David has a new...ummmmm...interesting habit.
He's sleepwalking! I've called the doctor and we have nothing to worry about. We just need to keep him safe and direct him back to bed.
There have (as of today) been 3 incidents. He goes to bed about 8:00 and the doctor said that if he's going to walk, it will probably be 2-3 hours after he goes to sleep.
The first time, he just got up, came in the living room, sat down on the couch, wiggled around a little and then I walked him back to bed. When he was getting into bed, he was pointing up the air saying, "Mommy what IS that?" I told him to just go to sleep, so he laid down and said, "I love you."
The second time, he came out of his room and walked straight to the kitchen and opened the drawer where we keep his medicine and vitamins. He pushed the bottles around a little bit, then backed away and looked like he was starting to use the bathroom, so I quickly guided him to the bathroom (he tried to walk into Katherine's room on the way!!) and then back to bed.
The third time was last night. He got up later this time - about 11:00. We were already in bed, and he came in to our room. As an aside - he walks faster asleep, and it's sort of a hurried, nervous walk. We try to talk to him and he won't talk, but we guided him to the bathroom (the doctor also told us that he probably needs to go and that's why he's getting up) and then to bed.
His door squeaks when its opened, and we've decided that we are not going to fix it. We're using the squeak as an alarm so we know if he gets up. We're also going to take the key out of the deadbolt on the front door so he can't get out (even though our house alarm would go off if he did). Anybody have any first hand experience with this? The age range is 4-15, so we might be dealing with it for several years!
5 comments:
FIRST! (haha) It's good that David's door squeaks. That'll be a nice warning. I did some sleep walking as a kid. Sounds like you have a good plan in place. Keep us posted!!
No experience with a child of my own sleepwalking(at least not yet), but I remember my sister doing similar things when she was younger. The funniest one was when she tried to go to the bathroom in the kitchen trash can. I guess its good that it happens around 10 or 11 instead of 3 in the morning? Katherine is finally sleeping through the night so I'm sure you'd rather not start getting up in the middle of the night with David.
Thanks Monica. ;-) I'll take "Tied for First". It's still brag worthy!
Ahh - this reminds me of . . . ME!! I would sleep walk when I was young - before 1st grade. Usually it had to do with needing to go to the restroom as well. My parents found me trying to pee in a plant in the living room; peeing in a trashcan and using the bathtub faucet to "flush" the "toilet"; and locked outside in the middle of the night. That encouraged them to get flip locks that were at the top of the doors - out of my reach. I also remember spending the night at a friends house and I woke up as I was frantically trying to find the bedroom door on the wrong wall and peed in my pants. That was embarrassing. Have fun!!!
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