Early Riser..... - Amarillo,TX

Wow! Have you tried asking him why he wakes up so early? What time does he go to sleep? Ask him what's going on? If he won't tell you then have him talk to a Licensed Professional about what might be bothering him that he feels he needs to be awake and get into things. Has he gone through anything traumatic?Could he be having dreams or sleep walking?

Hey B. -

I have never had this problem with my kiddos but a few things came to mind. If it is affordable mabe instal a regular burgular alarm (we use ADT). You are able to set it in sleep mode where you must enter the code before "leaving". So when any door or window opens the alarm goes off. That idea is a little extreme but maybe it will give you peace of mind from thinking he may go outside thehome. Next, have you tried the magnetic child locks? I havenot but my husband used to work at a home improvement store and he mentioned they are very good. Last idea - and for his safety only- maybe install a lock on his bedroom door. Once he is in bed lock the door until the next morning. Of course you would want to instal a really good baby monitor for an emergency (maybe one of those video camera ones). You would want it placed up high, and remove anything he can climb on to get to it. Besides being scared for just him it sounds as if you may be scared of the other kiddosin your home. I'm sure your son is not a bad child, but it only takes one "mistake" to seriously hurt a child. Again - I have never been through this so i can't say i understand. But I am here to talk if you need to.

hi my name is N. im a mother of 3 kids a tennager son who is 15 going to be a freshmen this year and two girls 9 and 4 im a happy married mther my husbund works full time as a dettention officer for the juvenile detetion center and im a house wife for know but eny ways i just wanted ask u if u had tried buying a alarm that u can put on your doors or your windows and if your son tyes to open them up at night it will go off and you will be able to know hes up lol well thought i give u a little bet of advice if u need more just ask me send me a email at ____@____.com oh and i live in san antonio texas nice to meet u talk to u soon hope to hear from u bye and good luck

Girl, I hear you. I feel like I have to go to bed as soon as the kids go to 'get a leg up on them' in the morning. Both of mine ended up with ADHD issues later - don't think your kid does/will have this problem.

My kids have also systematically destroyed many things, and have climbed onto the top counters and I don't know why they are still alive sometimes. My oldest used to pick every child lock we had. We finally picked a locked closest to put any and all tools, etc into when not using. I had the worst trouble with my hubby keeping his stuff put away when not using. Since you cannot lock up your cooking knives,etc. we have one cabinet we actually had a lock put on for those. Hide the keys, though so they don't just pick up the keys and let themselves in to get stuff. FOr detergents and cleaning stuff, we just told them that they were poison and they would get very sick and maybe die if they got it on their skin, etc. Eventually, you can leave more and more stuff out as they get the message. They wouldn't like it if you took their stuff! We also have put up in the locked closet any thing they hold near and dear for everytime they get into stuff that does not belong to them and make them earn it back. Also make sure you reiterate what a good job they do respecting your stuff.

Good luck

I babysat for a family with a young daughter whose room was upstairs and the parents room was downstairs. They worried about her falling downstairs during the night. They ended up putting a baby monitor in her room and put a door knob with a lock on the outside of her door. I don't know how you would feel about doing that but it's an idea. Also, you can get the dead bolts for your front/back doors that require a key to unlock from the inside and out. Let me know how it goes if you try it.

I have a great idea for you! At our house we have one of these and I'm not sure what they are called or the brand but hopefully I can explain it to you so you will know what I mean!:) You see commercials all the time for them. They are little alarms that you can put on doors or windows. One piece goes on the door frame and the other on the actual door. When they are in line together it doesnt make any noise but when one passes the other as the doors opens it goes off. You can put it high enough that he can't turn it off and then when he opens his bed room door you will hear him and be able to get up. They aren't really big either and supper easy to install(I believe its just double sided foam tape) I think we got ours from a local dollar store but you can find them lots of places I am sure. Hopefully this will work for you!

Bonta v
When My Son was starting school 1st grade I beleive he started sleep walking.
he would pack his bookbag up and head out the door way after midnight.
Is your son slep walking by any chance.
I fond out that he was being treated meanly by another kid in his class.
That is something to look into.
Does he just not sleep?
Maybe you shouldnt put him to bed early.
I had to put locks on the front and back door.
Well I hope that may help some. ask yor son why he gets up late at night or early in the morning.
Ill say a prayer for you and your son.
God Bless T.

Hi B.,

My previous pediatrician made this suggestion to me when we were talking about how to keep my daughter in her room when she was sent there as a time-out. She suggested installing something like a screen door that has a latch on the outside, so that we would be essentially locking her in during her time-out periods. It seemed extreme to us so we didn't do it, but it might be a consideration for you. Of course it might not work if there are other chilren in the room with him. Another thing you might look into is a motion alarm in his room. You could install it so that it sounds if he gets out of bed or goes down the hall or something. These both seem drastic, but it seems like you need something big! Hope this helps!

T.

I don't know what kind of sleeping pill he is on, but Ambien had some research published some time ago that shows it INCREASES risk of sleepwalking. I don't know if you've tried TOT Locks, but they're the only ones that childproof our cabinets (put all the keys in your pillow, and have no other magnets in the house). They also sell cheap ($20) 'alarms' at home depot that will wake the house if a door or window is opened. You could try them on the door and window leading out of his room - to let you get some sleep.

If none of that works, I know a lot of people would consider it extremely inhumane, but I'd cocoon him (think light tight sleeping bag with a locked zipper) before I'd let him hurt himself.

Here's a list of other possible roots of sleepwalking: http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic638.htm - it seems to me that, barring other causes, a paralytic would be more effective at stopping it than a sleeping pill. You might try a sleep disorders specialist (I have no referrals) - I'm assuming his doctor ordered a sleep study, though - where they do an EKG while they sleep to study brain function and rule out seizures, etc.

S.

Hi B.
It sounds like you need a home alarm system. They can detect movement inside the house with motion sensors.
Good Luck. S. K.

Silly and noisy durning the day but bells on the doors.

Have you tried to come up with a way to lock him in his room? Even to the extent of a dead bolt or something on the outside so he can't get out. Put a baby monitor in there or walkie talkie so he can let you know if he needs to go to the bathroom. We had to lock my 2.5 year old in his room for the same reason. The pediatrician recommended locking him in his room for safety purposes. e can get by with the door handle things that you have to squeeze to open the door right now and actually we don't lock him in much more b/c he is getting better but for your child's safety you should consider some way to lock him in his room at night.