The Health Blog

Parents regard head-banging in young children as one of the more distressing behaviours in childhood. The sight of their toddler repeatedly banging his head against the cot or on the floor, often with a force so violent that it seems inevitable that a serious injury will be sustained, causes intense concern in most parents. Yet this is a behaviour that is relatively common, occurring in 10%-15% of young children, with boys outnumbering girls by a ratio of 3 to 1, and there are virtually never any serious consequences. The peak age for head-banging is from about 6 months to 3 years, and the vast majority of children outgrow it, in the same way that they outgrow other rhythmic, repetitive, self-stimulatory behaviours (body-rocking, thumb-sucking).

Cause

It is not known why some children engage in head-banging. Nor is it clear why it is more common in boys than girls. Like other rhythmic, self-stimulatory behaviours, it seems to soothe and comfort young children at a particular developmental age and then becomes unnecessary as the child matures and his repertoire of coping behaviours expands. It seems to be a response to stress or discomfort, although usually no distress is discernible to the parents. It may increase in frequency and duration during periods of insecurity or stress such as separation or illness.

Head-banging, along with other repetitive behaviours such as body-rocking, is seen more frequently in certain groups of children, such as those with mental retardation, autism, those who are blind, and often in institutionalised youngsters. Again, the reason for this increased frequency is not clear. The persistence of head-banging may be associated with underlying psychological or emotional problems.

Clinical features

The usual picture is of a baby, or particularly a toddler, repeatedly hitting his forehead against the headboard of the cot or bed, or against the mattress, the floor, or even against the wall. Often it occurs at bedtime, but it may happen at any time of the day. The duration varies from a few minutes to up to an hour or even more. Although it appears that considerable force is being used and it seems to the parents that the child must surely sustain an injury, it does not seem to bother the child at all. In fact the opposite is true — the child appears to enjoy it.

Frequently there will be a bruise, welt, callus or even an abrasion on the child’s forehead. Very rarely will the child’s actions result in any bleeding, and he never suffers any serious injury from the head-banging.

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Here were some of the recommendations in this area.

1. Your spouse should be introduced to all of your friends at least once. Each of us needs distance and our own chance to be free and be a “non-spouse” once in a while, but super marital sex depends on total disclosure. Make sure your spouse knows everybody you know.

2. Never, but never, criticize your spouse to someone else or in front of someone else. Marriage is for intimacy, and that includes the dignity of both sexual and problem-solving privacy. One angry wife stated, “Unless you want to have sex with me in public, don’t try to screw me in front of our friends.” Take your spouse with you when out with your friends sometimes. There is no rule that all groups must match up gender for gender, couple for couple. Maybe your spouse could become a different type of friend to you by seeing your friends and relating to them in different settings. This was the idea behind the “managed-a-trois” assignment discussed earlier.

3 If you are putting more effort into your friendships and into your interactions outside of marriage, stop and ask why. Your primary energy, including your emotional and physical presentation of yourself, should be for the marriage.

4. When your spouse is available, take advantage of it. Time is always a problem, so talking on the phone or spending time with friends while your spouse “waits” can cause subtle and sometimes not so subtle messages of lack of concern or feelings for your partner. Try to schedule most of your calling and visiting when your spouse is not available or when you have mutually planned some time for other friends.

5. You do not have to be inseparable. Go to some couples’ parties without your spouse when this seems convenient. One reason for friends is that they provide variety, different points of view and feelings. If one or the other of you feels that you are going to a dinner or party reluctantly or as a favor, discuss the possibility of going alone. Your host or hostess will probably be shocked at first, and rumors of your impending divorce will start immediately. You know better, and that is what really matters. Show off. Show them that your super marriage is strong enough to allow for independence.

I have described six of the “dirty dozen” problems that can affect super marital sex. You and your partner have reviewed each issue together and come up with some of your own plans for dealing with these problem areas. Dealing with loss, parenting, parenting your parents, working and loving, finances, and working others in and out of your marriage are strong challenges in themselves, so take a break here before going over the last six problems. Stand up and hug. If you have some time, have some super sex. You’ve earned it.

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We need to stop and realise that there have been other times in our life when we have made major changes. Although these changes were external, we still feared change because we did not really know what lay ahead. We may have felt this fear when we started work, went to university, got married or had children. That fear is the same as we are feeling now. If we can remember those other occasions we will see this fear is not unique. We have felt it before. Back then, we went ahead and did what we had to do, still feeling unsure, still feeling the fear, the aloneness and isolation. This time, although the changes are internal, the fear is no different.

All we know at this stage is that we are walking into unknown territory and it can seem easier to stop where we are, despite our unresolved difficulties. What we don’t know is that the unknown territory is that of the self. As the ‘disordered’ self breaks down it can mean the birth of our real self.

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If you decide there is a certain procedure you will not allow under any circumstances, make sure that you tell your surgeon so very clearly, both orally and in writing. Read the consent form that you are asked to sign prior to your operation very carefully. On most forms you are expected to agree not only to the operation, but also to ‘further alternative operative measure as may, in the opinion of the surgeon performing the operation, be found necessary during the course of such operation.’ Do not sign this form as it stands — write in the procedure that you will not permit. Sign your addition in the presence of a witness, as well as signing at the bottom of the form.

Alternatively, if you wish to ensure that only the operation you have agreed to and nothing else is done, you would also have to make this very clear to your surgeon beforehand. Tell him or her directly. In addition, cross out the disclaimer on your written consent form, write ‘only’ next to the name of the operation, and sign this as well as signing at the bottom of the form. In this way you will be giving consent only to the operation that is named on the form. If a technical name is written on the form, ask for it to be explained fully. You could even cross it out and write a description in your own words of the operation you are agreeing to if you want to be quite sure that your wishes are clearly understood.

