Hi
In the past month, my husband and I have seen our son peeing in odd non-toilet locations. The first time we did not mention it because he seems sound asleep. Now that it is two times, I think we will so he is aware.
He is a heavy sleeper and had night accidents until about 5 1/2 but then stayed dry. Now he is 6 1/2 and has had maybe one accident in the past year.
He does not seem to be awake when he does this and in both cases seemed like he just "stopped at a receptacle" on his way to the bathroom, which is leave well-lit. For example, one night it was in his trash can another in the bath-tub. He is instantly back in bed asleep (the bathroom time, he stopped at the sink to kinda-wet his hands).
Has this ever happened to you all? Is this sleep-walking? Any advice? Thanks
Thanks for all the advice and funny stories (well, funny now) ! I was glad to hear you and your siblings all made it through! I'll mention it to the doctor, gently guide him and most importantly make sure all is safe.
I also realized I could wake him at 11ish and guide him to the toilet, which I did last night. He was confused and still sleeping. I got him facing the toilet - the seat was up already. So, he turned to lift the blinds as if lifting the seat. It was funny. But it seemed to work.
I remember like it was yesterday. My son also did that.Had no idea what he was doing because he was sleeping. Try changing his sleeping pattern. Maybe
1/2 earlier or later. That's is what worked for us.
Good luck.
My little brother did it once when we were about that age. He was completely asleep also! My mom watched the whole thing. He was a bigtime sleepwalker and eventually just stopped! Just make sure he doesn't leave the house to pee ;)
My little brother once came into my room and peed on my radio, and I was cracking up so hard and woke him up out of what we believe was sleep walking. He was sobbing and kind of traumatized because he had no idea where he was!
I would make sure that the areas he's wandering in are safe, and if you're really worried call your doctor. I know that my brother did it once, maybe twice after that and was perfectly fine.
I actually did this when I was little, maybe 4 years old, wandered into the kitchen in my sleep and peed in the garbage can.
If you are aware of him wandering around, you may want to have your husband intercedea and direct him to the bathroom.
It sounds to me like your son is sleepwalking, and, if so, I don't know what would be the best way to handle this. I've always heard that you should not awaken someone who is walking in their sleep, but if you don't awaken him, and simply guide him back to bed, he may wet the bed. At least he's urinating in some sort of a receptacle, and not on the floor, or, worse yet, in his bed.
If I were you, I would be more worried about the sleep walking than I would be about his peeing in receptacles other than the toilet, since he obviously isn't doing it consciously, especially if his bedroom is upstairs. He may well hurt himself by doing things other than urinating in his sleep, or by falling down the stairs.
You might try putting a gate of some sort across the doorway of his bedroom, so that you'll know if he's doing this, to keep him from getting hurt.
And I would also contact his pediatrician and run this by him, as sleepwalking may sometimes be caused by some sort of a sleep disorder, just to rule that out, and also ask his doctor what is the best way to handle it when you see him doing it.
D.
Not unusual. My dad found me with the laundry hamper sleepwalking. I also had night wetting trouble until I was older (11 years or something) and was a dead-sound sleeper. If you think it would help, could you put a gentle alarm on his door so you can get up an check on him when he leaves his room? (One that wakes you up, not everyone in the house.) That might allow you to help guide him to the toilet without waking or traumatizing him. I would not worry about this, but would (as suggested) make sure the house is very very safe and discuss the possible sleepwalking with your pediatrician. They may have made changes in handling this since I was little. My sister and I took some kind of medication that was probably supposed to help us not have to urinate at night (not sure what else it could have been for). Thankfully, those are places that are easy to clean. Good luck!
I lived with a family for a while and their oldest son was a sleep walker. It was hard to tell that he was asleep, too. He'd come to my room numerous times and had full conversations with me but never remembered them the next day. He also used to go to the bathroom in the closet to the right of the bathroom and one other place, much to his mom's chagrin. Can't tell you how they got him to stop doing that but at least you're not alone.
My middle son is prone to sleepwalking, too, though never anything as dramatic as urinating where he shouldn't and more so when he was younger. Now he's more likely to talk in his sleep, like I did. Mostly it's just conversations and trying to walk where there wasn't a way (like into a door or wall). So it was funny to watch when it happened.
It might be genetic. I don't know if I ever sleepwalked, but I used to have doozie of conversations. And I'd often wake up in the middle of a sentence, which is how I knew I was talking out loud. LOL
This has happened in our house too! My oldest son has peed in the trash can in the bathroom and down the laundry chute. Both times he was not awake. My second oldest son recently came all the way down stairs and peed in our trash compactor. I definitely think they were both sleep walking. I used to do it as a kid too although I don't think I peed in strange places. My husband and I have noticed that when it has happened our boys were extremely tired that night so maybe they were sleeping too soundly. I don't have much advice, luckily it's only happened a few times. We did tell them about it so they were aware but didn't tell the whole family so they wouldn't be embarrassed. I'll be interested to read other responses. Just wanted you to know you are not alone!
I used to date someone in college who got out of bed and peed into an open drawer in his dresser... It was so strange. But he had no memory of doing it and went right back to bed. I assume it's some kind of sleepwalking and they think they are walking to the toilet. Not sure what to suggest about remedying it, though.
Same thing happened to my little brother too... but my poor guinea pig did NOT like it! We used to keep her in a big cardboard box that sat on the laundry room floor.
My mom would just stop him quietly and steer him to the toilet. Because it's sleepwalking, I don't think there's much you can do other than gear them in the right direction.
He only did it a couple of times (once in my sister's closet, but she caught him in time).
HI, I see by the other responses you are not alone. I remember when we were kids my younger brother did something simialr. He would pee in a drawer in his bedroom. This was ages ago and I don't remember what came of it. Good luck.
