Any idea what could be going on with her?

I'm hoping you ladies (and men) might be able to help me out. My 8 yr. old has always been a great sleeper, but the last few nights have been awful for her. She's been waking up with nightmares 3 -5 x's a night (2 of them have involved her or the pets getting run over). Last night, she was asleep only an hour or hour and a half and she came out of her room to the living room where I was, but wasn't making any sense. Finally about 5 minutes later, she seemed to know what was going on. She wasn't crying or scared, but just not making sense. When I talked to her after she got more lucid, I told her some of the things she was saying and she didn't remember that, but knew she had come out of her room. She was saying she was "worried" and that's why she came out. I asked if she knew what about and she said "no". I went through a list of things that she could be worried about and she said no to all of them (school, friends, projects, anyone getting hurt, more nightmares, the pets, Mom and Dad, brother/sister). I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do. I ended up giving her some benedryl to hopefully help her sleep some. She fell asleep on the couch and we got her to her room where she didn't wake anymore after that. Any thoughts as to what might be going on? Nothing unusual has has happened, our routine is the same. The only thing I can think of is that she asked about how babies were made (and kept asking) the oher day and we gave her some information without being too detailed. Hopefully I didn't scar her.

 

It sounds as if your DD might have been sleepwalking the other night. I know my oldest DD has done that a few times, gotten up from sleeping and started talking to us and not made any sense. We assumed she was sleepwalking. :unknw:

As for her being worried about something, I'm not sure. I guess she could be worrying about something and really not know it though or what it is. :hug: Hopefully this will be short lived and will pass soon. :hug:

I have to admit, I did :laughing: at you saying she asked about where babies come from and you gave her some information and you hoped you didn't scare her. :lol:

 

I have a sleep walker/talker. He's almost 11 and his "episodes" sound very similar. Very disoriented and never remembers anything in the morning. He's often very distraught while it's going one, even to the point of pacing and crying. I hear it's typical at this age.

 

She did go through a phase of night terrors when she was probably 2.5-3 yrs. old. But other than that, she's always slept great. Other than making sure she's safe and the house is safe for her if she does it when I'm not awake, is there anything else that can be done to help her? She did seem to come right out to where I was, but it wasn't super late and I wasn't in bed yet. Thanks ladies.

 

I wish I had some advice for you, just chiming in that I agree. It definitely sounds like sleepwalking. Do you have an alarm or door chimes (anything that makes noise) in case she tries to open a door to go out? I have heard stories of a sleepwalker leaving the house. Not wanting to scare you, just to make it safe for her.

 

Does sound like sleepwalking. Outside stressors can influence the amount of occurrences of sleep walking.

 

Thanks ladies. I appreciate the ideas/feedback. She said she only woke up once last night, but wasn't scared and went back to sleep. We let her listen to her MP3 player softly while she drifted off and that seems to have helped some. I hope it continues to get better. Those were some rough nights!