Dude, she's teething.  My kid used to do the back and forth head thing a lot.  And the pulling at the hair is because her ears probably hurt from the teeth trying to come in.  Sucking and drinking from a bottle can hurt.  When you are trying to lay her down that can hurt too.  I know, it's like you can't win.  But try every kind of teether you can find and see what feels good to her.  It will pass -- just know that she is totally normal.  Soon, teeth!

Ditto  BarbaraR's diagnosis. We (almost 6 mo) have hair pulling, too, and scratching of the head, which has been known to draw blood. Lately, though, the self-injurous has turned mama-injurous (grabbing and pinching me so very hard), so look out. Especially with that Josie-- looks like maybe she could be her parents up.

My daughter (10 months) does the head shake and the hair pull.  She started the hair pull several months ago and added head shake maybe a month ago.  It has indeed correlated with new teeth.  Ear gouging isn't her thing (yet) but I agree with other posters.  Funny - she is my 4th and I don't recall this with any of my sons so perhaps it's a girl thing!  :)

I'll just ditto what everyone has already said. My year-old son also started the weirdly determined back-and-forth head shake at about Josie's age along with the ear gouging and head scratching. I've read that babies can't really pinpoint teething pain--and that teething discomfort is the usual culprit behind seemingly unrelated wackiness like ear pulling/gouging and hair pulling. For what it's worth, the first few teeth coming in seemed the hardest for our kid.  We made friends with regular dosings of baby Tylenol pretty quick on bad days. It really did help take the edge off.

Gotta go with the PP's a say it is the teething.  You can get her ears checked if  you think she might have developed an ear infection, some you kids do after flying.  If the nail trimming is freaking you out - nibble on them while she's got the bottle, plus if you've got her fingers in you mouth she won't have them in her ears.  Or what about Grandma?

Saying the same thing as everyone else in the hopes that more comments from us = less worry for you. Our son did the hair pulling and head banging right before bed, it seemed to be a self-soothing thing. With and without teeth poking through. It went away, though he tends to tug on his ears (no gouging, but maybe same instinct?) when he's in that crazy possessed state before bed. I freaked out and discovered all sorts of disorders he might have (thank you, google) but he's fine and grew out of it.

And Jonelle's got it - you're next. Chomp chomp. I had to wear long sleeves for several days last summer after the teether bit the crap out of my upper arms (apparently flab is tempting to the preverbal teething monster).

Have you tried mittens for her hands so she doesnt scratch herself or pull her hair. Alot of the long sleeved onseies come eith the mittens built in.

Have you thought about exorcism?  It's probably teeth (since my 7-month-old is shaking her head like she's Stevie Wonder) but you can never be too careful.

Dude, you have to get it together and cut Josie's nails.  Just do it.  

This piece has made my day!

I read it this morning and found myself still chuckling in the afternoon.

You write incredibly well. Thank you!

ps - for the record, I too think it's teething. Toss a damp facecloth in the freezer and let her chew on it once it's frozen, that might help. Otherwise, try Hyland's teething tablets, they're a gift from God.

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Ditto Lillet's comment.  Gather up your courage in a burlap sack and cut the fingernails.  I do my  8 month-old's while he is nursing.  Or if Josie sleeps hard, you might get away with doing it while she sleeps.  A little filing afterward and she'll have a lot harder time doing serious damage.

Sympathies to you all for the teething/demonic posession.

Definitely sounds like teething. My son is the same age and doing very similar things, minus the gouging because I use a an el cheapo disposable nail file (they aren't as grainy/scratchy as the more expensive kind) to keep his sharp little nails in check. It means having to do them more often, but it is better than those freaky clippers. I hated them when I was a kid and still do.

Definitely teething, which you can little about -- other than providing a good teether (our daughter liked the ones that you can put in the fridge and chill before she sucks on them).  

You CAN and should do something about the nails. Although it's scary at first, once you've done it a few times it is old hat. We've never accidentally cut our daughter (now 10mths old) and we used to trim her nails every 2-3 days when they seemed to grow like weeds.  I agree with the above posts -- try to trim them while she's distracted (suckling or sleeping).  And if you've got a pet (cat/dog) get some practice by trimming their nails.  That might be why I didn't mind cutting our kid's nails - I'd been doing the cat's nails for 10 years.

