dangerous sleepwalking

[athomeontheprairie]

Last night dd8 slept walked outside. My dh was in the shower, I was cleaning in the kitchen when I heard the front door shut. She was on the deck in the snow in a night gown. She only woke up when I grabbed her.

 

This is the second time in 6 months. It terrifies me. Both times dh and I have been awake. But what if we hadn't? What if we'd both gone to bed early? (Realistically this won't happen as we need to stock the wood stove in the late evening)

 

Perhaps this is just a vent, but if you have good sleep walking advice (or stories) I'm all ears

[maize]

Wow, that is scary. Can you put a table in front of the door at night?

[Pippen]

Time to install alarms on the doors! This had to be done for my grandfather before he moved to the nursing home.

[zoobie]

My DS has sleepwalked (sleptwalked? Lol) during growth spurts (or maybe coincidence). He walked right through the living room and out the door at 5. We were sitting there watching a movie and were stunned. We were renting between houses and bought a temporary door alarm. He has set off our house alarm twice. He was trying to get water and opened the side door. Very scary.

[texasmama]

You can install high up latches on all doors and put a door alarm on her bedroom door. Hopefully she will outgrow it.

[Joker]

I had a sleepwalker but she never tried to go outside. I did wake one night to a loud banging noise and she had walked into our bedroom and was repeatedly walking into the wall. I couldn't believe it didn't wake her up! We had an alarm system and we set it to automatically go off with no wait if a door was opened. It was extremely loud so we didn't have to worry about it. 

[HS Mom in NC]

My brother was a sleep walker.  He once got outside and climbed a tree and slept there for a while.  Another time he walked out to the car and laid down in the back seat.  I have memories of my mother walking me up by looking under my bed because she couldn't find him and under my bed wasn't any weirder than other places she'd found him. We lived out in the country.  A simple high up latch out of reach should do the job as suggested upthread.

[Guest]

That is my nightmare, or my mischievous toddler getting out at night. With no shoes on in this weather it would be extremely dangerous and we all sleep pretty heavily except me. We don't have any high door latches but I've been very tempted.

[Seasider]

You can install high up latches on all doors and put a door alarm on her bedroom door. Hopefully she will outgrow it.

I was going to recommend this. It's what we did on all the doors leading to the pool deck.

 

We had an alarm system when ds was in a sleepwalking phase. It would chirp when a door or window was opened. My fear was actually that he would fall down the stairs. I put a chair in the hall to block his path to the stairs, and was a light enough sleeper that I would hear if he tried to move it. What most always happened, though, was that he would come into our bedroom to talk to us. My husband was very patient with him (his side of the bed was closest to the door), would talk with him and suggest he go to the bathroom, then on back to bed. DS never had any memory of it.

[AmyontheFarm]

Our toddler (he is now 15) made it outside to "go drive the tractors"  We didn't even see him get up or leave.  He walked by the livingroom where we were watching TV and made it across the large farm yard to the tractors.

 

No longer, do I assume when I hear a small child was found alone unattended blocks away from their home that the parents are neglectful.  We wouldn't have even noticed he was gone except something inside of me told me to check his room before I went to mine.  That is when we noticed he was gone.  Thank the Lord, it was a nice warm summer night.

[Guest]

When my kids were younger, they did this.

 

I put jingle bells (like for a sleigh//Christmas decorations) on their bedroom door, and tbh this was the most productive thing I did. I got immediately when I heard their door open. And most of the time, they just walked into the hallway and slept on the floor.

 

But jic, I also put a baby gate on the stairs and simple indiviual alarms (bough on amazon) on the doors, windows, and reefer (no fun to wake up to a 6 year old standing in the middle of a broken bowl and chili pond!....he's scared and doesn't know what's happening and plumb covered in chili...).

[mommymonster]

DS6 tends to "get lost" while looking for the bathroom in the middle of the night. We use baby gates to keep him at least upstairs (so he can't get outside). I'm concerned that he will eventually be able to open them, but they work for now. 

[sbgrace]

I would do an alarm on her door.
You could do door stop alarms for outdoor doors if the bedroom alarm thing isn't something you want. I worried about stairs too though, and could she get burned on the stove?

 

[Reefgazer]

No advice except a sound alarm when certain doors or windows are opened.  I used to do this as a child...walked out of a motel room once.  She'll outgrow it, but in the meantime, I might alarm the doors of your DD has a propensity to such things.

Last night dd8 slept walked outside. My dh was in the shower, I was cleaning in the kitchen when I heard the front door shut. She was on the deck in the snow in a night gown. She only woke up when I grabbed her.

This is the second time in 6 months. It terrifies me. Both times dh and I have been awake. But what if we hadn't? What if we'd both gone to bed early? (Realistically this won't happen as we need to stock the wood stove in the late evening)

Perhaps this is just a vent, but if you have good sleep walking advice (or stories) I'm all ears

 

[Tanaqui]

But jic, I also put a baby gate on the stairs and simple indiviual alarms (bough on amazon) on the doors, windows, and reefer (no fun to wake up to a 6 year old standing in the middle of a broken bowl and chili pond!....he's scared and doesn't know what's happening and plumb covered in chili...).

 

I don't think I've ever heard that term for refrigerator (I assume) before! How novel!

