5 Year Old Sleep Walking, Eyes Wide Open, Urinating Random Locations

my brother did this growing up when he was really tired and had to pee. It stopped after one night he wandered into my sisters bedroom and peed on her and her pillow. He was mortified and so was she. Never happened again. I quess somehow the mortification helped him find a way to control it. I still laugh out loud to this day remembering that night he (10 yr old) was convinced he was in the bathroom and was yelling at my sister (13 yr old) in his sleep to get out!

I should mention my mother felt that it was associated with high sugar/dye intake close to bedtime. One other mom posted this but I think it is worth repeating.

It's from not waking when he needs to go. We had problems for years until we used an alarm that had a sensor attached to the spot on his undies that would get wet first--just a teensy drop and it went off with blistering loudness which we heard from downstairs. That was all it took to train him to wake up when he needed to go. This link is to the newer version. I prefer the older one that you could sew in. http://www.wetstop.com/

My oldest son did exactly what you are talking about. However, he did it only while we were still awake (until about 12:30 at night). We learned that if we would get him and guide him to the bathroom and tell him he was there he would go to the bathroom and then go back to bed completely unaware of the situation. We also cut out all drinks after 6pm other than a SIP of water after brushing teeth. Last we made him go to the bathroom right before bed. He began to out grow it by 6. It has made for a lot of great stories. His favorite place to try to go potty (he never actually went anywhere we always caught him) was in the refrig. so we put a child lock on it. Good luck!

Have you thought about putting a pressure mounted swing open baby gate in front of his door? Then her could open it, you step on a lever at the bottom, when he was really awake. I might be inclined to buy him the boxer pull ups just in case. I would definitely get some extra locks high up on doors that lead outside.

Hi M.,
I feel sorry for you and your little boy. I had a sleep walker too and it can be a hard thing to deal with.
What we were told at the time was to "never waken him" while he is sleep walking- but to gently put him back into bed. He did not ever know what he had done or where he had been- so waking him up and talking to him was not the right thing to do. I am sure you have discussed this with your family dr and if not you should.............
Putting pull ups on him at 5 is an ok thing to do- I would not lock his door but I would put a monitor in his room so you can hear him when he gets up- and I would put a pet gate in his dorr way so he cannot hurt himself. We would have to get up and just follow our little guy to see he did not hurt himself. The last time he sleep walked was in his teen years- he was almost 16....
Sometimes little boys just sleep so hard and so deep it hard to wake them at all.
Good luck
Blessings

We had the same issue with our son until he was about 5 or 6. He would usually make it to the bathroom but he was always asleep when he got up. At one point, my son was peeing in the bed a lot so I set my alarm for 12:30 or 1:00 every morning and I would go wake him up to go to the bathroom. This really helped.

If you are concerned about your son walking outside, I would suggest putting a baby gate or something in front of his door at night so that way you can still leave the door open and he won't be able to get out of his room. Maybe he will learn to call you when he gets up to go to the bathroom or maybe you will hear him.

I have a 5 year old daughter who sleep walks and has peed in multiple places as well. I started tracking when she did it, and for her, she did it more when she was really tired, like having gone to bed late multiple nights in a row. I moved her bedtime up a little and she hasn't done it since. Is your son getting enough rest? That might be a good place to start.

M., Our oldest son went through a short period of sleep walking and yes we found him in a closet a couple of times. He didn't realize what he was doing or where he was and we didn't make it a big issue. We did not wake him, just guided him back to bed. We never knew what caused it, it just stopped. I felt it might be some stress he was feeling that even he couldn't articulate; so easing through this without pressure of punishment or making him feel bad worked best. At worse you will lose a little sleep - a monitor is probably a good thing, I became aware of even his breathing and knew when he would get up. Good luck and I hope it passes as simply as our sons.

My son used to do this also. He is 12 now and it has been about a year since the last time. I think the urge to urinate makes him sleep walk, so I would cut out liquids a few hours before bed time and make sure he uses the bathroom right before bed. When we catch him sleep walking we just turn him towards the bathroom, and he goes in the toilet and goes back to bed without waking up.

In terms of locking doors, I wouldn't do it in case of a fire. You can get individual alarms that you stick to doors, so if he opened a door to outside you would hear it. You could also put bells on doorknobs.

Meredith,

I am not one for trying to pinpoint or diagnose a problem since I am not a professional but I had a similar problem, as a symptom-or side effect- of another issue when I was a child. I had Petit-Mal Epilepsy (starring spells, nothing convulsive) until I was 11 yrs old. I would go into a trance for a brief moment and would not remember those few moments. One of the other symptoms were eye tics (rapid or multiple blinking). I had a problem wetting the bed and when my parents would wake me up in the middle of the night I would sort of sleep walk and try to go to the bathroom anywhere. We do not know if it was a side-effect of my medication, the epilepsy, or just a coincidence.

