Serious head banging issue with 18 mo old

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I have and 18th month old son who bangs his head on things. Lightly when he is not upset and hard to so hard I think he might have split his head open. We are at the very beginning of the diagnostic and therapy aspect, and haven't gotten to the part where we get advice on helping him. I haven't been able to find anything online but helmets which he freaks out until you take it off. Total hatred for anything on his head. Got any pointers for me?

I think that head banging comes in as a distraction from what the real sensory culprit is. For instance head banging may be preferable to some music being heard (personal experience has some music causing overwhelming anxiety and stress for me).. or a sound that created a physical pain reaction. Or sensory issues that feels like thousands of ants biting you... While he may not appear distressed he may actually be but you are not realizing it.

To give you an example, a few years ago a friend of mine convinced me to cross this big fallen log about 5 feet above the ground. I got up there and got to the mid point and completely freaked out. I was so freaked I couldn't move, sit, jump and could barely bring myself to talk. Eventually my friend got me down.. but took forever.

I recently talked to this friend and that day came up. I asked why it took him so long to come to my rescue. He came back at me confused... Rescue? You were scared? I thought it was your shoes bothering you....

eh?????? I wasn't just scared - I was petrified... and he thought I had a shoe issue?

Sometimes issues and hurts, anxiety can be invisible. That can also be why a meltdown can appear out of no where when he has been being stressed for quite some time.. it just appears out of no where to you.

I may be off base.. but that is how it is in my life. Maybe some others can give their perspective too

I know this isn't true for all kids, but have you looked into food sensitivities? My daughter was sensitive to casein at that age and did a lot of headbanging. I actually started decreasing her milk to try to get her to eat more and we noticed she did not bang her head as much. So, we took casein out completely and lo and behold, she no longer banged her head. She also started responding to her name more. So, I agree with Valkyrie. Sometimes I think the headbanging is related to something sensory. In my daughter's case, I think she felt sick and because she had no language, she had no way of telling me.

My son's head-banging stopped after I started teaching him basic sign language. Your son may be frustrated over something and does not know how to communicate it. Maybe it's sensory, maybe it's a need/want, maybe it's a discomfort of any kind.

He may be trying to fill sensory needs. If he seems to like it, give him activities that provide lots of sensory input like squishing him with pillows, playing tug of war, giving him acceptable things to chew on, rolling him up in a heavy blanket or sleeping bag like a burrito. He may also like brushing and joint compressions - Google Wildbarger method (someone correct me if I spelled that wrong). If he is sensory seeking, the head banging may decrease if he is getting input in other ways.

Of course some kids are the exact opposite, avoiding sensory stimulation. If he falls in that category, disregard what I just said.

Thanks everyone! I have been watching him with a hawks eye lately trying to figure this out and the best I can tell so far is that it seems to be sensory and emotionally charged. If he is upset and the train whistle goes off then he will do so, but if its just one or the other he doesn't. Not 100% sure on this, but I will keep an update on here as we go along for others that may have this issue in the future.