My 22 months toddler....?

Question

My son is 22 months.. whenever we tried to discipline him when he is naughty, he will then bang his head against the sofa or hit his head with his hand. I knew that he is trying to get our attention. We tried many ways from stopping him.. like distracting him with something else.. not looking at him when he does that and many.. sometimes he also hit his head without any particular reason. I find it hard to discipline him as he really doesn't listen to me. What should I do???

Answer 1

Echt toll bei euch, auch wenn ich nichts verstanden habe. wd

Answer 2

Sounds like toddler frustration. My 23 month is going through that too. You might find that your child is just really smart and needs things explained to him clearly so he can understand better. He might need to be stimulated more so he can use his mind to learn problem solving and so on. Let him help you with more tasks that are safe for him to help with. He can help sweep, hand you the diapering stuff when you change him, let him press the buttons on the remote, help set the table... This should help with the frustration in a couple days. In the mean time deal with the head banging with the tactic that seemed to work the best. With my son we had to put him in his room until he calmed down. It's hard because the whole time they are in there you are terrified that they are legitimately injuring themselves, but you should be able to tell the "pissed off" cry from the "I'm really hurt" cry by now.
But don't be surprised if your little one just happens to be one of the advanced children who just needs more stimulation!

Answer 3

Hi it's tough but consistency really works. My son is 27 months old and we have a time out corner for him that we put him in for two minutes when he does things he is not supposed too. We started this around 5 months ago. he cries while he sits there we but ignore it don't talk to him while he is in timeout and after the time out is over we go over to him and explain to him why he is there and reassure him we love him we are just displeased with his behavior. Two minutes is all your son should be in time for because he is very young it should be one minute long for the age of the child. It does work just remember to pick your battles with him because he is an emotional toddler and is in his terrible twos. Our son goes right to the timeout corner without a fight now when he does something wrong. Good Luck

Answer 4

This is funny {SORRY}
My 2nd child did that from the time she was 1 [12 months]. We called it popping. When she couldn't get what she wanted she got on a chair or sofa and would pop,pop,pop . Asked my doctor about it and he told me to let it go, she was not hitting hard enough to hurt herself. One day she popped so hard on the chair she fell off. I stood there and laughed at her. She was not hurt only her feelings. Never did that again.
But then she found out that if she banged her head on the floor that scared me. Cured her of that real fast took the back of her head and banged it for her. Her eyes lite up and she never did that again. All this is a form of attention, if you give in they will continue. Ignore them and they get bored and will stop. Don't worry they are not going to hurt them selves.... Be Patience that is all you can do,

Answer 5

You know I dont know if this will work for you but it did for me...my husband & I were having a really hard time disciplining our 18 month old. He just wouldn't listen at all when we would tell him no no; so we started clapping our hands & saying "yay" for every time that he did something good & we would show him things that he should do that are good & now it's improved a lot. He will close the door behind him & clap & put his toys back in his toy box & then claps or whatever he does that he knows that he's supposed to he claps, I think it works a lot but who knows it may or may not work for you....good luck!

Answer 6

Just keep at it. You have to stand firm and stick to your punishments no matter what he does. He is just trying to test you so the only way that you can prove you are the adult is to stick to your guns. He is not going to hurt himself and if he does it will be his own fault and he will realize that. If you think there might me something mentally wrong with him take him to his doctor and they can work with him from there. They might also have some suggestions on how to work with this type of behavior. I have a friend who's son would hold his breath when he was being punished. He got to the point where he would pass out from holding his breath. His mom was freaked out the first few times he did it. She called the doctor and he told them to just ignore him and he would wake up. He eventually realized that he was not getting his way by doing this and he stopped.

Answer 7

I rarely do anything but put my son in time out. He has a time out chair and loses his binky and the toys or tv when he is in timeout. I have only spatted his had once when he was reaching for an outlet that was childproof but still scared me....anyway, when he gets timeout he spats his own leg or head, so I am guessing that he is understanding that he is in trouble. I have noticed too, that when he is thinking about doing something that he knows not too that he will hit himself then and not do it. I think it is normal for children of this age to express anger in this way too.

Answer 8

Call Nanny 911!!

Just kidding, sounds like he is a typical 2 year old. Set him in timeout, if it need be in a padded room then so be it. As long as he gets the reaction he is looking for - he will keep doing what he is doing.

If you reaction changes - his will to but it won't be instint - therefore you need to stick to your guts and be consistent. Maybe at least a week or two or however long it takes to change the behavior but your must change first and no reverting back cause then you must start all over.

Answer 9

my daugher is 21 months old and is doing something similar. I dont put up with these temper tantrums. i have a playpen set up in the den with no toys or anything in it and when she throws a temper like that i put her in there until shes done. it usualyl takes about 2 minutes for her to realize she doesnt have an audience and its not doing any good.to sit there and scream. Also a time out chair might work too. Good luck,

Answer 10

he's doing it to get the response you are giving him. He didn't make this up, he probably saw someone smack their head after a mistake or something and now when he does it, it elicits different responses from you. Stop him every time and tell him it is not o.k. to hurt himself, but he is still in trouble. Children are smarter than you think. Alot of what they do is on purpose, and is meant to see how you react. The best thing a parent can do for their children and themselves is to be consistent and show them love. whatever you decide, remember that.

Answer 11

Time out.

put him at a boring corner, tell him he's been naughty. Get a timer, and set for 5 minutes. Tell him exactly what to expect, if he gets out, timer gets reset. During the time, if he bangs head, just ignore him. Do not make any comments, eye contacts while he is in time out (after giving instructions). If he tries to get out, just put him back, reset timer. If he gets out continously, hold him down on his shoulders from back.

It's a power struggle, you have to show WHO is in charge.