I have heard about babies that do this and have a family member who went through this. The person that did this grew up to be a very normal and healthy adult. I am not an expert but just wanted to let you know not to worry. You should discuss with your doctor though, just for reassurance.

I guess you have bumper pads around the crib of your bed??If you do not I suggest you get some to soften your child bumping up against the rails , footboard or headboard of the bed. I know his arms could go higher than the bumper pads though.

A question. Is your son on any medications? The reason I ask is that my son when younger if on some antihistimines, decongestants, antibiotics - he would start bumping his head on the wall (he at that time was in a reg. bed) so I was just wondering if this could be the case with your son. Several times we had to have medication stopped and changed because of this happening.

~Lynn~

He does not use bumper pads because he is an escape artist and uses them to climb out of the crib. He has also become tangled in them, so I removed them. He has been doing this since he was about 8-9 mos old. He is not on any medication, and the doctor says that he is fine, and that if it hurt, he wouldn't do it.

I was just wondering if anyone else was going through the same thing. He will be moving into a "big boy" bed soon, so hopefully the problem will end there.

Thanks for your help everyone!!!

My son banged his head on his mattress for quite some time and now his son does it..Could it be an inheirited trait? I don`t know, but I didn`t do it according to my mother..However, his daughter doesn`t do it, go figure..

Here is what Dr. Ferber says about headbanging in his book, "Solving your child's sleep problems".

'Many children engage in some sort of repetitious, rhythmic behavior at bedtime, after waking during the night, or in the morning.....If your child is like this, you may be comforted to know that headbangng, body rocking, and head rolling are very common in early childhood and, at least at this age, are usually normal. If your child exhibits any of these behaviors there is little need for concern about emotional difficulties or neurological illness....Body rocking and head rolling are equally common in both boys and girls but headbanging apprears three times more often in boys....In the infant and young toddler, rhythmic patterns are of little significance and you will not need to intervene....A normal child will not injure himself seriously while headbanging, although he occasionally may bruise his forehead and, very rarely, there may be a small amount of bleeding. Concussions, fractured skulls, or brain injuries just do not occur.'

Hope this helps!!
BTW, my hubby says he used to bang his head against the wall when he was little :)

Sunny