DS hits himself out of frustration, anyone esle deal w/this?

[JulieL]

DS was hitting me when he got mad. But now that it has finally gotten to him that that is not aceptable he hits himself. So during his tantrum he'll hit himself in the head, hit his head on the floor or window or couch corner (alway something hard). I think this is just another stage but it is driving me crazy and worries me as well. Does anyone else have problems like this? I ask himself if it feels good when he hit's himself and he says no (thank God!), so I try to give him self awareness that it hurts. Other than that what can I do, holding him when this goes on proves painful for him and me kwim? Should I ignore it?

[sweetbasil]

DS#2 is doing the same thing lately, and he's only 12 mo old! He'll wham his head on the floor repeatedly, and if that doesn't get the desired response, he moves to the coffee table. The other day, he decided to try it on our tile floor :( Bless his little heart. The ped says he's too young to be throwing tantrums- fortunately, DH has seen it too, and agrees that he's acting out of frustration, so I don't feel like I'm going totally crazy!

Eagerly awaiting some solutions from other mamas....

[hjdong]

Jamie does all sorts of awful things to himself to help himself get to sleep (pull his hair, slap himself, kick, hit, etc.). I've been told it's "self soothing" that is common in kids from orphanages. So my question is, how can that be soothing? But, I imagine it's something similiar - a way to learn how to calm himself down. What we've done, and seems to be working, is give him a stuffed animal to "soothe" rather than himself. His favorite is biting the nose. Go figure.

HTH,

edited for spelling