A friend of mine has a son who has recently been found out to be a sleepwalker. He's 16. He was gone from the home this morning. He walked out of the back door down to the bank of a canal. Someone saw him laying down and woke him and brought him home. He had no jacket, phone or shoes on.

How do I even begin to help these people? The kid is a gentle soul and not rebellious at all. He's a nice kid.

Tony.

"28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds, that is when the world will end..."

Seriously, I have been dealing with the effects of sleep walking for many years. Mine is caused mostly by the meds I take. Is he on any meds that may add to this problem?

At 16, I am going to guess alcohol and drugs are not the issue. But I would check with that to be sure.

Does he get enough exercise during the day? He might want to start working out or engaging in more of an active lifestyle. That helped me.

H&K-Guy

Alarm his bedroom door. They make battery operated units that are very inexpensive.

My 6 year old doesn't sleep walk on his own, but I always wake him up to go potty before I go to bed. Even though he's awake it's obvious he's not awake. He has no problem walking around or talking to me, but he wants to do strange things and has no recollection when he wakes up the following morning.

Have they consulted his doctor?

Consult his doctor and lock / alarm his bedroom door from the outside.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
Alarm his bedroom door. They make battery operated units that are very inexpensive.

My 6 year old doesn't sleep walk on his own, but I always wake him up to go potty before I go to bed. Even though he's awake it's obvious he's not awake. He has no problem walking around or talking to me, but he wants to do strange things and has no recollection when he wakes up the following morning.

Fantastic idea! I'll ask about what meds he's on. He is underweight and they've got him on a 2000 calorie diet. They have to stay on top of him to make sure he eats enough. He is heavily involved in band and is a fantastic drummer.

Tony.

I walked in my sleep once when I was about 8. Luckily touching my step-brother's feet woke him up and he turned on the light asking, "WTH are you doing?" I never made it to the stairs.

Possibly a motion activated light outside his door?
4 point leather restraints if all else fails.


ETA: alarming the door, assuming the parent wants to know every time the kid pees or gets a drink of water, is a much better option than locking the door from the outside.
There are scenarios that make it a GOOD thing to be able to leave the room.

Sleep study with a good sleep clinic is a start.

On occasion I still sleep walk. A few times a year I get stuck in my walk in closet thinking I'm downstairs getting a snack. My wife will wake me up and bring me back to bed.

Thanks again for the suggestions. I've relayed them and also suggested a simplisafe alarm system. If he leaves the house at night, everyone will know.

Tony.

quote:

Originally posted by rtquig:
On occasion I still sleep walk. A few times a year I get stuck in my walk in closet thinking I'm downstairs getting a snack. My wife will wake me up and bring me back to bed.

Hahaha, I'm sure you tell her to go make you a sammmich, eh?

Bless his heart. As other's have mentioned good ideas i'll just add that my brother would sleep walk and have night terrors. He would appear to be wide awake carry on converstations etc. One time we were all on vacation as a family later in our life, he was 39 or so and we had rented a beach house on the gulf. He awoke in a night terror and ran through the house and dove into the bathtub and like to have broken his neck. Something was chasing him.

My 10 year old has slept walked a couple of times and my wife does regularly. She ends up at the fridge and drinks pickle juice from the jar. She's awoken my eldest son a couple of times doing this.

Now a thousand and three uses?

Actually, get a medical consult. In the meanwhile, set up something to awaken others when he walks.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
Alarm his bedroom door. They make battery operated units that are very inexpensive.

My 6 year old doesn't sleep walk on his own, but I always wake him up to go potty before I go to bed. Even though he's awake it's obvious he's not awake. He has no problem walking around or talking to me, but he wants to do strange things and has no recollection when he wakes up the following morning.

I have a cheap driveway sensor on the stairs. Our 4 year old can open the gate and will occasionally try to go to the basement to play if he wakes up.

Certainly needs to be seen by a sleep clinic

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:

quote:

Originally posted by rtquig:
On occasion I still sleep walk. A few times a year I get stuck in my walk in closet thinking I'm downstairs getting a snack. My wife will wake me up and bring me back to bed.

Hahaha, I'm sure you tell her to go make you a sammmich, eh?

She has hidden the peanut butter on me. I can say that once I started on the CPAP, the urge to have "midnight snacks" has diminished greatly.

If he's anything like my stepson, he'll grow out of it.

My stepson was sleepwalker and sleeptalker from age 12 through about 16. He never left the house, but a couple times a month he's get up in the middle of the night, walk into another room of the house, and stand there holding a nonsensical conversation with himself.

(Real words, but not making any sense. Sometimes he would make Tarzan-like yelling/yodeling noises too.)

He'd usually put himself back to bed after a little bit. Or if one of us noticed him and told him to go back to bed, he'd go right away.

Then one day, he just didn't do it any more. He still talks/mumbles in his sleep occasionally, but he hasn't sleepwalked in years.

We never put up an alarm, since his was harmless. But that would have been our first step.

Legos on the floor. Doctor visit too.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:


Now a thousand and three uses?

Actually, get a medical consult. In the meanwhile, set up something to awaken others when he walks.

I scrolled barely to the picture and said to myself, "1002....". Then I saw your comment of 1003. I actually get the reference for once! Great movie....

As others have said, locking the door is probably a bad idea, as there are scenarios where you'd want to get out of the room....

Good luck. Sleepwalking can be dangerous. A former friend (just lost track of each other over the years) had a brother who was a regular sleepwalker. Took meds sometimes, and precautions. He was found dead with a broken neck in the ravine at the bottom of his backyard deck. Successful professional in his 40s, I do not know if he had a family. Nobody knows, or will ever know what happened, but sleepwalking was suspected.