Sleeping

[Maia]

My little boy (2 1/2)has a real sleep-talking problem. Sleep talking is putting it lightly. He can sing, talk (he replays the days activites), clap, shout etc for anything up to 1 hr in the midle of the night. He never cries and eventually stops and carries on sleeping. In retrospect I think he has done this from quite young but we only used to hear him babble away for a bit. As he never cried and seemed happy I used to drift back off to sleep and be happy that I didn't need to go into him. He still sleeps in his cot bed with the sides on and never tries to get out. However, I would like to put him in just the bed but am worried whether he may then start sleep walking as well. Does anybody else have any experience of this?

My 2½ year old is also a sleep-talker. He's not as extreme as your son, but we get some strange things! He has been in a bed since about 22 months and he has never sleep-walked. If you are worried then decided where it is safe for him to go, and where it is not and put up the necessary travel barriers or stairgates.

I am a very vivid sleep-talker myself and 'active' dreamer. I have never sleep-walked, but I do occasionally leap out of bed having 'seen something' in my sleep. The furthest I've ever got is my bedroom door because I dreamt someone was trying to pull me out of the bedroom window!

It causes my husband much hilarity and he can't wait to tell me what I said or did the night before! I can never remember a thing and don't feel any more tired for the experience.

Don't worry about your son - he'll be fine. Talking in your sleep is very very common and doesn't necessarily mean it will lead to sleep-walking.

I'm waiting for my boys to start this as my husband sleep talks/walks/jumps around/shouts...the full works!...and it runs in the male side of his family. So far no more than a bit of chattering in the night from the boys. If you're worried about him wandering how about using a normal sleeping bag rather than duvet? Much harder to get out of.

You lucky lot! Sleeping? What's that? I was up last night 3 times to 21/2 Ds & 4 times to 13mths Ds. Grrrrr. Thank God I have only a few weeks left at work.

Wornout - I got up 6 times to my 3.1/4 yr old, am beginning to despair... don't think it will ever get better. I am also having problems with my own sleep because of it. I really struggle to go back to sleep when I get back into bed.

Hmonty - snap! My dh has some terrible nights sometimes. This may sound funny now, but one time he thought the house was on fire and he dragged me across the bed, onto the floor and across the landing before my attempts at waking him up by hitting him very hard had the desired effect and saved us from falling down the stairs! He often shouts and sits up in bed, then goes straight back to sleep as if nothing has happened. I am a light sleeper and wake up with a jolt but I am such a jibbering wreck I can't get back to sleep myself! Help.

When does it all stop? Sleepless nights seem to have been part of my life since Dec'98, I would love a child that slept until morning my eldest wakes up anything between 2 & 8 times a night (avg 3)and always has done, however, this does get worse if he has had a full and exciting day as he seems to relive it all through the night i.e. after a day at the Zoo, he will insist that there are monkeys jumping on his bed, or there is a tiger etc. My 13mth Ds has always been a fairly good sleeper in comparision, until recentley and everyone keeps saying "oh, his probably teething",
but having talked with my husband last night on the odds of getting a goodnight sleep, I suddenly thought that his sleeping changed the day I moved his cot to a different place (side facing door instead of foot), so I am going to move it back, well I am desperate!
Has anyone else experienced this?

Jodee,
It's never been that bad with hubbie but my BIL has been known to try and strangle his girlfriend in the night and their father woke one morning with terrible bruises after trying to push a double bed through the window! Worst I've had with hubbie is when we lived on a houseboat and I used to worry about him falling in!

Wornout,
I swear by Christopher Green's Toddler taming for getting kids to sleep through.

Also, have you thought about lighting? My youngest will only sleep well if the room is dark and quiet - whereas my eldest will only sleep through if he has a light on all night. Needless to say they sleep in separate bedrooms!

Dear Batters/Hmonty,
I have tried toddler taming (see new events) but it has not worked for my eldest, he has always had problems since birth, the cranial osteopath who treats him said it was down to his delivery. As for the youngest I just do not know what as got into him. Thank you for you advice though, keep it coming.

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Thanks for the advice on the sleeptalking. I must admit Jodee that your dh night time excursions made me chuckle. I'm going to take the plunge and take off the cot bars! Keep you posted. Paula1/Wornout I don't know how your coping. I'm a wreck after one waking! After I had my first son I too suffered with insomnia. I found that sniffing lavender oil from hankie/pillow helped drifting back to sleep after getting up. Good luck.

To all you mums out there who have got young children or babies who do not let you sleep at night. After having three children in just three years I have had my fair share of sleep deprivation. Non of them were particularly good sleepers and I used to go to bed each night wondering how many times I would have to get up that night.
I can now happily say 9 years later they all sleep through the night and I have quite forgotton the agony of having young sleepless children. Believe me it will get better. Just enjoy them, they grow so quickly!