My 6Yo Is Sleep Walking I Think.

She may be having night terrors. I used to have them as a kid, had them just a few times and they went away. I'd have these really vivid, deep dreams and they would scare me. I'd be kind of awake when I ended up in the hallway and my mom found me.. but not totally awake. I was half in my dream and half out. They'd ususally just let me sit on the couch a bit to come out of it and calm down.

This sounds like classic night terrors. They will not awaken fully (and from what I've read, you shouldn't try to get them to) and will not remember the event. About all you can do is keep them safe so they do not hurt themselves. Hard as it may be to watch and experience for yourself, my research indicates that there is no harm to the child. Without getting into writing a novel, Google "night terrors" and you'll find all sorts of information. Best of luck to you and your family.

Hi L.,

We were dealing with this a few months back with our 5 year old. The doctor said that there is a link between night terrors and red dyes. Our son would also routinely wake up at the same time. The doctor told us to wake him up about 15 minutes before we knew he would do this and have him go to the bathroom. Doing this breaks that cycle and gets them out of it before it happens. We did that for a few days and cut out red dye. He hasn't had a night terror in over a month.

Hope this helps.
C.

Looks like she has night terrors and sleep walking. There are pediactric sleep specialists you can see but usually your regular doc should have some suggestions.

You definately want to address this quickly it can get serious since she is throwing up regularly it can't be good for her.

Good Luck and God Bless
K.

Hi L.~
I have studied sleep. There is a myth about 'waking the sleepwalker' and it is, indeed, a myth. You can wake her without worry. Although, that doesn't sound like the problem. It def. sounds like night terrors, but the vomiting is a major concern. Does she vomit easily when upset or in pain? Sleepwalking and night terrors are common in children, but I really like Courtney's idea about waking her up a little before it usually happens. I think it will effectively 'reset' her sleep pattern for the night and might correct the problem. Try that first, for sure...but meantime I would tell you to find a pediatric sleep doctor. I live close to you, and you won't find a good one here. Try South Bend or Kalamazoo, first. Your pediatrician should be able to give you a name and don't let them blow it off!!

~L.

Be aware of what they watch on tv, just in case it's something there. I don't want to be the pestimest here, but with the craziness of the world, you can't be too safe. Make sure the caregivers he has are not abusing him in any way. Ask your son how his day goes & if he feels safe when he's there. Just throwing out thoughts! Good luck!

My son has night terrors as well, although he does not throw up. I think he even sleep eats.
The counselor we see said that she thinks he is having very vivid dreams, and told us to go to him about an hour after he falls asleep, and don't wake him up all the way, I would just give him some kisses and a hug, just enough to make him wiggle, to 'reset' his sleep cycle. We did this for a couple of weeks striaght and it helped tremendously! It couldn't hurt to try it!
He still comes in bed with us sometimes at night, too. I think he likes the security, even though he is a 'big tough guy' during the day ;)

Hi L.,
We have a similar situation with our 4 yo dd. She hasn't vomitted (thank the Lord :), but she does wake up shaking, crying, and not knowing where she is. It happens in spurts, she'll go a few weeks without doing it then will do it two or three times in a row. It takes her a minute or so to "see" me there with her. I usually hold her and pray over her, then she calms down and I put her back in bed. I wish I knew why she does it, but haven't figured that part out yet.
I will pray for your daughter too. :)
Sidenote-we also have a 9yo dd who sleepwalks on occasion. She doesn't get scared, just will say silly things and looks wide awake but isn't.

L.,

Does your daughter eat the same thing every night or drink the same thing every night?

I'm thinking that her body may be waking her up because her stomach is upset, but she's not fully awake yet.

Now, it could be night terrors at the same time, but the throwing up is what caught my attention.

You might want to try eliminating milk, wheat, and other common food allergies from her diet. Try this over a period of a week. It can take up to 4 days for food to move completely through her system and out of her body (chemically I mean). I would focus on one food a week, first eliminating cows milk and maybe substituting with soy or rice (try vanilla, it tastes a bit better). See how her sleeping patterns change during those seven days.

