Sleepwalking?

Kent Brockman

My 9yr old has recently started sleepwalking on a regular basis usually around the same time each night. Never remembers in the morning although he often seaks to us when we are putting him back to bed.
Any tips/advice or just some general info?

pwurple

My husband has done this from about 7 years of age. He grew out of it, but still does it a couple of times a year.

My only advice would be to keep the doors and windows locked at night (not the key stuck in them), and keep the house as safe as you can. Maybe even put up a stair gate. I once found him asleep after climbing into a neighbours wheelie bin in the middle of the night..

Oh, and don't try to wake them. They get very confused and disorientated, it can be upsetting for them. Just direct them back to bed, with as few words as possible. "This way dear.... lie down and sleep"... that kind of thing.

username123

Been doing it since childhood myself.

No problems in my own home, although I have woken myself outside. But staying over in friends was problematic on occasion when I set off alarms etc.

Agree with advice not to wake him up.

It has its uses, I used to do homework, crosswords and sometimes tidy the kitchen

I also used to eat bread, still do sometimes. As a child I used to find bread under my pillow the next morning - bizarre!
I would also stand looking out a window, behind a curtain, but just staring outside, I woke up a few times doing that.

My husband just leaves me at it now, he will say to me the next day that Ive been up, but sometimes Id be up to go to the loo and awake, other times sleep walking, its hard for me to know one from the other at this stage.

Im pretty regular, same time every night. The times change with seasons, events or depends on how early I get up for work etc.. but I can be guaranteed if I sleep walk a few nights at 1am that you could pretty much set a clock on it!

I like it, I solve problems when I walk about, I come to waking with the answer in my mind.

At the moment Im studying for exams and I have woken in the sitting room a few times with my answers to questions totally clear in my mind. It seems to sort my head out.

Spartack Gus

pwurple wrote: »

My husband has done this from about 7 years of age. He grew out of it, but still does it a couple of times a year.

My only advice would be to keep the doors and windows locked at night (not the key stuck in them), and keep the house as safe as you can. Maybe even put up a stair gate. I once found him asleep after climbing into a neighbours wheelie bin in the middle of the night..

Oh, and don't try to wake them. They get very confused and disorientated, it can be upsetting for them. Just direct them back to bed, with as few words as possible. "This way dear.... lie down and sleep"... that kind of thing.

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Stheno

I sleepwalk and have since I was a child, ended up falling from a top bunk sleepwalking and fracturing my collarbone, to the utter extreme of getting up at 2am as I thought it was a workday having a shower, emerging from it with a turban in my hair and a towel wrapped around me, and when told it was 2am, said "as it's early so, I'll go back to bed"

When I'm stressed I sleepwalk. When I'm away from home I do the same, I once had the lovely experience of ending up in a hotel hallway on the ninth floor at 12:30am in a small tshirt locked out of my room! I train for a living, and I've been known to deliver lectures in my sleep, my OH knows far more about the subjects I teach than he ever would if we talked on a day to day basis, as does my dog, who appears to be the subject of my lecturing when I sleep walk/talk.

My OH realises I do it, and apart from inserting himself into the scenario like the 2am shower, and telling me it's 2am, does nothing, just waits for me to get back into bed and leaves me be.

Some things that help are leaving lights on for "safe" parts of the house, I seem drawn to them, locking outside doors as others have said, and generally not disturbing the sleepwalker.

HTH

I do find that sleepwalking/talking is my response to stress/strange situations, and whilst I never remember either, I wake up the next morning feeling more mentally refreshed and with ideas as to how I can deal with issues, kinda like another poster, I think it's a way for people with overactive minds to siphon of stuff based on my experience, I find it hard to switch off if I am stressed or dealing with a problem

Has your nine year old suffered any change in their life recently?

IvyTheTerrible

Is locking doors and taking away the key not dangerous if there is a fire?

pwurple

I leave the key nearby, like on a hook on the wall or on a nearby shelf or ledge.

username123

pwurple wrote: »

I leave the key nearby, like on a hook on the wall or on a nearby shelf or ledge.

Ive tried this but tbh I just pick it off the hook in my sleep.

Anyway, people dont leave a key in their front door at night do they? Thats usually locked anyway without a key in it. It hardly matters if indoor doors are unlocked - although for fire safety they should be closed.

Redpunto

Is he having any other symptoms like extreme tiredness? I started sleeping walking when I was ateenager and it was my thyroid levels all over the place. Its most definately probably jsut a phase hes going through but maybe just a visit to GP to check things out?