Northern California Babies

head banging

A friend of mine told me yesterday that she thinks her nephew is brain-damaged from malnourishment he possibly suffered as an infant. (The story there is long, but I'm not sure I believe that he was malnourished or if the doctor in question was just not supportive of breastfeeding and moms who struggle with supply.) Her evidence (we use this term loosely) here is:

- often when nephew eats things, he crams them into his mouth to the point of possibly choking, and

- when he's put down for a nap, he bangs his head on the wall for 30 minutes, hard enough that it shakes the wall.

Now, I've addressed the first thing -- I know a lot of kids who cram their mouths full when they eat, including my own K. She can get an entire cheese stick in there, to my amazement. I was just wondering if anyone else's kid did head-banging or other sensory-seeking behavior and how typical it is.

Re: head banging

  • How old is the child?

    (G used to throw himself backward from sitting, and literally rattle his brain. Just for fun. But you know his personality, so this shouldn't be too much of a surprise.)

    Has the child been evaluated by a therapist? While he might not be brain-damaged, there might be something else going on.

    And attributing it to malnourishment seems pre-mature at this point.

  • He's 2. My friend and said kid's mom do not have a great relationship, I'm mainly looking to either assuage my friend's fears that something is wrong, or underscore them. The doctor said that the reason for the banging was that the kid spent too much time in a swing as an infant, which is far-fetched, imo.

    Also, I wondered how prevalent head-banging is, as an aside.

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  • Wow, I have so many questions!  Why does your friend think head banging would be evidence of malnurishment? How old is the nephew?

    My son did the first, but not the second.  And has other sensory seeking behaviors.  None of which had to do with malnurishment as far as we know.  He doesn't love food, but eats enough to gain weight, and grow (hovers around 90th percentile for height).

     

  • When I was a student, I use to babysit for a family with a head banging son. It was really disturbing. You'd put him down for a nap in his crib, he'd grab the bars, and rock/slam his head into them over and over. It was almost like a comfort thing for him? It was hard to watch and I usually put a pillow in his path to stop from any damage from occurring. I don't think that the child was malnourished, neglected or abused. My school schedule changed so I wasn't available to babysit any more so I never got to hear the diagnosis. I just wanted to chime in that sometimes it just happens. 


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  • "Sometimes it happens" is what I felt in my gut, but anecdotal data is better because my gut has been know to lie (examples: "YOU MUST HAVE THAT ICE CREAM OR YOU WILL PERISH").
  • I think the doc sounds like a quack.

    How long has the head banging been going on?  Could be a phase.

  • Well it could be that it just happens but it could also be a symptom of something else. Like I said, I didn't get to follow through on what happened with the kid. 


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  • imagealibee09:

    He's 2. My friend and said kid's mom do not have a great relationship, I'm mainly looking to either assuage my friend's fears that something is wrong, or underscore them. The doctor said that the reason for the banging was that the kid spent too much time in a swing as an infant, which is far-fetched, imo.

    Also, I wondered how prevalent head-banging is, as an aside.

    I feel badly for this child's mother.  Her pedi says breastfeeding resulted in child's malnurishment and that she left him in a swing so much that she damaged him (which has lead to head banging).  Neither seems all that likely, ya know?  The combo of a mother committed to nursing and also relying so heavily on a swing as to damage her child just doesn't fit.

    Ah, check this website!  Nice little tidy answers.  :)https://www.babycenter.com/0_head-banging-why-it-happens-and-what-to-do-about-it_63575.bc

  • imagealibee09:

    The doctor said that the reason for the banging was that the kid spent too much time in a swing as an infant

    Cool. He must have gotten his MD from the same place as my grandmother (who is NOT a doctor btw)
  • imagetiki_t:

    Very interesting link. I had no idea.

    My first thoughts would be. 1. Possible sensory issue. 2. Get a new pedi!  suggesting is it caused by malnourishment and use of the swing seems crazy pants.  

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  • CelynCelyn member

    Not much to go on, but it sounds like sensory integration problems to me.  The "cause" could be any myriad of things, but malnutrition is a cause I'm aware of (although brain damage is).   Was he a preemie or was there birth trauma? Head banging is common among spectrum kids, but in neurotypical kids it's less so.  


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