If you don't see a change, try a different food like wheat, or soy, or peanuts, etc.

Good luck.

Since it is happening every night around the same time, and she is so upset each time...it sounds like night terrors. My daughter had them last year when she was 5, and as luck would have it, she has grown out of them (or they are temporarily gone?). Anyhow, I found that the reason you don't want to wake them is because you can't. They may be looking at you/trying to talk or babble, but it's like they are somewhere in between deep sleep and waking...and they do not even really see/hear you. With my daughter, she was visibly upset and mumbling in a way that made her seem scared and sad/crying/wimpering. She wanted me to hug her, and I would, but then she would pull away to look at me. It was like she could see me/my image, but could not recognize me (if that makes any sense). Then she would want me to hug her again, I would, and again she would pull away to look at me...all the while mumbling/crying. This would go on for 7-10 minutes every night at the same time. My husband would instinctively want to wake her to get her out of that weird in-between place she was in. But I found that by just 'calmly' going along with her every night and softly saying "it's ok, you're ok, mama's here" in a voice that was not nervous/panicky....things would work out the best. After a couple weeks, it stopped. Then a couple weeks later it started again. And then it stopped a few weeks later and we have fortunately not had any issues since.

The vomit thing is odd. If she usually has a nervous stomach and vomits by getting worked up when she's awake, I wouldn't give it too much thought. If that is really unusual for her, however, definitely mention that repeated symptom to your pediatrician when you are telling him/her about the terrors. The whole thing is definitely worth asking them about because you want to make sure it's not something else ---though it just sounds like night terrors.

Hope she outgrows them quick. Two of my nephews also went through this and they outgrew theirs too over the course of several months. Good luck

Hi L., I don't want to scare you, but I did recently see an episode on Discovery Health's Mystery Diagnosis about a young girl who started throwing up in the middle of the night and then didn't remember it. This went on for a long time and her poor parents were at their wits end. They went through many doctors and ended up having her stay in the hopital and have a sleep study done to watch her brain activity when she had her episodes of throwing up. The neurologist finally was able to diagnose her with epilepsy. I had know idea this was a form of it. Anyways, I pray this isn't what it is, but if it continues, I would get her to a neurologist to be checked out. All the best to you and your family.

L.,
It sounds like your daughter is having night terrors. Our daughter, who is now 11yrs old, has had them since she was potty training. She would sleep walk with her eyes open and scream/cry hysterically. She also wouldn't remember doing it the next morning. Our daughter did not have the vomiting that you are experiencing. From what've we've read, these children are feeling like they are being trapped. So, when you hold them to try and comfort them or wake them up, they feel they can't escape and may cry/scream even harder. The thing that worked best for us was to turn all the lights on and speak to her in a loud soothing voice. She may have an occasional terror now, but for a while when she started school it was almost a nightly occurrence, and sometimes more than once. Our daughter also had issues with bedwetting until her 10th birthday and was an extremely heavy sleeper.
I hope this helps.
E.

My sister, who is 12 years younger then I used to sleep walk. She never cried...we would just find her all over the house at odd hours. If we actually SAW her when she was sleep walking she would have this 'nice house, nobody home' look about her. All glassy eyed and distant.

From what I've heard, it does sound like night terrors. I find it interesting that one mom noted her pediatrician said there may be a link between red dye and night terrors. My cousin is highly allergic to red dye. It's in EVERYTHING. But she has made a real effort to cut it out of her diet and feels much much better. I would look into it. There are so many chemicals and additives and what not in our food... organic is really best. I can't help but think is the 'convenience' of our food actually doing more harm then good.

I also think the suggestion of waking her 15 mintues before you know she will wake is a great idea. Since she does it at the same time each night, this should be easy to do. We can very easily 'train' our bodies...so that might very well be what has happened (with the timing) wiht your daughter. Breaking that cycle will be key.

