You see an infant banging her head against the wall. Is it normal developmental behavior or an indication of broken attachment? We once had a six month old infant placed in our home that would scream uncontrollably and knock her head against the floor. I ended up carrying her around in one of those infant carriers that you strap on your chest to protect and soothe her. She went back to her parents for a year and then was placed back in our home at eighteen months. Her behavior had worsened. She would pound her head against the wall until I would pick her up to make her stop. The screaming fits continued so I dug out the back pack toddler carrier and strapped her on were ever I went. Being carried constantly actually soothed her and may have helped her to attach and bond.

I remember going to the library to read about infant development to see what the cause of this behavior could be. I had read that this could be a sign of broken attachments in infants and toddlers. It came to mind this week as I have watched this behavior manifest itself in two different forms; one being a toddler whom has experienced broken attachments and a lack of consistency. I decided to check the internet for some reference material and found the following article.

“poor attachment appears as: poor reciprocal eye contact when gazed at or spoken to; lack of reciprocal smiling or noisemaking; resistance towards physical contact and comforting through pushing, kicking and arching away; frequent screaming and crying spells that lack any apparent cause and are quite immune to comforting (these are the beginnings of what may become intensive rage reactions); repetitive motions {headbanging, rocking} which are unsuccessful attempts at self-soothing;

Frustration tolerance does not develop, and in its absence, toddlers begin assembling a repertoire of aggressive behaviors to both vent their frustration and get the world to bend to their wishes.” This is just a small excerpt from this article; you can read the full article
Yesterday my seven month old daughter was sitting in the kitchen and bumped her head against the cupboard. The boys laughed at her so she did it a few more times and had a big grin on her face the whole time. Obviously this behavior in her was just something new that she accidentally came across and not a cause for concern. A quick search on Google gave me some assurance as I found several articles like the one below.

“Up to 20 percent of healthy children are head-bangers for a time (Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, Jul 1983). Head-banging appears in the latter half of the first year of life and generally ends spontaneously by four years of age. Boys are three or four times more likely to be head-bangers than girls.
The child seems compelled to rhythmically move his head against a solid object such as a wall or the side of a crib. Often he rocks his entire body. For most children it occurs at sleepy times or when upset (often as part of tantrums). This behavior can last for minutes at a time -- or sometimes for hours. It can even continue once the child has fallen asleep.” This is just a small excerpt from this article, you can read the full article

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