Battle of the baby brain cells continues

Calvin still seems to want to bash his head against things, partly to vent his frustration at his teeth and partly to drive his parents insane. I mean, he really has us by the balls when it comes to bed time. We've struggled since day one to get him to sleep in the crib. And now he has a secret weapon. It's not like we can let him wear himself out, or fall asleep on his own, or self soothe, when he just starts cracking his scull against the rim of his crib rail. That bruise!

But I have a secret weapon of my own! When I was pregnant I took great comfort in a pregnancy pillow. It's long and J shaped, so you can tuck the end between your knees. Anyway, it has been sitting in the closet for over a year and I've been trying to think of what to do with it. It's unsellable (who wants a used pillow who's owner may or may not have broken her water on it?) and it even seems weird to give it to the thrift shop. Plus it was expensive and I may get pregnant again. It's also huge.

It's about as long as the crib...So I decided to tie the pillow to the crib rail. That way he can't give himself a concussion, and we can hang out downstairs. It's working so far. He's asleep.

The homeopathic remedy to head banging

We took Calvin to Dr. Krohn to talk about his head banging. She said that a lot of the kids she sees bang or hit their own heads...They seem to like it. Calvin even did it in her office, and did it a few times throughout the day. Each time he was trying to get attention, get his way, or he was having a temper tantrum.

She checked him over to make sure there wasn't anything physically wrong with him, other then his huge self-inflicted bruise. Then she asked us if we had a homeopathy kit. We didn't, but said we would try her homeopathic ideas. She consulted a book, and narrowed it down to two things. So she asked us a bunch of questions like "Does he seem malicious?" (no) "Does he seem restless or like a lot of activity" (yes) "Is he overly emotional?" (kind of)

She prescribed an Apis tablet. Apis is made out of bee venom, and is used to treat a lot of inflamatory problems, but also can help with certain emotional issues. Or else, people with certain emotional issues can benefit from it. I'm no expert, but it seems like homeopathy is about trying to figure out what type of person you are and then giving you herbs and remedies for your type for overall wellness. Anyway, they described his type as fidgety, restless and over emotional. I suppose, if he hit's his own head he can be seen as fidgety and over emotional.

She gave us a tiny tablet, about the size of a grain of sand, and told us to put it in a jar with 4 ounces of water and give him a half teaspoon three times a day. The results will come gradually. So in the next week or so I'll let you all know if he still hits himself.

Why does my toddler hit his own head?

Calvin has developed a disturbing habit in the past month of hitting his own head. If he's frustrated, like when I am cooking and not paying attention to him fast enough, he'll whack his head against the floor and start to cry. And if he's real upset about something he'll hit his head over and over. It's like a temper tantrum.

We don't know what to do, because we don't want to run up to him and give him loads of attention every time he hits his head, because that would be like a reward. I've been trying to casually stop him and distract him. But the other day I put him in his crib for a nap and he didn't fall asleep right away. Instead he cried, and I thought, he's OK, I'll check on him in a few minutes. But then I heard several loud booms from upstairs, like the neighbors were building furniture or something. But it wasn't the neighbors. It was Calvin hitting his head against the side of the crib. I picked him up, he was freaking out, and nursed him to sleep. He gave himself a huge bruise across his forehead.

We're taking him to the doctor to ask what we should do about it. I have a few theories: he might be in pain from teething, and hitting his head out of frustration. I put Oragel on his gums before bed, and he didn't do it. Other than that, he might be stressed out because we've been traveling so much and his grandpa just died and so he's picking up on my stress. He might just need more frequent snacks. I don't know. Hopefully my teething theory is right, because it's easy to fix and it will be over soon.

He's always been a very intense baby (ask my friends who try to babysit him while I swim) and I hope this isn't a sign of serious inner turmoil. Then again, he is a toddler. Don't they always have inner turmoil?

I'll post again tomorrow, after the doctor appointment, and hopefully I won't have to get him fitted for a helmet.