14 month old frequently hitting herself in the head...

[Frangipani]

OMG I just did some quick research into 160B and it acutally says it causes headbanging in small children A LOT of different sources say this - I can't believe it is so widely used if this is such a common reaction

Thanks again salad for bringing this to my attention - I never would have thought of this as a possible cause

Wow ...thanks for sharing this.

My DS1 used to head bang and hit himself all the time too....I think it lasted a few months (around a similar age as your DD). I use to worry as quite often it would leave little bruises (and I would just hope his child care workers and any body else who saw this understood it was a self inflicted injury). Thankfully he grew out of it....once he learnt to communicate better.

I try adjust his food - which could be tricky if it turns out to be common in alot of things (though he does eat alot of fruits and vegies...but sadly grapes are a favourite too )....and watch for this additive (which I never knew about)...and hopefully I can eliminate the squealing - which is not as bad, but very ear piercing I also have an almost 1 year old, who is possibly likely to go down the same path of frustration communication.

[Salad]

fi1980 - it is amazing what you find the 160B in, and because it is natural it is in a lot of products that are labelled "no additives" etc but like you I would never have thought ever that this could be a problem. DD used to always have huge bruises on her forehead as well from banging it all the time. I thought it was a frustration thing aswell to begin with but after chatting to another lady whos child was doing similiar to mine then researching it online, I eliminated it and my little angel returned. I have given it back to her on occasions only for her to start head butting again and turn into a monster, and it takes at least 4 days to leave her system so its just not worth it.

Please let me know how you go, I would love to know.

[fi1980]

Thanks again - I will definitely be back in a few days to let you know if there has been an improvement. DD has a permanent bruise on her forehead that I would love to see go away!

[NaeNae]

Salad ~ Do you know if its in yoghurt or called somethign else. I looked in the foods we give DD but its no there that I can tell.

[Salad]

Most yogurts are ok as far as I know, some do have other nasties in them but I guess it all comes down to what affects your child/ren It will either say "Annatto" or 160B on the label.

Check out "fed up with food additives" they have a website and a book which are both full of information.

[fi1980]

Well I think it's time to give you a little update.

When I got salad's very insightful information about 160b I immediately cut it out of DD's diet. Monday was the last day she had anything with 160b in it, so it's now the 5th day off the additive.

So what have I noticed during this time....
within 36-48 hours I noticed a significant decrease in the head hitting / head banging.
Thursday morning was the last reported head hitting incident which was relatively mild and short lived. To be honest it was almost as though she started doing it out of habit then realised how silly and unneccessary it was so she stopped! Previously she had been totally unable to stop herself - the more she hit herself the harder it was for her to stop so she would just do it over and over and over again
The last 2 days have seen not even a hint of head hitting!!!

It is still early days but I am very confident that annatto or 160b has been the cultrip for this very distressing behaviour in my DD. This has been a challenging week for DD (return to day care/change of routine), interrupted sleep etc. At times she has been very upset and frustrated and yet she has managed to control her behaviour and not resorted to banging her head. Go back a few weeks and this situation would result in frequent outbursts of head banging.

I am still amazed that such a tiny thing can have such a big impact. But after reading the research and discovering that 160b frequently causes head banging, then removing it from DD diet and seeing her head banging stop, I have proven to myself that the additive is very harmful and not something I will ever give to DD again.

I hope those of you reading look into this and consider removing the additive from the diets of your little ones.

Fi

[Santosha]

That is amazing. So glad you found what was causing it and you've seen such a radical change in your DD. It's really alarming to think that something in common foods can cause such behaviour and (although we don't have head-banging here we certainly have our moments!), I will be very vigilant about avoiding this additive. Thanks for sharing your story Fi, I think the world needs to know about this stuff. Thought of taking it to a current affair program?!