Sleep problems with my 6 year old. Sleep talking/crying/waking/shouting

[MummyG1288]

My daughter for the past two years at least has been waking at night around 9pm to 10pm and through the whole night till about 5am some days. She wakes up either crying, talking rubbish, needing a wee or just shouting for either me or her dad but doesn't remember a thing the next day. We have tried waking her up to get her to snap out of it but she never seems to wake up completely. Any help would be much appreciated.

No hugely helpful advice but just to reassure that you're not alone. Our 7yo DD (literally only just turned 7) is like this at night - has had sleep problems as a baby since being in hospital for extended periods before the age of 2yo.

DD does exactly as you describe - absolutely no recollection in the morning. She is also becoming increasingly bad at falling asleep at night too.

We think it might be related to the fact (other than very disturbed sleep patterns as a baby due to the above) that she has a very vivid imagination which she can't seem to close down in the evenings therefore cant fall asleep as mind whirring, and then she appears to have very vivid / scary / all consuming nightmares / dreams etc at night. All we can do is calm her down - we tried waking her, doesn't seem to work. We just sit with her / say calming & soothing words / tell her mummy or daddy is with her.

It varies how long it takes us to get her settled again in middle of night, but its like a switch suddenly flicks and she completely zonks out as quick as she woke up. V strange

So sorry, no great advice, but just wanted to let you know you're not alone!

Watch what she is watching - anything strange on the TV?

Also make sure her room isnt too hot. This causes my DS to have terrible sleep and nightmares

Also before he goes to sleep, we try and have a little chat about anything he might be thinking of (we do this when the lights are out and he is snuggled in as no distractions) and he does come out with some surprising things at times!

did it start after she started school?