Hi. I know what you are going through - at least I think I do. A similar situation happened with my daughter, although she was only about three. We found it to be night terrors. Nothing to be too hugely concerned about, but you may want to contact her pediatrician. Night terrors could be simply that she is worried about something, school, upcoming events, a change in the family. Even minor changes can really cause insecurities in little ones. Or, not to scare you, night terrors could be a sign of siezures, which my daughter had. Again, not a big deal. It sounds scarier than it is. We had our daughter tested for epilepsy and she took medicine for a year and out grew it. The night terrors happened later, and we just slowed things down for a while and they subsided. I would first let your pediatrician know what is going on, then try to slow things down a bit at home. I know sometimes that seems impossible. Good Luck.

K. - I am 34 and the mother of 3, ages 7, 5 and 4.

YUCK!!! What a gross, hilarious and frightening thing to watch!

My oldest daughter had a period when she would be awake and dreaming... seemingly alert, walking around and talking to people, but definitely hallucinating. Most of the time, it was certainly a fever that was behind it, but a couple of times (she probably did it 8 times over about 2 years, not as close together are your daughter's, except one week when she was really ill) it just seemed that something had gone wrong with her ability to stay still while dreaming. I put it down to stress, as it always seemed to happen at the worst possible time for everyone.

Perhaps your girl is in need of more rest during the day (the counter-intuitive solution I've found really works for poor nights), so she's not so exhausted at night. Being overtired makes all kinds of things go wrong.

Of course, whatever is making her throw up may also be making her hallucinate. Some kinds of food poisoning do that to people, and the smaller they are, the more pronounced the effects are.

I'm not surprised she doesn't recall the events, as it is almost impossible to remember dreams unless you wake up during them. With her falling right back to sleep, it would be the same as having been still all the way through. What I mean is: I wouldn't be alarmed at all about the fact that she can't remember the dreams.

One thing I found really helped with night-terrors and other frighteningly-realistic dream experiences was to ask *really* stupid questions, like 'are your eyes brown?' or 'what is your middle name?' that they certainly know the answer to, even asking them using the wrong information -- asking a blue eyed child if her eyes are brown works better than asking her if her eyes are blue... it just seems to engage a different part of their brain and pulls them out of it really quickly. I suspect that anything that was a genuine surprise would work, because I think it's the surprise factor that works...

Your daughter is having "night terrors". I experienced this when my daughter was almost two. It is very scary for mom and dad but not so much for the kids because they don't remember what happened. In our case, she grew out of it and your daughter will, too. I guess just try to keep her calm and keep yourself calm and get her back into her bed without vomiting!
Good luck,
J.

My brother sleepwalks, he has been doing it since he was young, and it is really creepy. He would have his eyes open, but rolling back in his head, he would talk to you, but it didn't always make sense. Once he even peed in the laundry basket, he was dreaming about peeing in the toilet. I don't think there is any way to stop it, just try to wake her up when it is going on. Also, make sure she is unable to unlock and open outside doors at night, as sleepwalkers tend to wander, and she could wander into the road. Good luck.

My son has done this very same thing, except the throwing up. He has night terrors. He wakes up in a panic or he is sleep walking. The best thing to do is NOT try to wake them, just guide them back to their bed or yours and try and comfort them quietly. They are actually still sleeping. One of the worst things my son did was try to open the sliding door to the outside and try to go down the basement stairs. I was terrified after that. I was so afraid that I would'nt here him one night and he would be outside or hurt. The doctor can talk to you more about it and give you information about night terrors. They say they happen between the ages of 6 - 10 yrs old. Good Luck.

sounds like she is sleep walking. My 4 r old does it sometimes. Once he tried to pee in my closet..lol. Sometimes he cries but never to the point of vomiting. I found that if I make him go potty before bed he tends not to do it. I do suggest that you take some percautions like we have done. I did some research on my own sons sleep walking and it says that it is hereditary. It also said to make sure his room is clean and free from obstructions so they don't hurt themselves when they do it. We also gate the upstairs at night so there are no accidents. It also said from what I remember that that it is something they will grow out of. Hope this helps.