idk how to explain that, but hopefully you kwim), but he's just crawling around on all fours, and then he lowers his face to be looking straight down at the ground and kind of head-butts the ground. Then he looks at us and cries and then gets over it a few minutes later. But he did it 3 times last night within about 45 minutes.

Do any of your LOs do this, and any idea why or how to make him stop? Or will he eventually learn, "that hurts; maybe I shouldn't do it anymore"?

MrsCodeMonkey

Does he stop immediately after you comfort him? He might be doing that to get attention.

My DD used to bang her head on the floor when she was mad or wanted attention. We started walking out of the room and the behavior ended eventually.

wiggyslilsis

My DD did this and still does sometimes when standing but she does it in more of a doesn't know when to stop leaning way. Likeshe hasn't totally figured out balance. Is that what is happening? If so she figures it out eventually in different situations and stops leaning too far forward.

shadypines

I'm going to go with its a phase! They are pretty resistant to bumps. GL

RondackHiker

My little sister used to do something similar to get attention and later during tantrums. And she'd SLAM her face into the ground.

She did it once on the concrete after mom said no more swimming. I think little sis was under three. She came up shrieking in pain, and my mom laughed at her.

Sucks to be the fourth kid. Mom doesn't take you seriously.

Maebb

I don't think it's a balance or coordination issue; it's more likely that he's doing it for attention or to be comforted. I just don't understand why he wouldn't crawl over to us and climb up our legs because we always pick him up when he does that. DH was following him around and talking to him while he was crawling, so we weren't ignoring him. He didn't seem angry before doing it. Hopefully it's just a phase.