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Ordinary tap water with a teaspoon of salt added to each half litre (1 pint) and stored in the refrigerator can be applied on gauze to the burned areas. Local applications of soothing creams can also help. These often contain small amounts of local anaesthetic.

If blisters form, this indicates the burn is deeper and it is classed as second degree. If the blisters are small they can be left but, if large, they are better broken and the fluid drained.

Do not just prick the blisters with a needle — this lets the fluid out but infection in. Clean a pair of scissors by soaking in a disinfectant (boiling blunts them), then cut away the skin overlying the blister so there is no overhang left. This isn’t painful. The raw surface can be dried by gentle pressure with sterile gauze and a drying lotion like mercur-ochrome applied.

If the blisters are large and extensive, it is better to seek medical advice.

The chronic effects of the sun are more dangerous. Repeated exposure to UV light, over many years, leads to premature ageing of the skin.

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Complete prolapse of the uterus outside the vagina is called procidentia. This may make it difficult for the woman to move about and the uterus is subject to irritation and inflammation.

When the bladder falls back into the vagina, it distorts the normal anatomy where the urethra, or tube which carries the urine to the outside, leaves the bladder.

This leads to problems with passing urine. It may be difficult to completely empty the bladder and so small quantities are passed frequently.

The commonest symptom, however, is stress incontinence. When the woman strains by coughing, laughing, sneezing or lifting, the urine may involuntarily come away.

A watchspring pessary, which is a flexible rubber ring, can be inserted into the vagina to hold the uterus in place. This sits firmly in the vault or upper part of the vagina and is kept there by pressing on the pubic bone at the front of the pelvis.

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Pores. Finally, there is the myth concerning the pores. Pores are the openings, on the skin surface, of sweat and oil glands and hair follicles. It is these which give the skin its texture and produce variations between all skins, not only those of humans. You will have noticed the difference between call and pig skin; similarly, the difference between young children and adolescents.

It is widely imagined, thanks to media exposure, that the pores open and close and require ‘cleansing’. This is of course complete nonsense. Our pores are completely static, and after adolescence never alter in size or shape, no matter what cosmetic is used. They do not breathe, feed nor require ‘deep cleansing’. Astringents, which usually contain alcohol, may remove excessive oil and make the pores temporarily less obvious. They may also cause irritation of the surrounding skin, so that it swells slightly around the pores, diminishing their apparent size for a very short time. Nothing, however, can change the number or size of ‘enlarged’ pores. Pore size is an individual characteristic which no product or treatment can alter.

It can thus be seen that there are a considerable number of untested and/or misleading claims made in the field of skin care and cosmetics.

It should be borne in mind, with relation to cosmetic advertising, that some cosmetic houses use suggestive advertising techniques alluding to flimsily-conducted experiments reported under the guise of scientific research. To further promote their products they infer that youthfulness and beauty are essential ingredients for a successful life. They imply that without the assistance of their products your skin will be inferior.

The external application of any nutriment, vitamin or other exotic substance will have no effect on the basic nature of a person’s skin. That is, the skin cannot be fed or nourished by any known cosmetic. The realistic person will accept the limitations of cosmetics as well as their benefits. Cosmetics cannot perform miracles. They can add colour to the skin and hair, help conceal minor blemishes, temporarily relieve excessive skin dryness or oiliness and, to an extent, reduce the drying of skin caused by environmental factors. In this way cosmetics help people to look and feel more attractive. But they accomplish this solely through such properties as colour, fragrance, and local physical action. They cannot, to date, rejuvenate or change the basic nature of the skin.

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Eating a low G.I. diet still means eating a variety of foods. Possibly a wider variety than you are already eating. Potatoes with a high G.I. can still be included. A food is not good or bad on the basis of its G.I. The G.I. factor of a meal consisting of a mixture of carbohydrate foods is a weighted average of the G.I. factors of the carbohydrate foods. The weighting is based on the proportion of the total carbohydrate contributed by each food. Usually we eat a combination of carbohydrate foods, like baked beans on toast, sandwiches and fruit, pasta and bread, cereal and toast, potatoes and corn. Studies show that when a food with a high G.I. factor is combined with a food with a low G.I. factor the complete meal has an intermediate G.I. factor.

High G.I. factor food + Low G.I. factor food = Intermediate G.I. factor meal

Supposing you have a meal of baked beans on toast.

Regular white bread has a G.I. factor of 70, and baked beans have a G.I. factor of 48. If we assume half the carbohydrate is coming from the bread, and half from the baked beans, we can add the G.I. factors of the two foods together and divide by 2, (70 + 48) + 2 giving the meal a final G.I. factor of 59.

The final G.I. factor of a meal depends on the G.I. factors of the foods that make up the meal and the proportion of carbohydrate contributed by each carbohydrate rich food.

If you have two carbohydrate rich foods combined 50:50, you can add their G.I. values and halve the result to come up with the new GJ. factor. But if you have two foods combined in uneven proportions, say 1/4 potato: 3/4 lentils, then 75 per cent of the G.I. factor of the lentils should be added to 25 per cent of the G.I. factor of potato.

It can be complicated to calculate the precise G I. factor of a combination of foods unless you have access to food composition figures of a nutrient analysis program. As with kilojoules, G.I. values are not precise. Use them simply as a guide.

The Low G.I. Eating Plan has a G.I. factor 40 per cent lower than the High G.I. Eating Plan, plus its fat content is half that of the high G.I. menu. Notice how the quantity of food is similar but the kilojoule content is nearly one-third lower because low-fat, high carbohydrate foods have been used.

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