The reasons why a baby bangs his head, hurting himself, can be different - from banal pampering to serious health problems. Let's figure it out.
If you notice that your child is banging his head against hard objects (usually a wall), do not close your eyes to this. And even more so, do not try to resort to physical punishment. Yes, perhaps it is simply about bad behavior, but in some cases it can also be a signal of a neuropsychiatric disorder.
Why is the child banging his head against the wall? In what cases will a child psychologist help, and in what cases do you need to urgently run to a neuropsychiatrist?
For answers to these questions, "Letidor" turned to the "Center for Health and Development. Saint Luke ". Here's what we learned from Nikolai Vladislavovich Romanovsky, PhD in Psychology, a child psychologist who specializes in mental development disorders in children.
Nikolay Vladislavovich Romanovsky
The reasons for this behavior can be extremely varied. After all, we observe only a symptom, but we do not see the deep reasons that provoke a child to such actions. Let's start with the simplest.
Mental stress
The cause of mental stress in a child can be frustration from an act he has done: he broke a cup, did not defend his toy. Sometimes children try to relieve this stress with the help of pain - physical pain overlaps psychological pain.
This is an alarming signal that requires your attention. Indeed, depending on age, the child should be able to cope with his experiences in other ways, for example:
- share experiences with parents, - seek support from close adults, - just cry.
If he does not do this, then the question "Why?"
Maybe he has broken relationships with adults and has long lost hope that he will be heard?
In this case, it is worth contacting a child psychologist in order to change the relationship between the child and close adults to more favorable ones.
Manipulation
Few parents want to quarrel with their child, forbid him to do something, punish him. All this is unpleasant and requires high moral costs. Children quickly understand this and try to manipulate adults to achieve their goals.
From a child's point of view, all means are good for getting something you want. Children's logic can be like this:
“I have committed a misdemeanor and my mother is about to punish me. But I really don't want to be punished. I'll try to bang my head against the wall, because my mother always takes pity on me when I am in pain!"
The child hits his head against the wall, his mother looks at him in horror, begins to calm him down, regret it and, of course, does not punish him.
The child understands that this is working, the behavior is fixed.
Similar behavior can be observed in a situation where a child wants something from his parents, for example, twenty candy in a day or marmalade instead of soup.
Hitting the head against the wall makes a strong impression on the parents, they are inferior to the child.
Who to contact? If manipulation is used by a child constantly, then the reason should be sought again in the violation of parent-child relations. In this situation, it is better to contact a child psychologist.
Sensory impairment
The child can bang his head on hard objects and due to the presence of a violation - dysfunction of sensory integration. Here, first of all, we are talking about tactile hypersensitivity.
In this case, the child does not experience the necessary sensations from his own body in ordinary life.
Therefore, he may be trying to get them in such a dysfunctional way. If the child is not provoked to these actions by any events, if he is not overwhelmed with emotions, then the likelihood of sensory disturbances increases.
Who to contact? A clinical psychologist with training in sensory integration can help. It will take a rather long complex of classes to normalize the work of the child's sensory sphere.
Loss of control over emotions
If you suspect that your child is banging his head because he has lost control of his emotions, do not postpone the visit to the specialist. This behavior can be observed in violation of the child's affective sphere. The affective sphere is understood as the sensory sphere of the psyche with its emotional processes.
In simple terms, the baby is not able to understand his feelings and express them in acceptable ways.
Who to contact? To clarify the child's condition, you should immediately seek advice from a pediatric neuropsychiatrist.
Autoaggression
Children's autoaggression, aggression towards oneself, is also considered a particularly alarming signal. Each baby can express it in his own way: someone scratches himself, and someone bangs his head on hard objects.
In this case, as in the previous one, to clarify the condition, you should immediately seek advice from a pediatric neuropsychiatrist.
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