Head Bangers Unite

On the phone the other day I had to laugh as I told my mom that Jeremiah was randomly banging his head on the entertainment center. Well, it wasn't truly a head bang. He bangs his back and head, more like he just backs into stuff over and over and over. He does it every time he is in the high chair too. every.single.time. It got so bad that I had to take his chair off the dining room chair and put him on the floor. Banging one's head against the high chair isn't as fun when you can't move your chair around the room anymore(he liked that he could move the chair 15 feet away from the table by banging his head against the high chair). For whatever reason, mom got concerned. I was not concerned at all. It seemed like normal boy behavior to me. But I told her I'd call the doctor. I didn't call the doc, but I did go straight to the internet to do some research. This is what I found:

1) It is an autism marker which is why most people worry. Jeremiah has ZERO autism markers so I am -100% worried about him being autistic. That means he just likes to bang his head against stuff.
2) 20% of normal and healthy children head bang. Boys are 2 to 3 times more likely to bang heads. This further solidifies my theory that boys are born with a death wish. Genetic flaw maybe? A result of the fall perhaps? 20% of non-autistic boys just make a decision one day that head banging might be fun.
3) Head banging is ususally done to ease bordom or a lack of stimulation, to self sooth when overstimulated or trying to sleep, and occassionally it is used to distract the baby from the pain of an ear infection or other such pain.
4) This is the funniest of them all. If your child bangs his head against the crib slats while trying to sleep, move the crib away from the wall as the noise level could be very annoying. HAHA!

So I called my mom and told her I was right and that he is fine. If he doesn't outgrow it by the time he is 2 we may have to look into it further. But if you ask me, the kid gets bored while sitting in his high chair with noone to look at but his sister. He wants OUT and this is how he gets our attention. It isn't like he walks around the house trying to find something to bang against. Well, other than Jordan. He does like to head butt her but she does it right back. When he is mad or frustrated he just screams. He doesn't wildly bang his head against a wall then either. He is fine. JW is a normal healthy little...er big...boy.

My mom decided to tell my grandmother this wonderful story with the statistics I told her. Grandma's respons was right on the nose. "I wonder how many mothers bang their heads against walls." HA HA HA!!!! Exactly! I might have to join the ranks of those moms here soon.