Toddler self harming when upset

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I am just wondering...could this be a sign of autism or do a lot of toddlers (ASD or not) do this? And no, I don't have a toddler who self harms...I'm actually asking about myself because I'm an adult and will possibility be evaluated for ASD in the near future. And of course, one of the things the psychologist would need to know about is my childhood. I didn't really have issues as a kid, but the self harming could be the earliest sign that I had. It was just for a short time (when I was probably 1-2 years old) and there were a couple instances where it was pretty extreme (my parents and older brother still remember it to this day)...once I scratched my chest up until I was bleeding, and another time I bashed my head really hard into a brick wall. I guess my parents weren't that concerned though because I didn't continue having these extreme meltdowns as I got older. By the time I was 3 or 3 1/2, I was usually a really calm, shy, and well-behaved kid. I feel like I still possibly had some signs of Asperger's/HFA, it's just that none of them were really causing me problems (I was socially awkward and often didn't know what to do in social situations, seemed to have delayed motor skill development and some executive functioning issues, had pretty intense interests and obsessions with certain topics, and I stimmed a lot with my fingers...although mostly just in private). But again, I'm really wondering about my behavior as a toddler. Is that fairly common in all toddlers or is it mostly toddlers with autism or Asperger's who do that?

I don't think self-harming is common for any toddlers. The stereotypical version that people associate with autism is the headbanging thing, but I don't know what percent of autistics have a history of that behavior. My son never did any of that. Scratching is not part of that stereotype, but there are probably numerous possible causes for it, some may have some correlation to neurological issues, some not.

If you had a sensory sensitivity to something like the laundry detergent -- that could have been nothing but an unidentified allergy. You might have had a sensory reaction to what your clothing was made of also which could have been a sensory aversion related to autism, but i can't magine how this would be established at this late date. if your clothing was a poly-blend, some detergents (ironically the ones often marketed as gentle for babies) will react oddly to that, also, but that also would have nothing to do with autism.

Other from that, I really don't know. There are liver issues that can make a person itchy, but I am guessing if you had liver issues, your doctor would have figured that out. I would also guess there are numerous other issues that could cause scratching, but I would have to research them, as i don't have personal knowledge.

There may be people who have other experiences, but I don't really know that this is any kind of marker for autism.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5392775/pdf/nihms837771.pdf

About 28% of autistic children have self-injurious behaviors. So, yes, it's fairly common for autistic children. It's not common in neurotypical children. But how does this information help in anyway?

Sorry, just realized your concerns about anxiety. You could take a look at:
http://www.eikonabridge.com/anxiety.pdf
Anxiety is not an autistic issue per se. Most people that have anxiety issues are neurotypical. Meds are band-aids. If you know how to use a voice recorder properly, you can eliminate anxiety issues, one by one, for good. It's hard to achieve the same outcome without a voice recorder.

In our recent assessment there were questions of self harm. But my daughter does not self harm either but the fact that the questions were there leads me to think some asd profile kids do.

I remember reading somewhere that sometimes the rationale behind self harm is sensory. Like there is some sensory need that is satisfied by the actions involved in self harming.