Sleepwalker

More “big kid” questions!

Sam sleepwalks. We can tell when he’s “not really there,” though he’s moving and his eyes are open, because he doesn’t respond to us (or does so incorrectly – wandering to the bathroom when we tell him to go back to bed), because he looks “glazed over,” and because he usually shakes and shivers as he stands.

One time, I overheard him climbing down from his bunk, and when I went to find him, he had gone into the playroom, climbed over a baby gate to get into the closet, and was standing still in the dark closet, holding a car. He never remembers doing any of this the next day.

Any thoughts? Just a stage, or is there something I can do to help him? I can’t see a pattern or correspondence with his level of activity during the day, diet, or bathroom habits (whether he has to go before bed, etc.). I’m at a loss, and I’m sort of worried that he might wander off downstairs some night and get hurt. He shares a room with Gabe, who frequently comes into our bed at night, so I don’t want to baby gate the door unless I have to – and he might climb it, anyway, unless I stacked them and made a real cage of it.