Anyone with sleep walking children?

[Tarheel Heather]

I found my dd by my bed last night playing with a blanket. She wouldn't answer when I called her so I picked her up and put her back in bed. My older ds used to sleep walk, but this is the first time I have seen her do it.

 

Just curious

[Jennifer in MI]

Yes! My oldest has sleep walked (slept walked? I don't know!) since he was little. He does it quite often. When we moved, we purposely gave him a room down the hall so he'd have to go past our room to get downstairs. We awakened a number of times and followed him to the basement or the family room. It's weird. Usually we just lead him back to bed. I'm a bit nervous that he'll let himself outside!

 

He also halucinates when sick. That's VERY scary. He wakes up screaming and cannot stop. He usually has no memory of it in the morning.

[jail warden]

Yes! We lived in my parents house for 1 year while we were working on this house. It's a ranch with all the bedrooms lined up to the back of the house, which means all the doors are on one side. My ds often needs to go potty at night and he doesn't really wake up for it just does his duty and goes back to bed. Our bedroom was right next to the bathroom and I woke up a couple of times to him peeing at the foot of our bed! When I'd yell at him to go to the bathroom it didn't phase him and in the morning he didn't remember a bit! Our dd was the door after the bathroom and he ended up in there once or twice too! I was so scared he'd do it here, but it hasn't been a problem, I think he would just go in the wrong door to use the bathroom!

[Bambam]

She is pretty funny sometimes too. She shows up downstairs and says unintelligible things but follows commands fairly well if repeated 5-6 times. She remembers nothing in the morning.

 

She will walk into her sister's room, shout "Shut up, Elizabeth", and calmly return to her own room. Her sister always awakes and has a pounding heart with these episodes.

 

Do they outgrow it?

[Cindy in FL.]

Yes. The worst was waking up in a hotel room at 2:00 a.m. because he was trying to get the door open. I put him back to bed and moved all the furniture I could in front of the door.

 

Cindy

[genie]

Yes, my dd does, although come to think of it, she hasn't in quite a while. But for a while she was sleepwalking and sleeptalking usually twice a night, every night. What finally worked was to give her an epsom salt bath before bed. Apparently the magnesium absorbs into your body and helps. If you are interested in trying this, you would want to start out with maybe 1/3 cup in the bathtub. Then increase nightly until you are up to about one to one-and-a-half cups of salt per bath. Shel slept much sounder and awoke more rested after salt baths.

[Just Me]

No sleep walkers here, just had to say - When I saw your title, I read "Anyone sleep with walking children?" and I was very confused. :confused1:

 

I am off to get lots more coffee!! :huh:

[Elisabeth in IL]

I haven't noticed my boys sleepwalking but my dh tells quite the story of sleepwalking. I think that he was late elementary age or early junior high when he slept over at a friends house. He woke to find himself outside in his underwear and socks down by a busy street. He said that he ran back to the friends house and went to sleep. In the morning he thought it was a dream until he looked at his socks. His mother said that she always warned the boys scout leaders to sleep at the door of the tent so that he wouldn't walk out.

[BritAnnia]

My ds does this every time we travel, which is very infrequent. It's really frightening, especially when staying in an 8th floor room with a balcony. :ohmy:

We also block the exits with a piece of furniture, preferably after ds has fallen asleep so he doesn't know it's there beforehand.

At home his sleepwalking episodes are rarer but when they do occur he tries to either open the front door, or wanders through the house turning all the lights on.

[Jennifer in MI]

I haven't noticed my boys sleepwalking but my dh tells quite the story of sleepwalking. I think that he was late elementary age or early junior high when he slept over at a friends house. He woke to find himself outside in his underwear and socks down by a busy street. He said that he ran back to the friends house and went to sleep. In the morning he thought it was a dream until he looked at his socks. His mother said that she always warned the boys scout leaders to sleep at the door of the tent so that he wouldn't walk out.

 

Oh man. This is one of my biggest fears - getting outside! My brother used to sleepwalk and was in scouts. When they camped, he used to tie a rope around his ankle and atach it to the tent. This way, he'd trip before he got into the water!

[Jean in Newcastle]

Both my dc sleep walk. I slept walk as a child but outgrew it.

 

One funny - my dd6 has heard me talk about her sleepwalking and recently she decided to "try" it one night while she was really still awake. She came out with her eyes squinting and her arms out straight (the zombie walk). I told her to get back in bed! (But I didn't tell her what she was doing wrong!)

[Scarlett]

Both my dc sleep walk. I slept walk as a child but outgrew it.

 

One funny - my dd6 has heard me talk about her sleepwalking and recently she decided to "try" it one night while she was really still awake. She came out with her eyes squinting and her arms out straight (the zombie walk). I told her to get back in bed! (But I didn't tell her what she was doing wrong!)

 

That is hilarious. My ds8 also talks and walks in his sleep and there is a certain weirdness to it that no kid can fake. The glazed look, the deafness, the babbling....just weird stuff. One night, my ds was sleeping with me and he sat up and pursed his lips for a kiss and touched his lips with his finger and said, 'hey mom, right here. Right here!' Making kissing noises as he said it. It was soooooo funny. That is a thing we say in our house now, 'hey dad, right here' kiss kiss.