Advice on Sleepwalking Child

My son did this when he was 3. First with him, if he was overtired then he walked in his sleep. Secondly, when he was approaching a different milestone, he walked. He outgrew this.

Hi there-

I can only imagine what you must be feeling and you absolutely should be concerned. If I were you, I would first and foremost, notify my pediatrician. If you don't have a good pediatrician, I would highly recommend mine: Dr. Deborah Santo, out of Alexian Brothers Hospital in Elk Grove Village.

I would then make sure that the house is safe and that my child, should he get up in the middle of the night, is safe. I would consider finding ways of making sure that, as you said, there is no way for him to get out of the house or to get into anything that he could get hurt with. I am not sure what would make more sense, in your situation, but I would definately consider putting some sort of alarm on his door to give us some sort of notification that he is up and has left his room. Additionally, you might consider changing the locks on the doors to ensure that he can't get out of the house. There are locks out there where you have to use a key to lock and unlock. I would also make sure that all windows were locked and not accessible to my child.

I know that this must be very scary to you. Please take this seriously and investigate any potential causes for his sleep-walking and don't take chances that it is nothing when it could be something. I would also highly recommend talking with a neurologist to ensure that there is no other cause.

Here is a good article on sleepwalking in children:
http://childrentoday.com/resources/articles/sleepwalking.htm

Good luck!
N.

Our son started walking in his sleep due to stress. We talked to him about it and I wound up having a meeting with his teacher, it all worked out and the sleep walking came to a halt. I did notice with school starting up next week that he has been sleeping restlessly again and am worried about it starting up again.

L.
Mom of three and day care for six

I don't know how old the sleepwalking child is, but I just was talking with a couple of moms in one of my daughter's classes about sleepwalking children. One has a son who has done it and she said she puts a baby gate in his doorway to at least keep him contained in his room at night if he does get up.

A friend of mine used to sleepwalk in the middle of the night as a child and she would run through the house screaming. I've heard from her, and several others, that it wasn't anything they really could treat. They just outgrew it over time.

This is obviously all heresay, as I've not experienced this myself.... good luck! I'm sure it is very very scary!

My brother used to sleep walk when he was little. My mom said she put a lock on his door so he could not get out. It is a chain lock, so the door can be opened a little, but not all the way. You can put a baby monitor in his room so you can hear if he gets up. If you have stairs, be sure to put a gate up and make sure everyone closes it when it is bed time.

M.

If it's your 3 year old doing the sleepwalking, you might want to try a gate at his bedroom door. My 3 year old daughter doesn't sleepwalk, but the stairs are right outside her bedroom door and I'm afraid she will fall down the stairs if she stumbles out of her bedroom half asleep one night. So I put one of those inexpensive pressure-mount gates in her doorway every night after I put her to bed. I can still close her door, as her bedroom door opens in and I put the gate on the outside of her door in the door jamb. The only problem is that you have to get up to help your child if/when they need to use the bathroom at night. But this has worked well for me.

My daughter was sleep walking it was after a tramtic event. The Ped said it happens for a number of reasons in various childern some reaching milestones like getting ready to go to school. Or after a tramtic event. Bascially it can be a reaction to stress. I have just gotten used to sleeping light. I hear her and get up to follow her around. She usally goes to the kitchen and then walks to the bathroom. She has even used the potty in tis stae. never ever wake your child up but listen in case they are talking to themselves this can give you cules to the stress behind this. I began talking with her and asking her if anything was making her feel bad. The sleep walking does not happen as bad now. usally only one night every couple of weeks, not the every night it was before. If it is a tramtic event and you can't get your child to talk to you get some help see a consulor!

I would talk to your pediatrician, first of all. My daughter would sleep walk when she was about 7. We were afraid she'd walk out of the house too so for awhile we set up aluminum cans at the front door so if she opened it they would come crashing down and wake us up. She never did try to leave the house but it's normal to worry that they night try. She also used to have night terrors and the terros always came on about 90 min after she fell asleep. The pediatrician had us wake her up 15 min earlier to get her out of the sleep cycle that her brain was in. We'd sit her up, have her take a few sips of water, maybe walk her to the bathroom and then lay her down again. She'd fall right back asleep and after about a week of that she stopped. Maybe if your son is sleep walking about the same time each night you could try getting him up for a few minutes and then lay him back down. Just a thought.

My 10 year old son sleep wakes. He eats, turns on the lights, walks down the stairs, you name it hes done it. Also our 4 year old son is a very active boys who likes to get into everything. We have a enclosed front porch and I Bought a "Privacy Flip Lock" (thats the name of the lock) you can purchase it just about anywhere I got mine from Menards. I put that on the front porch door up out of their reach and I lock it every night. We made our basement into our master suite so our back door is right there and my hubby is the light sleepier so he hears everything. I'm hoping he does grow out of it but my 23 year old brother still sleep walks to this day and hes even woke up in his car.

My son used to have night terrors where he would get up and walk around crying. One thing the doctor told me is do not wake them up. Just guide them back to bed. I have a friend whose 2 children are autistic and they tend to get up and wander in the night. They now make alarms that you can put on a doorway that if the door opens it goes off. I don't know how loud they are or any details about them but this might help by alt least alerting you to when he leaves his room. Good Luck!

My son is 12 and is a sleepwalker. He has walked outside of the house in the past & I was able to talk him into walking back w/ me (he was about 6 at the time). He was still able to understand while asleep. Other times he'd lift the couch, dig the carpet, other unusual things like that. It has subsided a great deal but happens on occasion, especially when he is really tired or had a long day. The doctor told me that they see things as they normally do while awake. For example if he walks across the hallway & it is normally clear & free from objects, that's how he sees it when asleep. So it could be dangerous if there is toys (for example) left there. He would not see what is physically there, just what is normally there (or not there). I hope I'm making sense, it's kinda hard to explain through text. GOOD LUCK!