There is certainly no reason to think that this is what is going on with your son, so please don't worry--but I just wanted to give a little extra insight to rule it out.

#1 thing to do is to speak with his pediatrician!!

Blessings

I have not gone through this, but maybe putting something very loud on his bedroom door that would wake both him and u up when he opens his door at night. Maybe empty tin cans or large bells.

Here is a link that gives an overview of children that sleep walk.

http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/children/par...

It has some good hints. I asked a Dr. friend and she said really to try to make him safe. Put inside keyed locks on doors that lead to the outside of your home.

She also said to try not to wake him up, but to guide him back to bed. Of course if he is wetting himself, you may want to think about pull ups.

Have you spoken with your Pedi? I liked the hint on the website that said to try to keep a record of each incident and see if there is some type of pattern or if it is becoming more common or slowing down. Also it says that children usually outgrow this.

My husband used to do this exact thing. I told him your situation and this is what he said. He is sleeping walking at night, because he needs to go to the bathroom. In his mind he will wander around until he "finds" a bathroom in his dream. Then he will go to the bathroom. What stopped my husband from urinating, and wetting the bed (as weird as it sounds) My in-laws stopped giving him milk products(my husband is allergic, but wasn't giving quite normal signs of it), and it stopped everything. Also, my husband said he trained himself to wake himself up when he started searching for a bathroom in his sleep. This was happening from the time he was 4 or 5 also.

i have a 4 year old daughter that does the same thing eyes wide open but no one is home and she always seems to be looking for the bathroom....the only answer i have recieved is when we did a sleep study and they found that she have obstructive sleep apnea and are going to take out her tonsils and adnoids...she is being awakened during the night about 17 times an hour by not being able to breath...we also have an issue with hyperactivity during the day we are now guessing it is because of sleep deprivation...hope this helps

Hi M.,
My son, now 12, still sleepwalks some, but not as bad as when he was little. He would urinate in the trash can everynight. His pedi told us it was a sign that he was sleeping too deeply, arouse him about 1 hour after he falls asleep to prevent him from dropping into that deep sleep. We did and it helped. It is an easy solution and worth a try. My son did run outside a couple of times, we had an alarm on the house and heard him open the door. You might try putting an alarm on the door, at least you will hear him if he goes out. Our fear is if he spent the night somewhere. Make sure if he spends the night with someone, they are aware that he sleepwalks. It does improve with age. Hang in there. My son also used to attack his sister in his sleep, that was fun.

My kids both had a period of time where they sleep walked. My husband and all his siblings, did, too. (My husband when he was about 8, sleep walked over to his closet and peed in the closet, on the shoes. He really thought he was in the bathroom!)
There can be a genetic component to sleep walking. And your son really has to go to the bathroom but isn't all the way awake.
Locking him in his room will only give him night terrors and make him afraid to go to sleep---don't do it. His body feels the need to get up but his mind isn't awake.

Instead, try to find the cause: school issues, friends, issues, look at nutrition. Is he getting too much activity or not enough exercise early in the day?
When my youngest was sleep walking when he was 11, we reduced sugar, eliminated caffeine and all red/ pink / blue colored foods and drinks. That helped a lot. He had changed schools which was stressful and started a new sport...where all the kids drank red or blue Gatorade after practice every day. Those red foods have dyes that some kids react to.
Make these changes without a big deal or too much discussion. You don't want him to feel like he is being "punished" for sleepwalking.

Have a constant, calming bedtime routine that prepares him for sleep. No TV, no video games...nothing like that to keep the brain "charged up." The brain and the body have to relax in order to sleep well. We tried warm bath, 20 min. reading or coloring, quiet music in room for 10 min. before lights out. Make those changes as a family, so your son won't feel isolated. (Yes, this meant my husband had to turn the TV OFF in the evening.) And maybe everyone will sleep better. My husband started sleeping much better when we started reading and turned that tube off weekdays.

Hope that helps!

I think sleep walking is associated with stress. Has he started a new school, you got a new job, something changed in the house or even a new move, death, think about the possibilites and if he is consirned and you might not realize that he is. If your husband is afraid he will go outside ... which is possible... you can put a lock high on the doors near the top out of his reach. I would also keep the baby safety stuff on the doors with chemicals. I have also heard not to wake them up but gently guide them back to bed. As this could bring them into shock if suddenly woke up. God bless.

Those are called Night Terrors (even if they are not terifying). Our 5 year old was doing that alot and it could be scary! They are staring wide at you and don't even know you are there and there is no way to wake them up. Supposedly you are not supposed to try and wake them up, but just to watch them and make sure they stay safe. It comes from their sleep being disturbed shortly after they fall asleep - could be because they need to use the potty but never fully wake up. They say that most kids will grow out of it though!