Agreed! Headbangers can be violent, I've witnessed it firsthand, and they may not even realize they're being self-destructive.
Yeah I agree. And just to add to this- most babies try out the head banging thing- it's a way of "getting mom and dads attention" - my little brother and oldest son would stand in their crib when they didn't want to go to sleep and bang their head on the wall next to it (forehead area- even got bruises that made him look like a Klingon!) - I always always always call our pediatrician with any sort of head bump just to triage it and review what I need to watch out for (signs of head trauma, vomiting, lethargy, or even if they go to sleep and don't re-coil when you try to wake them- slow reaponse).
That's how I learned that it was so common.
I am guessing that this little guy had a HUGE head injury even as far as two months prior to his death and he likely had a concussion- but if mom and dad weren't vigilant and didn't known the sometimes very subtle signs of head trauma they may not have thought to take the baby in to get checked. If they did they would have to make sure baby did zero head banging after that (maybe even prescribing a helmet - some babies have those for various issues) because another even slight bump could cause a hemmhorage.
Just to give you an idea how hard a head is- in 8th grade I was at summer camp and coming back from the lake walking over a covered bridge- jumped off the last four steps, misjudged the room I had for my head to clear the beam support- propelled backwards, fell 8feet, and hit the back of my head on a cement step. I couldn't be stitched up bc it was a wide and shallow wound but the next day I was slurring my speech and lethargic and went for a cat scan and had a severe concussion. I had to stop figure skating for two months because even though you don't usually fall on your head, any risk of falling and even lightly bumping my head could have caused a subdural hematoma and it would have been necessary to (doctors words) "shave your long hair off and drill a hole in your skull to release the pressure from bleeding out so you don't die or suffer brain damage." (I was upset about skating so they had to be kind of blunt with me)
Anyway, point is, this injury that killed this sweet little guy was a huge one. Heads are hard and designed to withstand bumps (and even head banging) - the forehead is hard and so is the back of the head where contact is most common in the fall of a child.
My pediatrician assured me that head banging was normal but still be vigilant. And definitely stop him if he starts smashing his head in front of you like temper tantrum style on the floor (duh, right?) - at this age- 1/2 (before they will sit in a time out chair when they pitch a fit) always stop them from smashing their head- they'll be fine, it's for attention but obviously don't let them continue it.
SO- where did this kid get such a terrible injury 2-3 mo prior- that would cause such a severe concussion. Was he seen by the pediatrician 2-3 mo prior (versus the three week prior to death mark that was mentioned already)?
I am guessing that it would have come out that he was seen- based on the timeline Rudd now gives (along w two other MEs) - for the first injury?
If he wasn't seen..... WHY!? A concussion can be subtle especially in a toddler- but such a severe injury?! Not subtle at all. He was even showing signs of head trauma three weeks prior when he was seen by pediatrician. Why was his head so enlarged? The bleed and swelling had to have begun at the very least by the time he was seen three weeks prior.
Enlargement of the skull to the size in the imaging wouldn't happen between time of death and the imaging that was done during autopsy, pretty sure. Skull tissue is hard enough to protect them by this age but there could still be a small Fontanelle in his skull left from birth especially if he was a twin (and they are so much smaller than singleton births, often need NICU stay until they are at birth weight, which is why multiple births are classified "high risk"). My youngest had a small Fontanelle until he was about 1-1.5 years. My pediatrician checked on it- it's not abnormal to have one that long apparently regardless of birth weight/prematurity/etc....
So honestly they need to be hunting down what did happen to this baby. It wasn't Melissa. SOMEONE inflicted a serious injury on little Ben months prior to Melissa even working at the daycare.
I wouldn't be surprised if LE is already looking into it. Filenko has a bit of the spotlight on him already from GI Joe's mess- I'm sure he'll want to correct what he got wrong or missed initially.
Sorry to ramble but this whole case upsets me so much - that someone hurt this kid, that they got it so wrong and instead of finding who really hurt little Ben and getting Melissa out of hell on earth ASAP, everything seems to be so lackadaisical and non-urgent.....
It sucked reading prior posts from when this was all going on from those who wanted to crucify Melissa. Jeeze.
Sent from my not so humble opinion.
sweet little baby boy. 
