Hitting themselves?

JoBieger05

For the last probably 2 months G has been hitting herself on the head when she thinks she does something wrong. She'll say "I sowwy" and then hit herself. Does anyone else's DC do that? She doesn't hit herself hard and I guess if she hurt herself she'd stop, but it's still sad to see. She's so apologetic and sincere with it. 

kenna_4

Do you spank her? Or does anybody?

I think if she's been hit then she might think this is what happens when I'm "bad". If not, then it might be more of an expression thing, like when you hit your hand to your head and are like "why didn't I think of that" sort of thing.

Maybe just tell her, it's okay, don't hit yourself hunny.

BeebopandBuddy

I don't want to scare you because it can be totally nothing, but you should definitely mention it to your doctor.  Self-injurous behavior is a common autistic characteristic.  Again, don't worry, but you should ask.  I work with autistic kids and I see it a lot.

JoBieger05

We never, ever hit her. I'm not saying that we'll never spank her, but right now she does not get hit. We have a flu shot appointment on Monday so I will def. bring it up to our ped. She had a HORRIBLE delivery. She was without oxygen for almost 5 minutes so I'm wondering if maybe that has something to play in all this? She is as smart as a whip though. She knows every animal sound, she can already count to three, she speaks in sentences. The hitting is the only thing that concerns me. But, I for sure am going to bring it up on Monday. 

Mandi526

my son does the same thing and sometimes he hits his head (lightly) on the wall. I spoke to his doctor about it and was told that it's pretty common in children and is generally a "self soothing" thing that they do, and if they do it to hard and hurt themselves then they'll learn to not to it to hard anymore. I stopped telling him "no" when he did it and within a week or two he stopped doing it on his own. 

JoBieger05

Mandi526:

my son does the same thing and sometimes he hits his head (lightly) on the wall. I spoke to his doctor about it and was told that it's pretty common in children and is generally a "self soothing" thing that they do, and if they do it to hard and hurt themselves then they'll learn to not to it to hard anymore. I stopped telling him "no" when he did it and within a week or two he stopped doing it on his own. 

I was getting so worried I called my cousin who is a pediatrician and he said the same thing very common for kids that age. And that if we try stopping her when she does it stop trying to stop her. Just let her do it. I feel so much better now