Out of the many sleep disorders in children, somnambulism or sleepwalking children is common between the 6-12 years age bracket. In case of sleepwalking children, the brain is not fully asleep during these episodes and some parts are awake and the children sleepwalking get up during the middle of the night and may start to walk, eat, dress up, move out of their rooms etc. Children sleepwalking is more common in boys than in girls.
Sleepwalking in children is a matter of concern for parents due to security and safety reasons, because the child may hurt himself, topple over or fall if some steps are not taken to prevent this. Some tips for parents of children sleepwalking are – keep the bedrooms clean of any toys, clutter or other sharp objects, make the child sleep on the ground floor of the apartment if possible and avoid bunker beds, hang a cow’s bell on the door knob as an alert for themselves, install gates at stairways and keep doors and windows locked at night. It is advisable not to awaken a sleepwalking child and make them go back to their beds politely if sleepwalking in children happens.
Sleepwalking in children cannot be attributed to a specific cause but psychologists and doctors have been able to put forth the following causes like – disturbed sleep/ wake cycles, noisy and lit rooms, headaches and migraines, fights with peers or siblings, bedwetting etc. One out of ten children shows at least one episode of sleepwalking during their childhood years. Sleepwalking children may also cause disturbance to a bed partner and in extreme episodes if another person is trying to awaken the sleepwalking child they might resist and fight back.
Researchers do not relate any serious emotional problems in sleepwalking children because this outgrows as they reach adolescence and sleepwalking in children generally not carried forward in life. Parents of sleepwalking children need to be careful during these episodes and should not make fun the next morning or poke the sleepwalking children.
It has been shown that sleepwalking in children can be reduced to a great extent if parents maintain a record of the time when the child sleepwalking occurs at night and awaken the child exactly 15 minutes before that and keep him awake for 5 minutes and then put the sleepwalking child back to sleep.
This article is written by Ronald Chan, author of the best-selling book Children Sleepwalking; Why You Should Be Worried. Gain access to more sleepwalking children materials on his leading website at www.children-sleepwalking.com today.
