Can a baby hurt himself by banging his head against the bars of a cot/playpen?

Question

he's only 4.5 months, and starting to commando crawl (where they get their knees under them then wriggle their body forwards) as we don't have carpets the only places I can leave him do this is in his cot or I was thinking about buying a playpen, but in his cot he keeps going until his head hits the bars, and I'm wondering if he could hurt himself doing this? or will he just learn not to do it if it does hurt him?

Answer 1

My son did this and he was too young to use a bumper or cushions.  I took him to the GP and they said he'd be fine he did stop doing it.

Answer 2

If it hurts a little the first time he will soon learn to be careful, that's the way we all learned.

It's quite normal for babies to shuffle in bed until their head touches the side, they find it comforting, I would avoid putting anything too padded there, otherwise he will overheat and that's worse for babies than a little bump.  

Answer 3

Can't you place something there to cushion the bars, to avoid himself from getting hurt? He probably won't get any serious injuries, but a kid bashing his head against some bars is pretty alarming none the less, and it's best to be safe.

Answer 4

you better keep him in something else!

Answer 5

Yeah the baby will hurt himself just as an adult wopuld banging their head's off things, a baby's skull is very fragile and this could cause damage.  

Answer 6

He may cause damage to his head so I suggest that you put blankets down to protect him.

Answer 7

put cushion near the bars to protect him

Answer 8

You can get cot bumpers, cusions etc aren't a great idea because of the risk of it falling onto the baby's head.

On the other hand, my son nuts things on purpose to get attention....someimes they don't hit their heads as hard as you think, children a re very sneaky!