Headbanging before sleep?

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Joined: 23 Aug 2006
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24 Aug 2006, 3:38 am

I was just wondering if anyone here has and AS child who bangs his head, especially during or just before going to sleep?

TubbyChef
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24 Aug 2006, 3:59 am

My son used to but since we discovered he has AS we have calmed him down a lot by being super-tolerant and understanding (not to imply that you are not!) - and he seems to have stopped this.

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Mordy
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24 Aug 2006, 8:20 am

TrustNoOneKMC wrote:

I was just wondering if anyone here has and AS child who bangs his head, especially during or just before going to sleep?

I'm a headbanger. And yes my mother had to put up with it since I was a baby, I'd bang my head on the pillow of the bed to fall asleep and this baffled her to no end. The child may or may not grow out of it, it's a way for him to calm himself nad get rid of the pent up excitement/emotion and/or energy inside him. It's most likely one of his/her 'stims' that help calm them down. I never really lost my "headbanging stim" it just transformed from headbanging to 'body rocking' or 'body banging' where I'd lift myself up and bang myself back onthe bed, it still is basically the same thing except involving more of the body.

CockneyRebel
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26 Aug 2006, 2:04 pm

I bang my Head against my Pillow five times, before I close my Eyes for the Night.

ster
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26 Aug 2006, 2:35 pm

i know my son used to do this as a toddler~dr said not to worry and that son was just tired....don't know whether or not he bangs his head anymore.

superfantastic
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26 Aug 2006, 4:12 pm

Quote:

Jactatio capitis nocturna is characterised by a swinging or banging of the head before or during sleep, or in the phase between these two states.

The condition is a disorder of the first year of childhood and occurs in 6% of children of usually 6-8 months of age. It occurs rarely in children older than 18 months.

(...)

Etiology is unknown and this disorder usually stops around 4 years of age, however the condition may persist into adulthood.

Most children do not require treatment, however reassurance and, in extreme cases, extra padding of bed is advised and recently behaviour modification regime like selective reinforcement or competing response have been used with success. If the disorder persists beyond the fifth year of age further investigation is needed. Benzodiazepine and tricyclic drugs have also shown beneficial response in minority of children.

From wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jactatio_capitas_nocturna

ster
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27 Aug 2006, 6:59 am

hmmmmmmmm. that's interesting.

MamaMia
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03 Sep 2006, 6:07 pm

Twenty years ago, I had a younger cousin who was a head banger as a toddler. We really worried about him, and most in the family assumed he'd soon show signs of mental retardation. He went on to become a brilliant student, and is now very successful in his career. Apparently, that banging didn't hurt.

Ticker
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11 Sep 2006, 2:29 am

I was a headbanger until age 2 or 3. This had distressed my mom a lot, but I finally quit.

Something else- I started getting febrile seizures around age 9 and I started head banging then. The reason I did it then was to communicate I needed help. I remember banging my head on the wall or door at night because it was the only way to get my parents attention that I was about to have a seizure & needed their help since I couldn't talk before it would happen. There was always a few seconds before the seizure started that I knew it was about to happen, but I went mute and could not use hands or feet.

I think when I was a baby I was just head banging as sort of a stimming or soothing thing. But it might be good to notice when your child head bangs and if possibly he or she is trying to "tell" you something.

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