My son has started sleep walking - at first it was kind of funny but now it's getting dangerous. There have been 3 incidents in the past 2 weeks. The first time I found him asleep on the couch in his swimming trucks, track t-shirt & cell phone. He had completely unplugged his phone & had it beside him. His swim trunks were in his 2nd dresser drawer and he had neatly taken them out, put the other shorts back in (b/c the trunks were at the bottom), got a shirt on & never woke up. The other night he moved all his covers into the living room floor & said he only remembered dreaming he was camping. Last night he put one of his contacts in. When he got up this morning & went to put his glasses on he said his vision was weird. That's when he realized he already had one contact in. I know he took them both out b/c I was in the bathroom when he took them out & watched him. We were talking about how many he had left & that's why I was there & knew he took them both out. To think that he was up at night & put one contact in his eye kind of scares me. It makes me wonder what will happen next. So I'm wondering if you ever had to deal with anything like this & if you have any suggestions
Thank you both for your replies. He really was tired last night so that could be it. I will def try the alarm & see how that goes.
Thanks!
Hey
If he is eating any kind of sugar before bed, it can cause sleepwalking. Research has just come out about it. You might want to read up on that if he is consuming any before bed.
Hi, This must seem so scary to you. My old boyfriend use to sleepwalk. When he was younger his mom found him outside in the middle of the night, in the winter, in North Dakota. That was only one of many incidents, he was also known to try cooking while sleeping. These incidents seemed to happen when he was overly tired and slept too hard. Getting more sleep might help and I would also get an alarm for his bedroom door. I would have him sleep with his door shut and when you here the alarm go off gently guide him back to his bed. You don't want to try waking him up because he might not realize its you and may become violent. I hope this helps! Good luck!
Hi K.,
When I was a child I would sleep walk especially when something was bothering me. We had about 25 steps to our basement all plywood and my parents found me at the top with the door opened ready to go down. They took me to my Dr. and he suggest a therpist to see what was botherinf me.It turned out I was so stressed with one teacher and having memories of being adopted. I talked to him about 6 months and never slept walked again. Hope this helps. I would do as the other advice and put an alarm on his door.
At this stage in development an infant still perceives himself as an extension of you and will not begin to see himself as a separate entity until about 12 to 18 months. Developmentally, he also is already forming beliefs about himself and his world based on his experience of whether his needs are being met.
You're going to hear two extremes of opinions: Some will tell you to let him cry it out and some will tell you you need to hold him as much as possible.
There is a balance between two extreme perspectives you're going to hear people speak from. The balance point is this: A baby this age needs to know that his needs will be met and...he also will need to learn that he is capable of self soothing very soon.
So, it's got to be a balance. I call it the 10 second rule (and you can extend it to 20 seconds, 30 seconds and 1 minute and more gradually) where you allow him to cry, call to him and let him hear your voice, "I'm here! I hear you darlin'!" and then let him cry until the time is up. Go to him and speak soothingly to him and calm him, then set him down and try again.
The idea is not to leave him crying for long at all but to give him a chance to self soothe eventually. It's good for babies to cry some as much as it hurts our ears and nerves but it's also important that they have consistent reassurance that their mother (whom they see as an extension of themselves) has not disappeared... that his needs will be met until he can begin more and more to learn a bit of independence....
To help him soothe, try swings, vibrating bouncy seats, soft chennille blankets that you sleep with first to get your scent on.....
The housework will wait... He will not be this itty bitty for long.... Good luck!
Hi K., my 11yr old has done the same thing & still does sometimes. My 20yr old Marine also done this & still does some. Just a couple of weeks ago my 11yr old got up at 11pm made a pb&j sandwich & gota drink outa the frig an sat down beside me an ate it, talked to me, but he was sleep eating that freaked me out.(but my mom said i did the same thing) I use to sleep walk alot when I was younger & I still do it every once in a while. I try to use the same advice that the doctor gave me when my oldest done this. Quiet time b4 bed w/out tv, make sure he's not hungry, double check door locks, it's kinda like child proofn all over again.(we have an alarm system)Try not to get to alarmed or scared, altho I would advise talking to his primary care doctor & see what he suggests all children & adult sleep walkers are different. I haven't had this problem but a couple of times with my 9yr old daughter, if she's ever up she's fixin to be sick. She is like my husband when she's down she's sucking the paint off the walls snoring!(like her daddy) Stay calm & give the dr. a call & see what advice he has. Take Care, T.
When I was that age, I also slept walked. My mom told me that she would talk me into going back to my bed. I think the thing that got me to stop was running into walls all the time. Theres nothing like waking up with a wall in your face and your nose hurting.
My uncle also had a problem with sleep walking. He started out just like your son did, but his was worse after a while. My grandma said they found him, in his boxers, walking out of the house.
You may need to speak with his doctor about this, but theres nothing short of tieing him to his bed that may stop him.
