Help with sleepwalking child!

[Money4Mommy]

I am in desperate need of advice because my 7 year old has been sleepwalking for the past month and over the past week it is getting more frequent. I am terrified that she is going to hurt herself. She appears to be awake but does not respond or recognize anyone. The past few nights she has gotten out of bed 2-3 times and walked around the house in the dark, sometimes moving things around or acting like she's awake. Has anyone had similar experiences, advice, ideas, anything?

[Glamgurl36]

when my brother was little he used to do the same thing. I think she will grow out of it, but I would see a doctor. They say you arent supposed to wake them but I think thats scary

[Audrey]

I too recommend a visit to her doctor. Keep us posted. It is scary.

[WorkAtHomeSpace]

I know you're not suppose to wake them up and I agree with the others...talk to her doctor.

[Lori]

Wow! :shock: That would be upsetting. I'm so sorry to hear that's going on.

I doubt a doctor would recommend this -- but I might start sleeping with the little girl for awhile. She might benefit from someone being right there...

Just an idea - but I've never had to deal with such a thing.

Please let us know how it goes.

Lori

[marydawn]

Hi,

Here is something I found in the net, that might help you regarding "sleepwalking"...This might also help you on how to deal with sleepwalkers.

Hope this can help...And please keep us posted.

Sleepwalking
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sleepwalking (also called somnambulism or noctambulism), under the larger category of parasomnias, is a sleep disorder where the sufferer engages in activities that are normally associated with wakefulness while he or she is asleep or in a sleeplike state. Sleepwalking is usually defined by, or involves the person affected apparently shifting from his or her prior sleeping position and moving around and performing normal actions as if awake (cleaning, walking and other activities). Sleepwalkers are not conscious of their actions on a level where memory of the sleepwalking episode can be recalled, and because of this, unless the sleepwalker is woken or aroused by someone else, this sleep disorder can go unnoticed. Sleepwalking is more commonly experienced in people with high levels of stress, anxiety or other psychological factors and in people with genetic factors (family history) or sometimes a combination of both.

A common misconception is that sleepwalking is an individual acting out the physical movements within a dream, but in fact sleepwalking occurs earlier on in the night when rapid eye movement (REM), or the "dream stage" of sleep, has not yet occurred.

Explanation

A majority of people move their legs while sleeping; however, sleepwalking occurs when both legs move in synchronization, which is much less common.

Sleepwalking can affect people of any age. It generally occurs when an individual awakes suddenly from slow wave sleep (SWS, sometimes referred to as "deep sleep"), causing the sleepwalking episode. In children and young adults, up to 25% of the night is spent in SWS. However this decreases as the person ages until none can be measured in the geriatric individual. For this reason, children and young adults (or anyone else with a high amount of SWS), are more likely to be woken up and, for the same reasons, they are witnessed to have many more episodes than the older individuals.

Statistics

* 85% of the world's population is prone to sleepwalking.
* Somewhere between 1% and 16.7% of U.S. children sleepwalk, and juveniles are seen to be those more prone to the activity.
* One study showed that the highest prevalence of sleepwalking was 16.7% for children of 11 to 12 years of age.
* Males are seen to be more likely to sleepwalk than females.

Activities such as eating, bathing, urinating, dressing, or even driving cars, whistling, engaging in ***ual intercourse,and committing murder have also been recorded as taking place while the subjects are technically asleep. Contrary to popular belief, most cases of sleepwalking do not consist of walking around (without the conscious knowledge of the subject). Most cases of somnambulism occur when the person is awakened (something or someone disturbs their SWS), the person may sit up, look around and immediately go back to sleep. But these kinds of incidences are rarely noticed or reported unless recorded in a sleep clinic.

Sleepwalkers engage in their activities with their eyes open so they can navigate their surroundings, not with their eyes closed and their arms outstretched, as often parodied in cartoons and films. The victims' eyes may have a glazed or empty appearance and if questioned, the subject will be slow to answer and will be unable to respond in an intelligible manner.

