OT: Talking in sleep? or Yelling!!

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  • Misty
    Participant

    Ok I have 7 beautiful children all who sleep well and through the night.  But my one daughter (3yr) just in the last 3 months started talking/yelling out in her sleep.  I thought it was a over tired problem, nope.  Then maybe a eating to close to bed thing, nope.

    Ok so what do I do?  Right now she’s in the small bedroom downstairs alone because she was starting to wake at night to go potty and we thought being close to us in the beginning would be best.  This is fine and she can stay here for a while, but she will be sharing a room with her sister soon and I don’t want her to be waking up the little one.

    Any thoughts or suggestions?  You are wondering what she is saying.. mommy, peanut butter jelly time (if you know this little tune you will get it :0)  ), paint my nails,  just about anything as you can see.

    I don’t know what to do or how to help her.  Thanks

    I did this when I was little Misty….I did it from about aged 2 to 7 but it did start tapering off at about 4 and then it was occasionally until I was 7 and then it stopped. I also went walk about on occasion up and down the stairs and wandered through the house then went back to bed….doctor told my mum not to worry that I would outgrow it, and I did. He also told her that if I seemed genuinely frightened by something, she should just quietly tell me all was well and I would likely go back to sleep, and that worked too. Of course that was a lot of years ago and maybe advice has changed but it worked for me. Both my daughters had night terrors for about 6 months, but the pediatrician said it was because we had moved and they had lost their security, but horrible as that was, it passed too and they now sleep like logs. So I would not worry too much….Linda

    JennNC
    Participant

    Misty I agree with Linda. My oldest (now 15) had night terrors when he was little and the doctor gave us very similar advice. He eventually grew out of it. Although… I’m not sure if your daughter is having true night terrors (which are rather frightening to the parent) or just very active dreams. Does she seem upset by these episodes?

    Misty
    Participant

    upset?  no more like she is trying to get us to do something and we are not listening or doing it.  They are not frightening to me.

    Thanks ladies I will just wait it out.  Hopefully, and maybe, it’s just her stress from trying to wake herself up to go potty?  Just a thought writen out. 

    Rachel White
    Participant

    I have always been a sleep walker and talker; sometimes yelling myself awake! Only occasionally has the yelling been related to a nightmare.

    I used to freak my mom out because I’d show up beside her bed in the middle of the night-she’d just gently gude me back.

    I’ve even gone and poured drinks in my sleep and eaten in my sleep.

    My husband tells me about things I say in the night. He can’t always tell whether I’m talking to him or talking in my sleep.

    My son does it occasionally, too. He’ll talk, too and then turn around and go back to bed. He’s been caught trying to go to the bathroom in non-bathroom places due to this!

    I find that I talk mostly when I have unresovled issues that I didn’t or wouldn’t address due to being polite, during the day. So at night I can be verbally quite mean!

    I walk during times of stress.

    I had a great-aunt who ended up outside one night; so they had to lock the door in a special way so she wouldn’t leave the house anymore.

    If my child was doing that, that’s the only time I’d be concerned.

    crazy4boys
    Participant

    I have two siblings that talk/yell in their sleep.  Both are in their 30s now and they haven’t outgrown it.  The worst it got was my brother trying to kick his bedroom door down because he thought it was a dog attacking him.  Someone would just calmly and quietly tell them they were dreaming and needed to go back to sleep.  They’d either talk to us for a while (with NO recollection later of what they said) or just fall back asleep.  We did too.

    Both have different degrees of sleep apnea so perhaps that might be something to look into.  Otherwise she’ll either outgrow it or not, and everyone will figure out how to deal with it and move on with life.

    LindseyD
    Participant

    Misty,

    I was a sleep talker as a child. It was really bad whenever my family would travel, stay in hotels, or go on vacations. I have no idea why…maybe that’s just when my parents heard me the most since we would frequently share rooms. If your dd isn’t upset, screaming out in terror, having nightmares accompanying the yelling, etc., then I wouldn’t worry about it. In 10 years of marriage, my husband has only heard me talking in my sleep once or twice, so I guess I grew out of it. I’m sure your dd will also!

    I had a friend once who would answer questions in her sleep. You could ask her anything, and she’d give an honest answer! Her mom suspected she had been out drinking one night, despite my friend assuring her that she hadn’t. After my friend had fallen asleep, her mom took advantage of her nighttime honesty and asked her. Sure enough, she couldn’t lie in her sleep and answered that, yes, she had been out drinking. She was in big trouble the next day! 

    Blessings,

    Lindsey

    suzukimom
    Participant

    I talk in my sleep occasionally…   My brother would talk in his sleep, and occasionally yell.  (Once when he was in his 20’s, he yelled out FIFTY YEARS ?!? in his sleep (I wonder if he was dreaming he was being sent to jail…).  When he was very young, he was a sleep walker, and once went outside in the middle of night, and was locked out (in Canada in Winter!) – the cold woke him up right away and he must have pounded on the door or rang the doorbell or something (although I think he was very very young…) – so my parents put a lock up high on the door (to outside) for safety.

    Misty
    Participant

    All your stories are great and make me feel so much better!

    lisacm
    Member

    She could be having a night terror.  My dd has has them since she was 2, and she is now 9 and still has them occasionally.  She talks (and sometimes cries) and says really crazy things.  She sits up and moves around (rarely gets out of bed).  It seems like she is awake, but she is completely asleep (she never remembers the next day).  They last from 5 to 15 minutes usually, and they always occur within a certain timeframe after she has gone to sleep (I think it is in the 1st 2 hours).  If it is a night terror, you can’t wake a person up from it (it took us months to realize she wasn’t awake).  If you recognize that they happen at a certain time each night, you can lightly wake the person up a few minutes before and break the cycle.  They used to happen for dd very frequently, and now it is only when she is extremely tired or has been sick.

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