To be worried about my daughter’s sleepwalking

[WelcomeToTheNorth]

...and to wonder how I’ll ever sleep again??

She is only two (nearly three). She has night terrors from time to time and that’s bloody scary enough. But tonight she is full on sleepwalking.

I know it’s fairly common but it’s so scary. What if she hurts herself in the middle of the night?? Any experiences??

My DC (15) has had night terrors all his life where he tears round the house at high speed. He does seem to be growing out of them now thank god. He got more active as he got older, and as he got bigger we were less and less able to do anything but wait for them to finish. He only hurt himself once (not badly), and that was by walking into a door that would usually have been shut. It was like he had a mental map of the house which he could follow even though he was very distressed.

As she is so little, could you put a babygate on her room, or the top of the stairs, just in case?

A couple of top tips that have worked for us:

night terrors - ignore the screaming, don't be tempted to touch her, but talk to her very calmly about something she really enjoyed doing recently. Think about something before you go to bed so you're ready with it. This worked 95% of the time to calm him down and get him back to bed and asleep.

Also, about 20 mins after she's fallen asleep, rouse her to the point that she can verbally respond - this often stops the night terror happening at all.

My daughter used to sleepwalk regularly between the ages of about 4 and 7. It was generally a couple of hours after going to bed. She would just come downstairs and be unresponsive if you tried to speak to her. We just guided her back to bed. She never did it more than once in a night and never remembered the next day. We put those things on the front and back door which make a loud noise when you open it to give me peace of mind that she wouldn't let herself out of the house.

My daughter (7) sleep walks it's creepy! Just follow her round and guide her back to bed, I'd also recommend putting a baby gate on her bedroom door.

My 9 year old daughter has had night terrors and slept walked since she was about two. Her twin brother has neither.

I was told she would likely grow out of it between the ages of 4 and 8, but I’m still waiting. We had baby gates at the top of the stairs for longer than we would have if she had not been a sleep walker. She has a thing about sleep walking into our suite and just looking at us - it’s really eerie - but obviously over time we realised she wasn’t looking at us. She also sleep walks to the toilet. I just guide her back to bed and tuck her in and cross my fingers it doesn’t happen again that night.

As for the night terrors, she screams like she is being murdered - it is blood curling screams - and I bolt upstairs or out of bed “just in case” she is actually being murdered. Other times she is yelling or shouting and I can have a full conversation with her. I quite like these conversations and try to plant nice thoughts (not sure it works), to try to get her to have a restful sleep. The night terrors Also happen a few times a night, and at least 5 out of 7 nights a week.

The only good thing about it all is that my daughter does not remember anything in the morning.

Good luck!

Make sure the landing light is on, it helps to rouse you if you leave a dark room ime as I used to sleep walk

I'm a lifetime sleepwalker / night-terror sufferer, and I've never come to any harm while wandering around. Both my kids have done it too from time to time, and have also been fine.

I definitely do it more when I'm tired, sleeping somewhere different or under stress. Has your DD been unusually tired lately? This might have set her off.

As long as she's not wandering around all night, every night (which would stop her from getting proper rest) you don't need to be worried.