Head Banger

Aidan has been giving us trouble lately when it comes time for bedtime. He doesn't like to go to bed (I'm sure he's afraid he'll miss something!) so when the time comes, he gets mad. Really mad.

Actually, let me rewind a little bit. We've (almost) always had sleep/bedtime issues with Aidan. He co-slept with us until he learned to crawl (and we would have let him co-sleep even longer had he not decided it would be more fun to crawl OUT of bed rather than go to sleep!). Anyway, once we got him into his crib, we tried the "No Cry Sleep Solution," which didn't work. After speaking about solutions with the pediatrician, he recommended (and we eventually tried) the "Cry it Out" method (or also known as the "Ferber Method"). And, we were so happy that it worked! In fact, we went from Aidan screaming (for three hours at a time!) to being put to bed awake but drowsy and he'd fall asleep on his own -- that transition took about three weeks.

And, he's been a relatively good sleeper since we've done the sleep training with him. Of course, we've had some bumps in the road when he was sick or teething. So, we've been at our wits end for about the past month because Aidan is, once again, refusing to go to sleep. We've spoken about this problem with Aidan's pediatrician (on more than one occasion) and he said it's completely normal. It's likely he's teething (his eye teeth, which are supposedly the most painful) and he's also going through his fifteen month growth spurt, the terrible twos, and separation anxiety (apparently it peaks at fifteen months). Wowza. Poor kid.

But, what we're most concerned about (again, we've talked to the pediatrician about it) is Aidan's tendency to bang his head on things when he's frustrated. If we tell him "No" and he doesn't like it, he'll run to the nearest wall and bang his head on it. If we're busy (say, in the bathroom or something) and he wants us NOW and he can't have us NOW, he'll bang his head on a wall, a door, or a toy. Usually, it's not hard and the pediatrician said to just ignore it and he'll eventually stop when it starts to hurt. He explained that it's a normal reaction (and supposedly more common in boys).

Lately (maybe the past three or four nights), Aidan has taken to banging his head on his crib when it's time for him to go to bed. Just this morning, I found him with a giant purple, yellow, and blue egg on his forehead. And, yes, this is the result of his head-banging on his crib. Alex and I have looked ALL OVER for something to put on his crib so he won't hurt himself, but the only things we've found are either foam (which he'll chew and then choke on) or hard rubber (which protects the crib, but not necessarily the kid).

I know that his bruise has got to hurt something awful. Tonight at bedtime, he cried for a little while (but not nearly as long as the past few nights) and I didn't hear (or see on the video monitor) him bang his head. So, I'm crossing my fingers that he learned his lesson by getting one big OUCHIE!