Family Tips

If your child is sleepwalking, you’re not alone. It can discourage, but sleepwalking is very common for children and most of them do so from time to time and outgrow it by the teen years. However, you should know some simple tips which can keep your child safe while tramping about.
Sleepwalking, which is also called somnambulism, in fact is not just walking. Behavior of a child can be harmless, such as sitting up, or potentially dangerous, like going outside. No matter what the child do, as it is unlikely that he or she will remember it.
When people sleep, their brains pass through five stages of sleep and all together these stages make up a sleep cycle. One complete sleep cycle lasts for about 90 to 100 minutes. Sleepwalking usually occurs during the deeper sleep of stages 3 and 4. It is very difficult to wake someone up during these stages, and when awakened, a person often looks disoriented for a few moments.
Children may walk around for 5 to 20 minutes.
This phenomenon is more common in kids than in adults. It may be hereditary, so if you or your someone from your baby’s relatives were sleepwalkers, your child may be too. There are also some other factors: lack of sleep or exhaustion, interrupted sleep, illness or fever, some certain medications and stress.