You'll get the hang of it soon enough, but the sooner you do the less likely she is to cut her ears ....although she will continue to tug on them and jam her fingers in them...nothing you can do about that other than wrap her hands in mittens covered in duct tape. ;-)

I've got to say how releived I am to have read your post and the responses thus far.  My baby girl, 4 mos today, is having major freakouts every night starting about 5:30pm.  She flails her head back and forth while I'm trying to feed her and then cries like she's part of the Blair Witch Project for 45 minutes before completely conking out.

She has been chewing on her fingers and salivating like crazy, so it must all be the perfect storm of teething, hunger and tiredness.  

Keep us posted on how Josie is doing!

Our Mr. T did every single one of those things--the strange Exorcist moves during feeding, the hair yanking, the skin gouging--for several weeks (months?) during his first year. Weird stuff, but apparently common. It will pass.

Make sure her nails are trimmed short if you're worried about the blood. Those claws grow FAST!

The ear jamming is most likely from teething like everyone has said.  Hair pulling is normal too, it's a new thing for her and if it hurts that much, she'll stop.  Did you try the baby feeder thing I sent her?  Those things are the best, I'm tellin ya.

What everyone else said. If you're too freaked out by clipping her nails, you can bite 'em pretty close and it doesn't hurt at all. You can feel with your teeth and tongue exactly where the nail ends and the skin starts.

AND, I recommend some infant tylenol half an hour or so before bedtime.

As for the nail clipping, try singing her a soothing song as you do it, and when she pulls away, let her, and then gently take her hand back. The process will take a while, but the point is to be as calming and soothing as possible. If you make it into a WWE match, you will be wrestling that kid to the ground every week until she's old enough to clip her own nails.

Teething is probably it. I didn't know, rookie as well. Thought the ear thing was from an infection. Her ears looked raw. Took babe to pediatrician who looked in her ears b/c I was convinced it was an ear infection. Turned out her ears were clear but full of dried flaky bits, ear wax. Doc said to use the bulb syringe in the bath. Just squirt some in to flush it out. Thought the sounds of the wax moving around might be the source of her itching/scratching. Also said to put a thin layer of vaseline or aquaphor on the scabs to prevent the cycle of itching/scratching. It all worked.

THANK YOU.  Our boy does all those crazy things and now I don't feel like we're crazy or have a crazy baby!

Here's a nail trick.  Buy those ugly scissors that have the rounded edges (for babies) you can feel the nail being cut and you'll know if you have tender baby skin in them.  Then file and you are done!!  I was very paranoid of the nail clippers even more after my husband accidentally nicked his pinky!!

Good luck.  Keep us posted.

Could it be that The Elegant Variation's Mark Sarvas cast a demonic malediction upon your family?

Have the pediatrician check her ears. It probably is just her teeth, but if she starts running a fever, she's got ear infections brewing. My daughter, pulled her hair, ears, and seemed to hate sucking on the bottle sometimes and it was ears. Eventually she needed tubes in her ears. Good news here is that it is a really simple, and quick surgical procedure. They gave her dopey juice, she got groggy sitting on my lap. They took her back to the operating room and sent us to the waiting room. I had flipped five pages of the magazine when the nurse came out and said we could come back and see her now. She was fine, sleeping and the ear infections never recurred. Good luck and no worries she's not possessed.

My babes did this all the time. The bloody crusty ear was just the other day. The head bobbing was kind of like a simulated nursing and nuzzling. Then again I had bearded dragons and they did the same thing - but for wholely different reasons (I've never seen nips on a lizard?!) Now, the baby boy likes to fling himself backward in his well-padded highchair over and over and over. He stopped after doing it once in the grandparents old-school hard wood one. We also have to hold his hand no matter while he's nursing me or a bottle. He starts to do a one-armed windmill thing that leaves me with scratches suggesting I had too much fun the night before - not so.

So, laugh it off and beg someone else to cut the babes nails - like a pro-grandma or master surgeon.

David

I'm so glad I'm not the only one to have seen the head shaking.  My 11 month old is a late teether and just seemed to have started the head skake yesterday.  She would close her eyes in the highchair with a mouthful of food and fling her head back and forth.  Still going to take her to the doctor to have it checked out but I'm a little relieved to hear that it could just be teething as I've seen her shake her head several times today while playing.  She has also pulled her hair and grabbed her ears.  I found a suggestion that I liked and intend to use just in case.  If you are worried about your little one having some problem that the doctor may not see, use a videocamera to record the behavior at home and show it to the doctor.

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