Why does baby throw himself backwards? And what suggestions do you have?

Question

Looking around online, I found that there are other babies who do this, but no suggestions about how to deal with the situation or how long it continues.

My son was sitting up unsupported at 6 months, now at 11 months I still must sit behind him because he will suddenly throw himself backwards without warning. My husband thinks we should buy him a helmet so he can play a little more independently once in a while as his attachment to me is extreme. I would not leave him in the room alone anyway, so I am fine with continuing to sit behind him... though it would be nice to be facing him so we could interact when he plays.

Has this happened with your baby? How long did it continue? Why does it happen (he catches himself when he wobbles in other situations which shows he does have regard for his safety), and when will it stop?

Thanks for your input and suggestions...

Answer 1

This is why we have play mats. Kids have been doing this forever it is a sensory response and teaches them flexibility and balance. This is one of many boundary experiments baby-child will try. A helmet would actually mess with his balance development just have a soft surface like a play mat covered with a thick towel to cushion his head - he will stop in a few days. A couple of good bonks and he will realize he doesn't bed that way nor can he protect himself from a fall. Let him experiment with a safe surface and he will be just fine. Hope this helped!

Answer 2

Baby Throws Himself Backwards

Answer 3

I think most babies do this at some point. It depends on his reasons. If he is reacting to something in particular, or upset and having a kind of tantrum response, that is different, but if he is just doing it without stimulus, it could be just a case of babies not knowing danger, and not realising that there is nothing behind them to catch them.

The problem with always being behind him to catch him is that he will always have that security of having someone to catch him, so he will continue to do it. Perhaps once he has thrown himself backwards a few times onto a semi hard surface like a carpeted floor and bumped his head he might start to learn that it's not a good idea to do it! Obviously, don't let him hurt himself badly, just help him to learn that he mustn't do it.

Answer 4

My son was sitting up unsupported at 6 months, now at 11 months I still must sit behind him because he will suddenly throw himself backwards without warning.

Sounds to me like he knows exactly what he is doing. And perhaps is doing this to keep you by his side....

Sounds like it is working?

put some quilts down on the floor around him... let him realize he is at times responsible for his own comfort.

Your comfort and reasoning should come to him after an event .. not pre-stressing one.

Be careful this pattern of behavior could lead to worse things down the road.

Jill

Answer 5

I know that babies do that when they are young to show that they are irritated with something. i know it does sound harsh but maybe the helmet is a good idea. that way he will not hurt himself. on the other hand make sure that he cannot seriously injure himself and let him do it. the sooner he learns that it does not feel good to do that he will stop. i think that you should try to ween yourself from the back of him becuse it could casue him issues with indeoendent development if he thinks that no matter what he does mommy will catch him. he needs to learn cause and effect. if i throw myself back it will hurt. as far as the wobble catch goes, i think it is more nature helping him than his thought about what will happen. when an adult touches something hot we pull away before there is event the thought to. it is a survival instinct.

Answer 6

babies usually do this when they feel safe with whomever they are with. You also will see this when they are walking and you have them up somewhere high (like the bed or the couch) and suddenly they will fling themselves at you with the assurance that you will catch them. They have no fear at a young age when they are near the people who keep them safe. He should stop doing it. It is not the answer to let him fall back and learn from it. He will gradually get the point. In order to play facing him, put him with his back to a pillow or a body pillow (so that it is touching him). That way, if he falls back he will not hurt himself.

Answer 7

Do you mean when he is throwing a fit or he just does this? I wouldn't think that would be normal for him to just do this. Like hes is playing a just falls back? I would say to keep him on carpet. Also he might be moving around, but when my kids were learning to sit up, I used a c pillow. He can sit in it. good luck and I would talk to the doctor about this.

Answer 8

I won't go over what has already been said, but will add that my Son used to do this as well.


From what I could tell, he was doing it for "fun!" He was and still is (4 now) very high energy.

Anyhow, as a parent you must judge for yourself, but in many cases this will become what we call a "self correcting behavior."

For instance, my Son used to bang his head on the floor. Darnedest thing to see! It hurt to watch him do it, as at times he would do it hard enough to hurt himself and cry. After we stopped giving him so much attention for doing it, it just went away.

We DID take precautions, however, as suggested. Like making sure he rested on a blanket if he was on a hard floor.

Remember that by "over" helping our children, we can actually hurt them. Take precautions, and see if you can allow him to "learn" on his own. A bump on the head can serve as a good reminder that he actually does not like it.

Good luck!

Answer 9

babies are incredibly flexible, even as children allot of their joints like hands and feet are mostly cartilage, they are made to be abit unbreakable, we just feel they are so small that we could damage them easily, this is a common thing for them to do, they get a stronger neck soon enough, just support them when holding them , its important that they have some time playing on the floor on their stomachs to gain neck muscles to support them, the only real problem is hitting their head on something else when they do this action, take care but don't worry about it

Answer 10

No hard floors, only big giant cushions should be all that the baby has underneath the said reverse-projected head. It goes for a couple months.