So my 7 year old son has started to wake up sometimes at night and comes into my room almost speechless. He seems frightened, maybe even terrified. I try to talk to him but he only groans and cringes. It's hard to explain, like he is having some sort of panic attack or something, like a seizure minus the convulsions (sort of). He won't focus on me, he mumbles about things that aren't happening. I know when we were younger my brother would wake and do something crazy like pee in the laundry hamper, but this is a little different. He seems scared and hard to settle down. It lasts for a few minutes before he actually wakes up.
What is happening? And what should I do? When he is still in the sleep state I just try to comfort him; tell him that he is okay, that I'm here, and try to figure out what is wrong. When he first comes to me I think something is horribly wrong or he is sick or something. It's really freaky.
What causes this?
K.
It sounds a bit like night terrors -- although most children get them younger. Kids usually just grow out of them. But, if I were you, I'd ask my Pediatrician about it.
I just walk my son back to his bed when he is sleep walking. Just make sure he can't so anything to hurt himself or get outside now. Just before my son turned 3 he managed to unlock the door to our apartment and go through 2 other doors to get outside and he was found sitting by the road crying. Sleepwalking can be scary if they don't know what they are doing.
Hi,
Echoing the reply from MechanicMama, I also suffer from a sleep disorder (a hereditary one) called parasomnia. It is as she described, that during REM sleep when most people are 'paralyzed' I have full motor function, see things that aren't there, talk, walk around the house, etc. While it has provided much content for family jokes over the years, I wasn't diagnosed until my mid-twenties. It's a simple medication taken at bedtime (and anti-convulsive) which doesn't make me drowsy but simply helps the part of my brain that needs to tone itself down to indeed do so at the correct time during my sleep cycle.
When I was diagnosed (during an overnight sleep study) and started the treatment I never realized how much of my energy and life I had been missing since I was a child. Since my Mom has been subsequently diagnosed (10 years after I was), it seems we both thought that our many awakenings during the night and strange vivid dreams were just normal, and what everyone has! How wrong we were :)
My suggestion is to get to a sleep specialist, typically they are also neurologists. If you are in the DC area, the best of the best is Dr. Helene Emsellem's practice, in Bethesda. It's called the Center for Sleep and Wake Disorders, and their website is www.sleepdoc.com. It is a nice practice, and they treat many children - I would not hesitate taking my daughter there, but so far at 7 months she seems to have gotten her sleep habits from her father :)
Best of luck!
J
Have you talked with his physician? It sounds like possible night terrors-is he ever violent during the episodes? I would speak with his dr. and the perhaps seek the advice of a pschologist or counselour that specializes in children.
My husband suffers from night terrors. He used to be very violent during them, but now it is strange stuff like thinking he is choking, spitting and stripping the bed in the middle of the night. He is medicated now and I have noticed a huge change since he started the meds.
Also, has anything major happened in his life recently? A move, change of teacher, loss of pet or loved one, friend moved away, divorce, illness, etc. Any of this can cause issues with sleep and manifest in strange ways.
My 8 year old son is also doing the same thing. It is very scary, it's like he can't talk and what he is saying does not make any sence. I took him to the pediatrian. She told me that at this age kids start to dream. That it is completely normal unless he is loosing his bowels, then it could be something else. We have started making him go to the bathroom before bed, and no more late nights, we are more laxed during the summer. This has seemed to help.
Sounds like sleepwalking/night terrors. My older daughter had night terrors which changed to sleepwalking around age 7. Most of the time with her she needed to use the bathroom so I redirected her to the bathroom and she would go. Then, she went back to bed/sleep easily. Try getting your son to use the bathroom when this happens then gently put him back to bed. Don't try to wake him but talk to him gently.
BTW my daughter is 10 and rarely sleepwalks now. Hopefully he will grow out of it.
Also, I agree with other posts--she had these episodes when over-tired. Make sure he is going to bed early enough and getting enough sleep in general.
I would call and leave a msg for your pediatrician to call you and see what he/she suggests. My nephew now 18 was a big sleepwalker from about age 10 into his tweens. He had several incidents per wk for a while. My sis and bro in law tied a bell to the outside of his bedroom door knob and the exterior door knobs of the house at night for a long time so in the event he would try to walk outside at night they would wake and ck on him. My nephew would always be sent bk to bed when he was sleep walking and had no memory of it when he awoke. It passed with time but was scary for my sis and her husband. You might want to research sleep walking on the internet, but look at reliable/legit web-sites to see what they suggest. Good luck Mom.
Is he over doing it during these fun summer months. Watching too much TV, staying up too late, eating too much sugar/dye junk? Overdoing it can cause restless sleep and the mind does not shut off. I would try slowing down the routine an hour before bed.
I agree, talk to the doctor to make sure he is ok..........then get him back to bed and make sure he can't get out of the house......put a lock way up high, like a hook, that he can't reach on the outside doors.
Have you ever ask him once he is awake if he can remember any of it?
I too used to sleep walk, woke my mom up slamming the front door once to go out and look at my dad's new car.....she went out, got me and brought me back to bed, I don't remember a thing!!!
Try playing some very soft and relaxing music in his room at night..........also, check your bed routine......is there anything he does different on the nights he walks? Play video games before bed, or anything?
Good Luck and take care.
You should talk to his doctor about it. It's probably just plain old sleepwalking, which there isn't much you can do about.
Like the other mom said, make sure he can't get outside or hurt himself with anything. Speak softly and direct him back to his bed. Try not to wake him up.
I was a sleepwalker when I was a kid. Mostly when I was in Jr. High and under a lot of stress. I was also prone to nightmares and talking in my sleep. Most times during my sleepwalking, I would end up inn the shower. I could dry my hair in my sleep! I cannot tell you how many times I woke up in the shower or sitting on my bed with wet hair and didn't know how I got there. It was very confusing. My mom woke me up a few times and I would just freak out. She said my eyes looked wild when she would find me sleepwalking, which would scare her. My doc said to just gently direct me to bed and to not wake me up, which she then did. Eventually, I stopped. But, I still do it at times, mainly to get up and use the toilet. :D
My daughters sleepwalk too, usually when they are too tired.
Hang in there, mom!
You may want to temporarily put a monitor in his room so you can hear when he stirs and gets upset in his bed before he gets up, if that may be occuring, then you can settle him back down and to sleep before he gets too upset. I've done this with my daughter who's had night terrors (she's currently 5yo) and it's true, she usually gets them after having a very "intense" day.
Otherwise, if the dr. says it's something he'll grow out of, I'd just lead him back to his room and try to get him to go back to sleep, not try to wake him or make any sense out of what he says. Good luck!
Is call night terror and is more common in kids from 2 to 8.
My sister had the same thing, and it was scary. Most kids grow out of it by it self but there are things that you can do to help him.
Here is a website that will describe a lot better then me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_terror
I don't know if you speak Spanish but there is another webpage that help you to understand the difference between night terror and normal nightmares.
http://www.bebesymas.com/salud-infantil/como-distinguir-e...
I would look at the Signs and symptoms of night terror and if they match what your son is having, now that you have the name, you can do a deeper search on internet.
My mom took my sister to a doc. but the problem was that most of the time my sister didn't remember anything about it.
It did went away soon. But I remember one time that she kind of wake up and she told us somebody was in the room, we hug her and calm her down and told her it was a nightmare but she couldn't wake up well of it.
So she went back to sleep...but that night all of us decide to sleep in the same room and neither my mom, dad or me could fall sleep for the rest of the night (aka. we were scare), she in the other side was sleeping like a baby, LOL.
