Does anyone know anything about children sleepwalking?

[TinyGang]

I think my dd(5) might be doing this.

She's always been a bit unsettled at night. Certainly compared to our other two who stay put and sleep through.

She'll be ok for a few nights, but then reverting to regular phases of getting up and coming into me for various reasons. The upshot is usually nothing wrong but she says she can't get to sleep.

It drives us all bonkers and dh has explained with varying levels of patience (at times worn rather thin) that it's not on and the rest of us do need to sleep. She shares a bedroom with her brother and he mentions that she won't go to sleep either.

Last night we could hear her up wandering around the landing. Dh put her back to bed a couple of times. Eventually her took her downstairs to explain that if nothing was wrong she had to go to sleep or just settle down and rest.

He says she didn't seem to be listening to him. Didn't speak to him, or register anything really. This morning I said she must stay in bed at night etc, but she didn't seem to know what I was on about re last night.

It's dawning on us that maybe she doesn't know she's doing it. Last night she wasn't responsive to dh, although most other times when it's happened and I've seen to her she does converse with me. Sometimes she gets very upset in a rage and won't settle down.

Help...I don't know what to do about this.

My DS did this (he is 5 nearly 6) and shouted and cried but has stopped now, his sleepwalking seemed to coincide with a need to go for a wee. He'd head towards the bathroom, but not being fully awake he'd often start to wander.

He has no milk or juice after 4.30,(they canirritate the bladder apparently) just water if he is thirsty and he sleeps v.soundly now.

My DD has done this ever since I can remember TinyGang. Not with such regularity as yours but she will come downstairs (it is always when we are still up I dont THINK she does it when we are in bed she appears to be awake and speaks to us but has a kind of glazed look about her. We dont usually speak to her but simply take her hand and lead her back to bed, tuck her in again and then snuggles back down and goes straight back to sleep.

My DS did this around the same age, but grew out of it. We had to take precautions around stopping him wandering out doors in the night and so on. he was completely unaware he was doing it

He still wakes up to go to the loo in the middle of the night, and if you meet him in the hallway he's like a sort of fierce rabbit, all confused and defensive in a cuddly sort of way.

It#s quite likely your wee one doesn't know she's doing this, and will grow out of it easily in time. YOu might just have to make the place safe for her wandering, and let her live though it

i had a thread on this today

i just take dd back to bed and she has absolutely no memory of it at all

there was one time she did a pee in a basket of clean washing, that was at Grans house though, and i just put it down to the fact that she had got lost finding the toilet as it wasnt her own house

sometimes dd1 talks, most of the time she doesnt, i certainly dont talk to her unless she talks first as im scared of waking her and frightening her

i am hoping she just grows out of it

does your dd get plenty of physical activity during the day?
does she eat ok? having a main meal at lunchtime can apparently help, with a light meal in the evening, nothing except a drink after 5pm or so, to aid digestion during the night

hth

I think it's quite common dd2 did this.. the first time we found her trying to get out of the back door which luckily was both closed and locked

take her back to bed without waking her

could also be that she needs the loo

dd2 once stood at the top of the stairs and did a huge wee which cascade down like a waterfall!

but she didn't wake up

She always gets up once or twice more having been put to bed. (While we're still up). She's definately still awake then though.

It takes me ages to kiss her goodnight - she won't let me out of the room sometimes.

Later I can hear she's asleep (she snores a bit!) But then once we're in bed the up and down routine begins generally just as I'm dropping off to sleep, so it gets quite tiring for me too.

Dh and I have really told her off about this before. I feel awful about that if she doesn't even know she's doing it

it may help to try and make sure she is relaxed

and check if she is having any issues but most likely she will grow out of it

also plenty of fresh air in her room and not too warm...if you can safely have a window open slightly

tinygang dont feel bad about it

its not easy at the end of the day when you are tired and generally at the end of tether

it sounds to me like she may be sleepwalking sometimes but not every time

dd1 sometimes comes into my room during the night (and i know shes awake these times) to tell me something important ie "mummy, today rebecca painted a rabbit"
and then we have to go throught the whole tuck-in routine etc etc
its exasperting

I used to sleep walk, and have no recollection of it apart from maybe 2 or 3 times I was woken up mid-walk. I also had evidence of my sleepwalking in my bed the next morning - I'd collect things and take them back to bed with me. According to my mum, I would usually just go for a wee and then she'd lead me back to bed. She was able to have brief conversations with me - I'd reply to questions, but I can't remember this at all. The worst/most dangerous thing I did was climb into my baby brother's cot - I guess I could have hurt him ( smothered him or something ) but his crying woke my parent's up. I remember feeling totally bemused at waking up in his cot! I started at about 5 and stopped by the time I was 10 or 11.

Yes I think maybe needing the toilet might be disturbing her.

She is the kind to mull things over and sometimes gets a bit emotional about things.

She started school last Sept. She likes it there and goes quite happily and teachers say she's doing well but I think she'd rather be at home with me.

She hasn't made any close friends there yet, although she says she is untroubled about that. She is always, everyday telling me that she just likes being with her family and would rather be helping me.

aw TG she sounds adorable. a sensitive wee soul

interestingly my dd2 who did this had a school phobia and wouldn't have gone given the choice

we do use sleep time to resolve issues from the day so it can work both ways

disturbed sleep might make her less able to relax and being less able to relax because she has had quite a lot to do settling into school is disturbing her sleep

she sounds more sensitive than some children

but lovely

I used to walk in my sleep. I used to go around the house turning lights on, cleaning my teeth, feeding the cat, all kinds of things.

It was generally when I was feeling stressed or anxious about something that it was at its worst, but I would do it at other times too.

My parents used to get mad with me, but I couldn't remember having done it, and when they got cross and told me off about it it just made it worse because I'd be anxious about doing it. Eventually they worked out that I couldn't help it, and just took me back to bed. Sometimes I'd lie down and sleep somewhere else and they'd just leave me there because I was safe and comfortable.

They could tell whether I was awake or not because I was unresponsive - and that might be the trick with your dd, because it sounds as if she's awake when she gets up earlier in the night, but walking in her sleep later on.

I grew out of it when I was about 12, if that's any consolation

Thank you all so much. You've reassured me.

I think I'll just have to be more patient with her and just keep redirecting her back to bed with not too much huffing and puffing from me.

I'm tired though and I get a bit short tempered with her after the third or fourth time in the night.

She is so lovely, a very dear little soul, but yes sensitive, as you say.

it may also be worth getting some advice on dealing with any concerns she has in the day timne

the theory being that if she can learn to express her worries in the day and sort them out in her head..they may be very slight things like not being sure whether she is allowed to go to the toilet in class time or something..then she will not have to sort them out in her sleep