Hazards

Sleepwalkers are more likely to endanger themselves than anyone else. When sleepwalkers are a danger to themselves or others (for example, when climbing up or down steps or trying to use a potentially dangerous tool such as a stove or a knife), steering them away from the danger and back to bed is advisable. It has even been reported that people have fallen out of windows, and died, or were injured as a result. However, sleepwalkers will only engage in behaviors they normally perform when awake. Sleepwalking should not be confused with psychosis.

In some rare cases, sleepwalkers have committed a homicidal act during sleepwalking.

Dealing with sleepwalkers

Often the best way to deal with a sleepwalker safely is to direct him or her back to the bed. However, the person may continue getting up until he or she has accomplished the task that prompted the sleepwalking in the first place. For instance, if a sleepwalker is cleaning - a common sleepwalking activity - assisting in the cleaning may help to end the episode. Telling the person "It looks like you have cleaned it all up" can help him or her to feel as though the "necessary" task has been accomplished. As sleepwalkers do not tend to remember anything said or done while sleepwalking, there is no need to worry about embarrassment to you or the individual afterward.

Sleepwalkers are highly suggestible. Anything they hear or see may trigger another behavior. Often something said by a person or even on a television will cause the sleepwalker to engage in the activity mentioned, provided it is one to which he or she is accustomed to hearing about or doing. If the sleepwalker is also talking, it may be helpful to ask what he or she is trying to accomplish. Ask very simple questions that can be answered in short, simple replies. If asked a question that requires a long answer or explanation, the sleepwalker is unlikely to respond coherently. Talking during sleepwalking varies from person to person and may not always be useful in dealing with a sleepwalker. Because sleepwalkers are unaware of their present surroundings, they may divulge information that they would otherwise keep secret. They may also exhibit behaviors which would be considered embarrassing, such as urinating in inappropriate places, trying to eat invisible foods, cleaning invisible counters, or even trying to bathe or engage in ***ual intercourse.

[Lori]

That's good info MaryDawn. I love wikipedia...

Hope it helps her!

[sarathy]

Oh dear.... rush her to the doctor. She should be ok.

[MaryAnn]

My daughter used to walk (actually run) in her sleep with night terrors. She would screech bloody murder and run out of the house. She would be totally asleep. I ended up being a VERY light sleeper because of it. She never hurt herself - its almost as if unconsciously she knew where everything was and never walked into any furniture.

First, obviously, don't rearrange the furniture. She does know where it is so she's relatively safe. Also, make sure the floors are clear of toys and stuff so she doesn't trip on it.

I used to be able to catch my daughter, talk to her (even though she's asleep) and guide her back to bed.

We never took her to the doctor. She's very sensitive and things bothered her easily - especially people or animals getting harmed either in school or on tv. We think that might have contributed along with inadequate sleep and stress. It seemed to get worse around test time and when she got over tired.

She is now 30 and still gets the occasional night terror and does walk in her sleep but her husband deals with it now ;)

Wikpedia Comment: don't trust it. Just recently it was revealed that the Dutch royal family was putting a twist on history via Wikipedia. ANYONE can post their truth on there. You don't have to be an expert - no one checks your credentials.

[Money4Mommy]

Just want to say thank you to everyone for all your helpful advice. We had a few eventful nights since I last posted but things are much calmer this past week. I think my daughter may have been experiencing some stress and anxiety over starting a new school and this may have contributed to her sleepwalking. (This is only a theory I came up, I did not take her to the doctor) My girls won a lottery to attend a Montessori school and this is why we made the decision to change schools. After meeting with her teacher and spending some volunteer hours at the new school she was much more relaxed and comfortable with the change and the nights have been much quieter since. School started today and she loves it and has already made a new friend. She is a very sensitive child and I do agree that little things that are upsetting during the day carry over into thoughts during sleep. ;)

[Lori]

I'm so glad things are going better now! Congratulations on the lottery -- I hope she really enjoys the school.

[tam2005]

Hey glad to know that things are going much smoother now. :)
My son sleepwalks every now and then. Not enough to give me a big concern though.

Congrats on the lottery! :D

[SEO expert]

Thank god..she has been much calmer this week....and my best wishes to you for her.....and the article really taught you how to handle the sleepwalkers but really its scary...i think you should see a specialist doctor as soon as possible because you don't want this to be a long term problem...