My son sleepwalks, and talks. I'd say he's on the more extreme end. We weren't aware of the problem until we moved him to his big boy bed a few weeks ago.
He gets out of bed about 3 nights per week. Sometimes he just walks around and then back to bed. But more often he falls down and is startled awake, and cries, and once he crawled under his toddler bed and woke up screaming and I couldn't find him!!!! This is getting kind of intense.
When he wakes up I bring him to bed with me to calm him down, but he hates being in there so he has all kinds of fits, but I can't put him back to bed until he is sleepy again, or he'll just run around the whole house playing while we sleep!
This really needs to stop, it's disruptive to all of our sleeping, and he is getting so crabby. I know I can't stop the sleep walking, but what can I do ensure his safety, and more time in his own bed???
Please help!!!
I thought I read somewhere that sleepwalking and such was related to not enough sleep. What if he went to bed earlier?
C.--I understand how disruptive this can be. I was a sleepwalker starting around age 2 and even into adulthood. My mother has told me stories of me emptying packages of flour on the kitchen floor and playing in it to having full converstions with those who were still awake. I also went through night terrors, almost like hallucinations in the middle of the night, bees in my bed, monsters walking in the room. My kids have also gone through this somewhat. I found out some things however that have helped.
1. watch his diet and timeframe of eating before bed.
2. you're doing the right thing by leading him back to bed, but you might just try leading him back to his own bed
3. make sure his room is clear of anything he could trip over and wake up. It is very disconcerting to wake up and not be where you think you should. you might try keeping his door shut if you still have a baby monitor
4. if he's toliet trained make sure he goes potty before bed. My son would wake up screaming because he had to go potty so badly but couldn't tell me what was wrong. I would seriously end up taking him downstairs, standing him up and aiming for him and finally he'd urinate and it would all be ok. This became a regular issue if I didn't watch how much he drank.
5. When is he napping? make sure he doesn't nap too long or too late in the day.
And yes as others have said--talk to a ped, he or she could probably help get him back on a normal sleep schedule.
definately talk to his doctor. My mother had to actually use a safety harness to keep me in bed. No medical problem - just walked and talked in my sleep. This was years before baby gates but if all else fails. Also - do you have a monitor. If you can hear him when he first startsgetting up - you may be able to head him off.
Good Luck
We made sure there was nothing that could harm our child in the bedroom (like lamps they could pull over on themselves, anchored dressers to the wall, made sure to pick up toys before bed). We also got a baby gate for the doorway to her room, which at least kept her confined to one room.
I'd talk with her pediatrician.
Good luck,
M.
If he is sleepwalking I would talk to his normal ped first and maybe even ask to see someone that specializes in children's sleep disorders. If he suffers from sleepwalking now he may suffer from it the rest of his life and you might as well figure out a real solution sooner rather than later. I don't mean to sound all over the top, its just that a good night's sleep is essential for a person's over-all well being and health. Not to mention you can't be sleeping that great worrying all night if he is in his bed or not. If he continues to sleep walk, it could become more dangerous as he gets older and knows how to open doors or locks. I would say temporarily put a baby gate up in the door to his room so at least you know he isn't wandering the house and get him in to see someone asap. (Then I would take down the gate, I always worry that it could be such a fire hazard, god forbid something like that occured)Good luck.
We had this same problem with my son. He once climbed up on a ledge that is above the stairs to our basement, and once tried to go outside in the middle of the night, which really made us find something that worked! We ended up using one of those sensors that detect when something moves across it's beam. We actually screwed it into the bottom of the door frame so that if he walked out of the room the alarm would sound. It ran on a battery and could be turned on and off easily. I did not trust the baby gates and did not want to chance not hearing him on a monitor, and did not like the idea of any kind of harness. It was loud, but I never had to worry that he would fall or hurt himself. He eventually outgrew the sleepwalking and there is no problems with him at all. Hopefully your little guy is just going through a phase as well. It is a good idea to check with the doc, though, to see what he/she has to say.
C., I believe I'd call your baby's pediatrician first thing Monday. I wasn't one to call the doctor all the time when my sons were young, but anything extreme resulted in a call. Same for myself. (My sons are now 22 and 25 years of age.) Good luck to all of you.
S.
I was so bad as a child that I would get dressed and go outside to play. My mother has no idea how long I was doing it before she could figure out why my feet would be dirty and there would be grass in my bed.
My parents finally put all my clothes in their dresser so if I got up to get dressed they would catch me. They also installed a lock on the outside of my door. I didn't realize what that lock was for until I was an older teen. They didn't have to use it after I turned a certain age.
Once I reached my teen years it was night terrors. I would wake up screaming and running away from things. My mother would catch me running down the hall. I would wake up and see people or mists in my room. I sleep with my eyes open so I think that lights from the closet or maybe my alarm clock were imprinting on my retina like when you stare at the sun or a bright light...then that made my brain think I was seeing something.
Anyway as I got older I kicked a hole in my wall trying to escape a trap in my dream. My husband had to once tackle me as I was running around a room screaming while we were visiting his uncle in Puerto Rico. Scared the mess out of everyone in the house that night. I'm sure they all wondered what kind of lunatic my husband married.
Since having children though I don't believe I've done any of that. Maybe I'm too sleep deprived to get out of the bed now. :)
At any rate, trying to keep him contained would probably be a good idea. Wouldn't want you arrested because someone found your child wondering the neighborhood in the middle of the night or early morning.
I actually scared a robber off once that had broken into the house through our front door and was rummaging through my mother's purse. (I had gone in my mom's room and put on my dad's combat boots and was clumping down the hall when my mother woke up and told me to go to bed...that's when she heard noise up front and when she went to look the front door was open and her purse was scattered all over the table.)
So it does have it's up side.
Wow...this sounds very intense and upsetting. I'm sorry you are going through it.
Talk to your Pediatrician. But if you are increasingly concerned about his sleep issues, there are some excellent Doctors in the specialty of sleep disorders through Central DuPage Hospital (in conjunction with Children's Memorial Hospital) who can evaluate your child.
