Can Children Walk and Talk in Their Sleep?

Sleep Cycles

• Your child's body goes through five stages of sleep, and each cycle takes approximately 90 to 100 minutes. Adults cycle through four to five complete stages over an average night of sleeping, but longer hours in sleep mean kids complete more cycles. Children also have cycles during nap times. Sleep walks typically happen during the third and fourth sleep stage, when the body falls into deep unconsciousness, and within an hour or two after the time your child falls asleep. Talks involving long conversations happen during light sleep in the first two stages of the sleep cycle. Sleepers in third and fourth sleep stages, however, sometimes say single words or moan.

Walking While Sleeping

• Experts with the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry find that sleepwalking generally begins between the ages of 6 and 12, and somnambulism, as it is known, tends to run in families. Children usually don't remember the nighttime walks, and they can do other things in addition to strolling. Many kids make short walks inside the house, but some also open doors and take tours of the neighborhood streets. Adding an alarm keeps children inside the house at night by notifying you when the door opens, and bed rails help children stay in bed during the night.

Sleep Chats

• Sleep chatter, a type of parasomnia formally called somniloquy, happens without conscious memory for most children, according to child development experts at the Kids Health website. Kids can speak a word or two or sit up and carry on a long sleep conversation with others with eyes wide open. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine website reports that half of children sleep chat at some point. Some child conversations seem like nonsense, while other chat focuses on combined events from the child's life dealing with emotional or stressful situations. Most nighttime talk doesn't require medical help, but the National Sleep Foundation website recommends talking with your child's pediatrician when he has nightly conversations that disrupt other family sleepers or interfere with your child getting sound, nightly sleep.

Reducing Sleep Interruptions

• The Kids Health site notes that children frequently outgrow both sleep talking and walking by the teen years, but some children continue the behaviors due to ongoing factors. Children with irregular bedtimes or periods of waking during the night due to household routines have greater chances for sleep activity. Extreme fever or fatigue also increases the chances for nighttime talking and walking. Some medications given to children contribute to sleep actions, and talking to your child's pediatrician about the sleep risks from the medicine helps you prepare for potential sleep events. Sleep specialists also offer help to parents and children when disruptions continue into adolescence or when children have nightly episodes that create problems.