 

OP, I'd put an alarm or bell on her door and window, and on any exterior doors. I also would consider blocking off the wood stove - that sounds like something she can get burned on.

[athomeontheprairie]

Everyone thank you! I'll look into a simple alarm/latch

 

I don't think I've ever heard that term for refrigerator (I assume) before! How novel!

 

OP, I'd put an alarm or bell on her door and window, and on any exterior doors. I also would consider blocking off the wood stove - that sounds like something she can get burned on.

Ours is an owood stoves stove. If we can keep her inside, there is no danger.

[Slache]

I vote alarms. I still sleepwalk several times a week and a lock couldn't stop me. I even cook in my sleep.

[MedicMom]

DS5 did this a few days ago. I was asleep; but we have two golden retrievers that generally sleep in his room. One dog followed him outside and laid down on top of him when DS laid down in the snow to sleep. The other dog came into my room and sat by my bed barking until I woke up and realized something was wrong.

 

I adore my dogs.

 

We are installing door alarms.

[Seasider]

DS5 did this a few days ago. I was asleep; but we have two golden retrievers that generally sleep in his room. One dog followed him outside and laid down on top of him when DS laid down in the snow to sleep. The other dog came into my room and sat by my bed barking until I woke up and realized something was wrong.

 

I adore my dogs.

 

We are installing door alarms.

I am stuck between terrified to hear that and coveting your dogs.

[zoobie]

High door latches worry me because of fire. I might be paranoid, but that's why we went with alarms.

[sassenach]

Our toddler (he is now 15) made it outside to "go drive the tractors" We didn't even see him get up or leave. He walked by the livingroom where we were watching TV and made it across the large farm yard to the tractors.

 

No longer, do I assume when I hear a small child was found alone unattended blocks away from their home that the parents are neglectful. We wouldn't have even noticed he was gone except something inside of me told me to check his room before I went to mine. That is when we noticed he was gone. Thank the Lord, it was a nice warm summer night.

DS did this at about the same age, but he wasn't sleepwalking. He got up at 5am and discovered that he was just tall enough to flip the deadbolt. My neighbor found him walking down the street. We installed a double keyed lock that day and kept the key above the door frame.

 

My friend's son used to sleepwalk and pee in their hallway closet.

[purpleowl]

My oldest is a sleepwalker. We have a baby gate that we put at the end of the hallway when DH and I go to bed so she can't get out. She has never tried to get outside, though - she usually comes looking for me. I will need to remember the alarm idea for when she gets older if she's still doing it.

[goldberry]

I am stuck between terrified to hear that and coveting your dogs.

 

Yes!  As a cat person, I am forced to admit cats are useless (mostly) in that area.  Our kitties comfort DD when she cries, but that's about the extent of their humanitarianism.  

[MedicMom]

I am stuck between terrified to hear that and coveting your dogs.

I am still terrified and I bought the dogs new comfy expensive beds and put them in DS5's room. And new toys and treats.

 

It was very cold that night. It was almost very, very bad. We are getting door alarms for both outside doors and his bedroom door. Until then I've been making him sleep with me.

 

I am not a dog person. I do not like dogs generally, and I hate dog hair and slobber. I like our cat. But we got the older dog before kids to train as an SAR dog for the fire department. Then we got the second because the kids thought the first dog was lonely. My affection for the dogs has grown considerably in the last week. :)

Edited January 26, 2016 by MedicMom

[J-rap]

I used to be a sleepwalker like that.  Once when my teenage older sister was babysitting me and was already asleep, she heard a noise and woke up to find the front door wide open and me gone.  She ran outside and found me walking down the middle of the street!  

 

After that, my parents put a chain lock high on the door and I was never able to escape again.  :)

 

 

[Spryte]

High latches and door alarms.

 

MedicMom, your dogs are simply wonderful. Pamper them. :)

 

Unrelated to the OP, but spinning off the dogs... My aunt was saved by her dog. She fell off her porch in extremely cold weather and broke her hip. Her tiny dog ran to the neighbor's house and barked at the door till she got help. It was a long run, they lived on a mountain, fairly isolated. She would not have been found without the dog. I adore that dog. My aunt ended up in a nursing home for months, due to that fall, but they let the dog visit her.

[Nan in Mass]

We had one that sleptwalked consistantly. We live on a lake. He slept between me and the wall. To get out, he had to climb over two bodies. When he was too old for that, the dog slept with him. We,ve always has a string of bells on the outside door. I sleep pretty lightly and we leave doors wide open to sleep anyway, even now with twenty somethings, after a scary choking incident very early on in our childrearing career. Bells are great. So are dogs. They both work for teens where locks won,t. The biggest problem we had was that our son couldn,t go spend the night at a friend,s. Our son was fine with that, and his friends, but I don,t think the other parents understood. Even my sister didn,t really believe me until my son woke her up rattling her kitchen door trying to get it unlocked. And this was after another incident when her husband attempted to carry our heavily sleeping 14yo out to the car for us. Trying to get him through the door was about like trying to get a cat into a small cat carrier. I did some inquiring when we first had this problem. Someone I asked had a brother who walked out a second story window in his sleep. Apparently it is percectly possible to do something stupid in your sleep.

 

Good luck!

Nan