Possible Sleepwalker

My husband is major sleepwalker, with occurrences that sometimes happen a few times a week. He has turned violent and attacks things if he thinks there is an 'intruder', including me, so we have to remove things from our room, like lamps, picture frames... and we use lots of nightlights to help. Keeping a safe environment for them is very important.

You have to learn to talk to them. Forcing them to wake up, grabbing at them and overreacting can make it much worse, as they will be confused and scared and act out.

I just gently talk my husband out of it, he sometimes argues back, but I reason with him, keep a safe distance and he realizes he was asleep and goes back to bed. He sometimes remembers bits and pieces of it.

Stress, sickness, exhaustion and some medicines makes sleepwalking much worse.

If he is screaming and his eyes are closed, sweating, with an increased heart rate, I would say that is closer to night terrors, though night terrors typically happen with younger children. Talk to his Dr. about it. Here is some advice on dealing with night terrors:

It is a 3 page article with lots of help:
http://children.webmd.com/guide/night-terrors

Here is one on sleepwalking:
http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/slpwalking.html
http://www.sleepeducation.com/Disorder.aspx?id=14

Did your son ever experience night terrors as a baby? Just wondering... my BF and his younger brothers all sleepwalk, it seems like that is exactly what he's going through... he's awake, but he's not (night terrors are similar in that aspect, which is why I asked)... My BF, when he was younger, used to sleepwalk and actually do stuff, talking to him and disrupting him seemed to make it worse since then he couldn't differentiate between what was going on while sleepwalking, and what was happening in real life (again, like night terrors). I would check with the pediatrician, but personally I would try to keep him safe while he's sleepwalking... this is something kids grow out of :) I kind of lost my train of thought in the middle of this so I hope that made sense, LOL!! Best wishes :)

I am a sleepwalker and one of my son's is as well. Usually trying to wake a sleepwalker up makes the situation worse. I try to figure out why he's talking/moving and then respond accordingly. If it's because of a dream (I listen to what he's saying) then I try to soothe him by saying It's ok, Mama's here, and agreeing with whatever he wants (ex: he's yelling about wanting a toy, so I tell him he can have it) and rubbing his back. If my son is kicking his legs and yelling, I take him to the bathroom because most likely he has to go potty. If he continues after he's gone potty, then I just take him into my room until he calms down (he shares a room with his brother so letting him yell in his room isn't an option). To help minimize incidents, first we make him go potty as the last thing before getting into bed. Also, we try to make sure he doesn't get overly tired, which usually leads to him sleepwalking/talking. Finally, I check on him several times before I go to bed to make sure he's on his bed correctly (often he'll roll halfway off with his feet on the floor) and fix his blanket, etc. And of course, I keep a clear pathway from his room to mine, with a nightlight in his room and my room so he can find his way. Good luck.

My son had night terrors as a toddler and then it changed to sleep walking. He usually sleep walks when he has to go to the bathroom just like the mom in the other post. Fortunately, mine is a peaceful sleepwalker. He comes downstairs, walks around smiling, sits at the table.....However, he is dead asleep. It took three or four times before we realized he was sleepwalking. We now just gently ask him, without touching him, to go to the bathroom. If he just sits/stands comatose, we may gently try to lead him in the right direction and he will usually start to move slowly. We don't try to engage him in conversation or physical contact. We talk and touch as little as possible and he has always stayed calm. We lead him to the toilet and then back to bed. He never remembers a thing the next day.

However, funny story, we have to watch that he gets to the toilet because he has actually peed in the linen closet before! :)

Personally, I think the most important thing, other than keeping his safe, is NOT to wake him or touch him. Try to verbally--softly and gently--lead him where you need him to go. If he is not hurting himself or others, let him walk, put on shoes or whatever he feels he needs to do. But obviously, touching him is causing a panic.

Good luck!

Hi Mary,
You didn't say how old your son is so I'm not sure if this will help, but I have three boys and a girl, all now teenagers. When they were younger all of my boys walked in their sleep for one reason or another. My oldest had a weird reaction to medications like Robitussin or NyQuil so we can't give him medication at night (even now and he's 17) because it causes night terror/walking etc. This includes allergy medications and some antibiotics. My middle son still walks in his sleep periodically. He's always done it so when he was young we had deadbolts on outside doors, put gates across his bedroom door, made sure there was nothing he'd trip on around the house etc. He seems to get up and walk when he's cold. His body temp seems to drop drastically when he sleeps and he gets cold easy. At 16 he still sleeps both summer and winter in sweats and with a heavy blanket. and still walks around if that isn't enough. He's always a bit wired when I find him out of bed. He talks crazy, acts wild, is irrational and obviously asleep and in a nightmare. It was really scary when he was young and I didn't understand it all. Now he's 6'5" and a huge kid and even scarier if he freaks out. Fortunately, somewhere along the way we started steering him to the bathroom, making him go pee and then saying "go back to bed" and following him into his room, putting him in his bed and he'd go right back to sleep. Which brings me to my youngest boy (15) who only walked in his sleep when he had to go to the bathroom.
I hope knowing this helps. Let me know if you have any questions or if I can help in any way!
K.

Hi I myself am a sleepwalker and unfortunately my 5 year old son followed in moms footsteps and walks in his sleep. I can tell you the worst thing to do is wake up a sleepwalker. It makes you very confused and also can make you violent like your son is doing. When my son gets up we just tell him everything is ok and we wont let him get hurt and he lays back down and goes back to bed. Usually my husband gets up to put him back in bed. But he just says he loves him and talks until he settles down. I am the same way my husband can talk to me and get me to get back in bed and to lay back down but waking me up makes me very confused I dont know where I am and get very aggitated. But good news most kids grow out of it and usually stop by teenage years. I hope that helps feel free to write me if you have any more questions!
E.