So, a few months ago, I talked about my daughter’s night terrors that she has had since as far as I can remember.  Her doctor indicated that the closer she grew to school age, she would begin to outgrow these.  She is 4 1/2 now and she is slowing beginning to outgrow the terrors.  However, now she is aimlessly walking and talking in her sleep – just like her mother, moi, did as a child. 

She will wake up bright eyed and appear to be fully awake until you see her walking to a table laying imaginary items down and talking in a language I’m not at all familiar with.  She will carry on a full conversation in this strange tongue and I pretend to understand every word so as not to irritate her during strange sleep state.

Within several minutes, she will either lay back down to sleep as normal folk do or she will suddenly truly awaken with a smile and a hug.  It is the oddest site to witness and can be a little comical although I do try not to laugh because she is, afterall, asleep and her demeanor during this state can change at any moment.  When she strolls around, I do still have to follow her to ensure her safety.

One thing I have noticed is that more often than not these days, this sleepwalking state is triggered by the need to go to the potty.  I would say that 70% of the time, this is very true.  My first realization of this came one afternoon as I observed her during one of these states and she politely walked into the hallway and “pretended” to pull down her bottoms and squatted in the floor.  I immediately realized what was happening and rushed her to the potty before she soiled herself and the carpet.  Now, when she has these sleepwalking/talking episodes, the first thing I ask her is if she needs to use the potty and sometimes I have to nudge her in that direction.  More often than not, as soon as she does her thing, she lays back down without further incident and goes back into a true sleep state.

When she awakens I always ask her about her actions and she doesn’t have a clue of what I’m talking about because she doesn’t remember any of it.  Although I would prefer she not have any of this, I would rather she merely sleepwalk/talk than wake up screaming in terror for no apparent reason.  Her doctor still insists that all of this is completely normal and will soon become a distant memory.

Dee