sleepwalking 3 year old????

Amanda - posted on 05/01/2012

My 4 yr old has had sleepwalking episodes on and off since he was tiny. I would wake up to him screaming and find he would have locked himself in his walk in wardrobe or he would climb into my bed and just sit and stare at me stroking my hair and face, freaked me out like you wouldn't believe.
In our old house he managed to negotiate the stairs, we had a baby gate on his room and he had climbed over that and down the stairs, he was 2 at the time.

I have had nights where he has got into my bed and we haven't realised he was there until morning and asked why he was in my bed.
He also talks in his sleep and has been known to hold a full conversation with you.

I just direct him back to bed which he is usually fine with.

My husband was a sleepwalker as a child and even now he can wake up and start looking for things round the house. He also talks in his sleep alot and wakes me up to have conversations with me and has no idea what he has said or done the next morning. His is to the extreme that since I have known him he has had a few fights in his sleep, gone looking for things that weren't there, he thought I was going to leave him one day and take the cat (we have no cat) and I found him crying at the end of the bed. 2 nights ago he was looking for someone named Donna, we don't know and have never met anyone by that name. When I was pregnant with my son he woke up in a panick telling me I was in labour and we needed to go to hospital.

Katherine - posted on 05/01/2012

Dr.Belilovsky actually suggested something different, he said Wake him up about an hour before the usual sleepwalking time, and let him go back to sleep. Works often enough to be worth a try.
https://www.healthtap.com/user_questions/122437-what-are-things-i-can-do-to-stop-a-child-from-sleepwalking

Samantha - posted on 03/27/2012

Thanks :-) We have baby gates up on her bedroom door so she cant go anywhere, Hopefully it is just a phase she is going through. I used to sleepwalk when i was little so i think she is taking after me for this. No she doesnt have any bed wetting, She does wake to go to the toilet through the night by shouting for me to help her.

Sara - posted on 03/23/2012

My daughter doesnt do this but I figure she's going to one day simply because I sleepwalked until I was about 13, almost every single night.. I didn't do anything but wonder the house aimlessly and move things around in my bedroom and then couldn't find them later because I did it while I was asleep. lol My mom got to the point that she put locks on the top of the doors so I couldn't reach to let myself outside. Does your daughter wet the bed also or just sleep walk? because I wet the bed until I was 10 or 11. and sometimes doctors will say that things like that go together. also, lack of sleep can trigger it or bad dreams, and sometimes even any type of new environment or change may also trigger it. Back then my parents were fighting a lot so I feel like that was when mine would get worse. I can't remember much about it just what I was told but good luck with this... if you get too worried just call your daughter's doctor because even if they can't help maybe they'll explain it better and put your mind at better ease. and like Brittney says, put up baby gates and lock doors and windows so she can't reach them.

Brittney - posted on 03/23/2012

Experts don't know exactly what causes sleepwalking, although it does appear to run in families. Sleepwalking can start any time after your child begins walking or crawling, and at least 15 percent of all young children will have an episode at some point. It usually occurs within an hour or two of falling asleep, when your child is in the deepest part of nondreaming, or non-REM (rapid eye movement), sleep. Sleeping in strange places, a lack of sleep, or a high fever can trigger a sleepwalking episode.



A sleepwalking child appears to be wide awake, though he's actually not. His eyes will be open, and he may even carry on a conversation, although it probably won't make much sense. He may wander aimlessly around the house; common behaviors include falling asleep in a closet or mistaking one for the bathroom.



What you can do

Don't try to wake your child. If he'll let you, gently guide him back to bed. Your child will have no memory of the event the next morning, so don't bring it up. Talking about it may make your toddler scared of bedtime. Before tucking him in for the night, be sure to pick up any toys or other objects that he could fall on during a middle-of-the-night walkabout, and put gates up at the head of the stairs. Most injuries to sleepwalking children happen when they fall out of a window or manage to get outside, so keep windows and doors locked, too.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_sleepwalking...