by Mariann H

Created on: February 21, 2007   Last Updated: April 25, 2007

My son who is sleep walking started about 2 years ago. THANKFULLY he has never left the house, but he does venture the stairs. He will always come to me and my husbands bedroom door, knock, and when we answer hes unable to speak, just um,um,um,um and my son is never at a lose for words. One of us get up walk him back to bed tuck him in get him a drink of water and hes snoring before we leave the room. Most of the time if we ask him what happened in the night he has no idea he did anything at all, not even a dream or nightmare. We have put these first alert alarms on the doors that are dangerous to him, they are alarms that ring (very loud) when the 2 mechanisms separate, its great without the expensive system. We Even had to put one on the fridge due to he was snacking and not knowing and that can lead to choking, and obesity.

Alot has changed in the past 2 weeks or so due to the fact, our 3 month old is finally out of the bassinet and in her own crib which is a room over from our sons, So we told him "you are the big brother, Shes going to need you to stay in bed and keep an ear out," even though we have the baby monitor. There were a few nights we heard him go into her room and sing to her while she was sleeping, there are also sometimes we find him curled up on the floor next to her crib with his blanket and pillow and he doesn't know why or how he got there. He has never tried to pick her up so we know shes in no danger. We think its sweet, but we understand it's habit forming, But it comforts the baby to know hes there.
I talked to a school counselor/ social worker and she suggest he see a sleep therapist or doctor due to sleep apnea, Which we are looking into. Hes 7 so a sleep clinic is hard to get him involved in , He very rarely spends nights without us, so we thought it would make things worse. But every option we can weight will help us improve his wellbeing.

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