I have two that get up in the middle of the night and wander around. They are four and three. The three yr old usually does this every once in a while but my daughter that is four gets up every night. Sometimes I wonder if she is sleepwalking or she is actually awake. I don't know of any suggestions on how to stop other then tie em up. Just kidding lol. I don't do that to mine. I just think sometimes its funny to watch em. But then again its not funny when it continues....
EMSMOM4 10/9/06 9:55 A
It's nice to know I'm not alone. We've tried to reason with her, that doesn't work, there's always a cup of water on her bedside table...she came in last night around 2am... I was so tired and warm, I just snuggled her in. Maybe she'll grow out of it. She's never had a friend spend the night or spent the night out, and I've told her this will njot happen until she can sleep all night in her own room for at least a month.
The problem with last night is I had to e half awake making sure she didn't kick her daddy...she's a little restless as she sleeps as well.
JLANIJ 10/8/06 1:32 A
My 5 (almost 6) year old son usually gets up almost every night.
He actually just seems to be ending a long bout of Night Terrors (thank goodness). Night Terrors are different from nightmares. He wakes up screaming and he has his eyes open and sits up and trys to tell me what's wrong, but mumbles, and there is no consoling him for about 10 mins, and then he just drifts back to sleep. And unlike nightmares, he doesn't remember the episodes at all the next day, or even later that night--sometimes it happened up to 3 times a night.
But he still does get up. He has only done something dangerous once, he tried to get a drink out of a bottle of window cleaner (non-toxic and my husband caught him before he got the chance).
Usually he gets up and wanders out of his room and either into the living room our our room for a drink, even though we give him fresh ice water in his room every night. It is disturbing, but the Dr says he will grow out of it.
TBARTON 10/6/06 6:42 P
My son use to always wander around at night. (And btw, he never once fell down the stairs in the dark.) What I finally did was explain to him that it was hard for me to get back to sleep after he'd wake me up. I told him I was happy to wake up if he was sick or frightend or needed something but that if he didn't really need *me*, I'd rather sleep. We set up a pillow and a blanket on the couch and sometimes he'd come down and sleep on the couch instead of crawling in with us. We'd set up a drink for him where he could get it himslf and anything els he might need during the night (extra blankets, stuffed animals, etc.) After that he rarely woke us up.
These days we have 4 kids (16, 11, 8, 4) and every morning is like an obstacle course. Someone might be asleep on the living room couch. Someone on the floor. The youngest might be in her sister's bed while her sister is sleeping somewhere else. :-) I don't know what all goes on during the night, but everyone seems to be getting enough sleep and now one gets hurt. And I get to sleep. ;-)
EMSMOM4 10/6/06 2:36 P
Thanks for the advice, I'll try anything! Last night she did well and didn't come in until I was up and on the treadmill, (sometime between 5am-6am) Not sure what was different about last night, but I'lltry and remember...
KELLY_SP 10/5/06 9:10 A
Hi Emsmom4,
I'm sorry that you are not sleeping well at nights. I also have a little one that gets up most nights. My four year old will either call for me until I go in there (which tends to wake my youngest) or she will come in my room and tell me she needs me. I understand how frustrating it is. Being woken up is rough enough, consistantly being woken up for no real emergency can be even more exhausting. Have you talked to your daughter about it? Is she afraid of something at night specifically in her room? Is she sleep walking? Are there any significant changes in your routines at home/school that have her concerned?
Some solutions that work most of the time with my four year old is that I have given her a little flashlight that she keeps next to her bed. If she is "scared" she turns it on and then she can see that nothing is in there and she is safe. If she has had a bad dream and comes in because of the dream, I just walk her in the bathroom and give her a little drink of water and put her back in her bed, assuring her that it isn't real and that everyone is safe and home and it's ok to close her eyes again.
With your daughter being 8, maybe a journal or diary next to her bed would help? You can tell her that if she wakes up concerned about something, instead of waking you up about it, she can write it down and the two of you can talk about it in the morning when you are both awake? Maybe by her writing it down, she will be able to get it off her mind to rest better (just a thought).
Hang in there and keep us posted! I hope you will both be sleeping through the night again soon!
Kelly
EMSMOM4 10/5/06 9:03 A
Sometimes I truely think it is sleepwalking, because if I intercept her I can turn her around and out her back in her bed, but last night she came in around 4am, shaking and crying that she had a nightmare, there was no getting her back in her room at that time, so I had to mooooove over. I seem to recall I did a little sleepwalking as a child, so maybe that's what the majority of the problem is. She has been doing this for a # of years, there are some periods of time when it's more frequent, like this Septembr...almost everynight! I'm Tired. Thanks so much for your thoughts!
KMZ3301 10/4/06 6:10 P
My son who is 3 gets up at least once a night. Last night I woke up to him laying on the floor next to my bed. Other nights he comes in and tells me he has lost his blanket or Sprinkles (his stuffed animal). Sometimes he comes in and is just speaking garble -- its those times I think he is sleepwalking.
We have a gate at the top of the stairs that is locked everynight. I am sure it is just a phase that kids go through. I would make sure that there is nothing that could hurt her if she is sleepwalking.
DINGOSLAYER 10/4/06 4:46 P
I can't say I have any suggestions on how to handle it, but my sister (16 years younger than I) used to do this too. We were all worried sick that one day she would fall down the stairs or hurt herself. She stopped after about 6 months of this, so it may just be a passing trend.
Is yours awake when she wanders, or is it 'sleep walking'?
EMSMOM4 10/4/06 12:45 P
Help, I know this has nothing to do with dieting, but it does have to do with health. My 8y/o daughter gets up everynight and comes in our room, it may occur more than once and I am never able to sleep all night as I have to get up to bring her back to bed. Does anyone else have this problem? If so any suggestions on how to handle it?? Help please!
