My 10 yr old daughter has always talked in her sleep. Maybe once she has slept walked. Well, last night - around 1:30am , I woke up to the front door opening. My boyfriend works the late shift, had gotten home around 12:45am and I thought it was him going back out to his truck for something. Regardless I stayed awake waiting for the door to shut again. Then, my daughter comes in my room (my boyfriend was on the back porch smoking a cigarette) and she says " Did we get robbed?" ... immediately I woke up. I told her no, she rambled something about unlocking the front door, I started asking her questions and she was really disoriented. Finally she woke up a little bit, she told me that she was looking for Luis (my boyfriend) because he was supposed to say hi to her when he got home from work ..... (still very disoriented)... by this time I had went out on the back porch to tell him what was going on. He said he was FOR SURE he locked the door when he came in.. and I did hear her unlock the door. We had the screen door locked, plus the wooden door, dead bolt and the door handle locked. She climbed right back into bed and fell right back asleep. I was so scared, I slept with her last night. She's never done this before. What if she would have walked outside and not come back!!? OMG. What can I do to make things safer? Apparently I did this once when I was her age! My dad just told me........
You could use a strategically placed baby gate with a windchime or other noise maker on it so you get a warning long before she can get to any door that leads outside.
My middle son did stuff like this. We were terrified for him to go to college. Afraid he would fall down the dorm stairs in his sleep. He didn't. But we did get these cheap little alarms and put them on the doors. Wturned them on at night for him and then later for my grandson. They were just 2 little pcs attached to the door and frame. When it was opened it shrieked a loud noise. Write us right up.
When I was about 5 or 6, I got a chair and put it up against the door and unlocked it and proceeded to walk down the apartment hallways.. A woman even asked, what are you doing little girl and I said, looking for my mother..
I still talk in my sleep and on occasion sleepwalk.. I will say that I've always tended to do those things when I've had a stressful day or am extremely tired..
My son who is 11 sleepwalks but not nearly as much as I did when I was a kid..
I think the best thing you can do is put some type of loud bell on your door so that IF anyone opens it , you can hear it VERY loudly.. On our door downstairs, we have some wind chimes draped over the doorknob, this way if anyone turns the knob, you can hear it (Even from upstairs)
You could also put something on her bedroom door.... this way, you get a heads up whenever she may begin to sleepwalk..
My oldest used to sleep walk, even pee'd in my refrigerator once because of it. He did outgrow it. My mom was such a bad sleep walker they had to lock her in her room at night. They weighed the risk of fire or her getting out and hurting herself and her getting out was worse. She also outgrew it but not until her late teens.
As others have suggested, put a cheap alarm/chime on the doors where she can get out. It will be a little annoying for a while, but you'll at least have the peace of mind to know that if she tries it again you will hear it.
My son sleep walks, or he did. We put a chain on our door and a bar in the sliding glass door. BUT he stopped sleep walking when every night we would talk about his day and forgive anyone who hurt him or ask for forgiveness for things that he did wrong. This worked for him. Maybe something is bothering your daughter. Forgiveness was what helped my son. Good Luck!
We had a neighbor whose 4 yr old would sleep walk. They had a fence around the front yard that she could not open so that was as far as she would go. But you could always find her there. Whe nshe walked outside in her nightgown, 30 degrees out, they bought a cow bell and attached it to her door at night. When she would open it, they would hear the bell and could direct her back to bed. Look for one of those door alarms. It is not connected to any system like ADT or anything like that. It is a simple alarm that when the contact between the 2 pieces is broken, it sounds off so you know the door is open. We used to have one when my older kids were little so I knew if they were going out. Plan to get it again for my 2 little ones.
You don't mention this, but FYI, melatonin can increase incidence of sleepwalking. My sister found this out the hard way (one of her boys is prone to it; the others aren't and the melatonin dramatically increased the incidence/craziness of the sleepwalking episodes).
All that to say, if your daughter did use that sleep aid, I would discontinue use.
I like the idea of chimes on the door, too.
I was a sleep walker as a kid and teen. Left the house a few times, would wake up in weird places like on top if the washer/dryer, punched my Dad out cold once, mostly just got up to pee and back to bed. In high school, my parents and friends would wait for me to fall asleep during movies, move furniture around in the room, then rouse me enough to get me walking, just to see if I could navigate the new configuration in my sleep (I always did). At camp, they tied a rope to my counselor's pillow and the other end to the door, to alert her if I wandered out at night (never did). I talked in my sleep too and still do, but have outgrown the walking (I WISH I could still go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without waking!!).
For safety, I would add a deadbolt to all outside doors near the top, where she can't reach. That way your boyfriend can open the door when he works late, but you can sleep peacefully.
My step daughter (10) also sleep walks. She has as long as I can remember, even as far back as age 5. She climbs down her bunk bed in her sleep and does random things in her sleep. We've caught her getting in the shower (clothed), going out to the garage, etc. Lot's of times when she sleep walks, she is crying. It usually happens within the first hour that she falls asleep when she's in a particular state of sleep so we are awake when it happens and can put her back to bed. I really don't know any remedies. So far she hasn't opened the front door and I hope it stays that way. She is going to summer camp this year for the first time and we are a little worried she'll sleep walk there. Good luck!
