Does your child sleep walk? if so what do you do?

[Dunnyjo]

My ds who is 2.6 seems to be sleep walking more and more now. If he has a nap and wakes up he starts to cry and walks to the place where i was sitting before he fell asleep. I talk to him and say mummy is here but he cant seem to hear me and i have to pick him up.
Last night we could hear thumping around in the bedroom but when we go in he is still asleep and needs taken back to bed.
Is thi normanl? i know adults can do this but children?
Luckly i have a stair gate up onthe top landing so he cant wander down the stairs on his own or anything, but it still is a concern though.
Any thoughts would be most welcome!

[mumoftwoangels]

You are not alone! My dd1 is 5 and sleep walks! It is something that unless you have seen your child do it can be hard to understand! We have kept the stair gate on the top of the stairs at night and if we do find her wondering we just turn her round or carry her back to bed. But she is sound asleep.

[Cailyn3]

Hi
Does he cry with the most heartrending noise? My son is 5 years old and has night terrors, which sound similar to what you are describing. Night terrors are not nightmares - terrors carry on, nightmares stop as soon as they wake up. My ds1 has a diabolical dream, and is still dreaming when he gets up, he cries in a really horrible desperate sounding way, and talking to him, picking him up etc doesn't work well (he actually fights with us if its a really bad dream). He's been doing it since 18 months old, but only does it at night, and generally within a couple of hours of going to bed. My ds can't hear me, can't talk and has difficulty moving about in this state but he's been doing it so long its like "here he goes again, who's turn is it to get him?" We generally give him a drink, and as soon as he talks to us, he's back in bed like a shot because we know he's ok!
As far as I know, its normal, generally they grow out of it, but I know at least one adult that still gets them, but puts it down to being too hot at night.
Stair gate is a good trick - stops the kids from wandering downstairs looking for you if you've gone to bed early - we still have ours to stop ours from ransacking the kitchen first thing in the morning!

[Hermit]

My ds is now 9 and has had episodes of night terrors and sleepwalking on and off all his life.
We have always just cuddled him and taken him back to bed. In the morning he remembers nothing. For the last three years or so, he has only done this when worried about something or when a significant event is looming. Once, however, I woke to find him standing over me with a fire extinguisher held aloft - scary! From what I have read, there's not much you can do except try to make sure they can't harm themselves and reassure them. Best not to make too much of it when they're awake!