Anyone else deal with a sleep walking child?

[bluegrassmom]

Tonight I have my son bedded down on the couch and later I'll make a pallet on the floor next to him for me. (Pallet - southern speak for making a bed on the floor.) He is not feeling well and when he is sick, he always sleep walks. So I like to sleep right next to him whenever he is sick. If he gets up he will have to literally step over me so I will know he's on the move. He is fully functional with eyes wide open but is sound asleep. This child has even picked a lock in his sleep and did it correctly! I can usually get him to lay back down by quietly telling him to or gently leading him back to bed.

 

He only does this when he is sick. I can't imagine what it would be like if it were all the time. But it does concern me that he may do this at some point when I don't know it and possibly leave the house. It also concerns me that it won't be long before he is bigger and stronger than me and sleepwalkers are very unpredictable. He never has any memory of the things he does in the morning.

 

Has anyone else gone through this with a loved one?

[Prickle]

Mr Prickle walks and talks in his sleep.

 

He goes to work in the dark and goes to sleep while it's still light out, so he's usually been a asleep for hours while I'm still up puttering around.

 

He'll come in the kitchen or wherever I am and we'll have a semi rational conversation then out of the blue he'll say something so off the wall that I know he's not really there, lol.

 

Usually he thinks he's at work, he inventories convenience stores, and he'll go through all the cupboards and pantry counting the dishes and canned goods and telling me what everything costs. It's kinda funny actually. Sometimes he counts the cats.

 

I can usually get him to go back to bed by telling him that he's not at work and he needs to go back to bed, he's still got X number of hours to sleep or he's going to be tired the next day. If he's ornery and won't go he usually just meanders around for a while then drifts back to bed or sleeps in the recliner.

 

I don't have anything constructive to say about what to do about it, the only thing I've been able to do is just keep an eye on things.

[K_L]

Sometimes a child will sleep walk if he needs the bathroom. If you gently direct him to the bathroom and then put them back to sleep it isn't much of a problem.

[rootdiggr]

One night my husband and I were standing in the kitchen, and in walks the 4-year old who is supposed to be fast asleep. He walked past us, circled the table 3 times, and then went back to bed. That was our first (and funniest) incident of sleep-walking. Generally, he would come to wherever we were, and stand there looking confused. We would tell him gently that he was still asleep and needed to go back to bed. He would turn around and do that.

 

The night terrors were another story altogether. We never got to the bottom of that issue, but it gradually died off when he was 9 or so. So did the sleep-walking.