Tonight, I found my niece sleepwalking in the kitchen. It frightened me when she would not look at me or respond to my voice. Her behavior was much different than it normally is. She walked in circles and tried opening locked doors. She is 6 years, so I simply picked her up and put her back in bed. I was wondering what I should do if this happens again? For example, should I try to wake her up? Walk her back to bed? Thanks!
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Walk her back to bed. Don’t wake her up she will freak out. if you lightly take her arm she should follow.
I would recommend keeping an ear out though. If she fiddles enough with a locked door eventually she will open it.
No! Never try to wake somebody up who you know is sleepwalking. It’s dangerous, and can cause heart attacks. Just gently guide her back to bed. Don’t talk loudly or clap or stimulate her in any way. Make sure her mother talks to a doctor about this. Sleepwalking is really common but can be really dangerous, especially in young kids. My little brother used to do this, and ended up eating cigarette butts in his sleep, causing him to be mysteriously sick for months until we figured it out. Good luck!
lol I remember sleepwalking when I was 6yrs old…it was from my room to my parents room. They were awake but it was weird cause I partially remember it to this day…they were laughing at me while sitting in there bed (some parents I have) as they knew I was sleepwalking (I must have done it before) and I was jumping up and down for some reason then went into there bed. My eyes were sort of half-closed half-opened but yea I didn’t know the potential dangers of sleepwalking till now so consider me lucky.
Nothing was made of it, and I’m pretty sure that’s the last time I ever sleep-walked. I’m pretty sure your niece might half-remember this episode but yea don’t wake em up and you did the right thing like others said.
I would have done the same thing you did. If you try and wake the child they may become frightened and it might give them an uneasy feeling when it’s bedtime.
Make sure she doesn’t eat high sugar foods before bed because that may mess up her sleep. Also make sure she doesn’t drink any caffeine at all!
Also-I wouldn’t bring it up to her in the morning because she has no memory of it anyway. Next time just direct her straight to her bed and make sure anything poisonous and/or dangerous is put away!