My 15 Month Olds Behavior!

Hi S.. It never ends does it? LOL. I don't have a lot of advice because I have a 17 month old who just started headbutting (a little) and hitting. From what I can tell and have read this is a stage, and the saying "This too shall pass" comes to mind :) I will tell you what I do when BRight does this. Before I "attempt" a time out, I look him square in the eye (and hold his head) and tell him (Like supernanny) that this is not acceptable behavior and this is not how we express our anger (yes I use all those exact words). I know he doesn't understand fully but he gets the idea that mommy must be serious since she's using all those words and looking at me like that. LOL. Then I give him a time out (which should last about 1 minute/year of age) but that doesn't do anything. He thinks it's funny...so all I can tell you is GOOD LUCK and keep on truckin' mommy. You're doing great :)

This too shall pass...this too shall pass...this too shall pass...this too...........

I have a 3 yr olf that did that, and his behavior only got worse (time out didn't work). After the divorce I took him to a play therapist and got some advice for myself. She told me that when he throws a tantrum to get him on the bed and hold him down so that he doesn't hurt himself. I don't hurt him, I just use part of my body weight to make sure he stays in this position. I have made a system of stars if he does things throughout the day and when he gets 5 I'll let him have a reward. So, when he calms down he gets a smiley face. It really seems to work and he's not doing it as much anymore. We're still working on the technique to have him do 3 push ups, then roll over on his back and take 3 big deep belly breaths. Eventually when he is frustrated or angry, this will take the place of me holding him down.

Good Luck,
J. W.

Hi S., my name is M. and my daughter just turned 4. She also went though a headbutting stage. It seems that the stage didn't last to awful long,but my husbands head proved to be harder thanhers in the end lol. So maybe she just needs someone to headbutt with to work it out if her system.

S.-

My son was the same way but he would get upset and bang his head on the floor (not good since we have hard wood floors) We would try to pick him up just to keep him from doing it but he would just get madder. Eventually we learned to put out hand betweenn his head and the floor..owww..but better me than him..
It was just a phase...it lasted awhile but he is alittle over 2 now and doesn't do it anymore...maybe he realizes that it really does hurt and not worth it. Hang in there.

That is a hard situation. My son would do that as well. I just let him do it and then tended to the wound (if there was one) very calmly but still stern about the reason for why he threw a fit to begin with. My son is 13 months old and he has stopped doing that when he realized "HEY THAT HURTS ME WHEN I DO THAT"

Sometimes I think you just have to let them do it enough times that they realize that it hurts to do that to themselves. Don't baby her when she gets hurt though. If there is a wound it will heal. Fix it up and let it go. I think all of them go through so many different phases. My son head-butted me and it hit the bone right below my brow. It hurt him as well and he started crying because he was hurt. I didn't say awww or anything like that I just looked at him and asked him if it hurt and he just gave me the pouty look and wined. If you baby them when they get that way they will do it more often but if nothing else is working with punnishing I would just let it go and ignore her and I think she will stop. I am noticing that Tanner is going through a lot of different phases. They want the attention in whatever way they can get it. Good luck I hope this helps

I'm pretty sure that her head butting is a phase...little ones at that age have a hard time expresing anger and other hard emotions. But when she does it, you need to get down eye to eye with her and in a stern low voice explain to her that what she is doing is unacceptable. Then put her in time out and when time out is over have her appologize for what she did...especially if she headbutted another child. Just be consistant, she and you will get past this. If you are worried about her injuring herself...if she does it once or twice hard enuf to smart a little...she'll figure out that headbutting is not a very practical way of dealing with her anger.

S. I wouldn't suggest putting to much into this. Try treating it just like any other bad behavior. Tell her no and stick to the regular punishment. I wouldn't single out this behavior it will only encourage it further. I son was a biter when he got mad at that age. And for your sanity, he did grow out of it!

My little girl started doing the same thing only she would head butt the floor. She was about the same age as your little girl when she started. I tried the time outs too & to no avail. I was about at my wits end with it when I finally just started letting her do it. When she was done I'd just say something like, "Hey did that hurt? Maybe you should hit it a little harder & you'll learn it's no fun." She has slowed down almost to a stop. Only once in a blue moon will she do that now (she'll be 3 next month). Now if she does it, she doesn't butt the floor as long or as hard, but she realized that it does hurt & just reminded herself, "Ouch! Hey that can't be a good idea!!" lol. I agree with the other mother when she said, "This too shall pass." Good luck hon.