8 year old waking in the night

please help. i am a married woman with 2 young children, a 4 year old girl and a 8 year old boy. i have always found it hard to train my boy to be dry at night but a few weeks ago we tryed again and its going really well, however in this time my son has been sleep walking and talking in his sleep saying and doing really strange and horrible things. scary even. he says he remembers nothing, sometimes he will wake after hours sometimes he can be only a hour. we did go throught this over a year ago but it stopped. do u have any advice for me. as i am really worried, i know children sleep walk and talk but im fiding his behaviour a little worrying, many thanks

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

You are doing fine. This is not abnormal. Guide him back to sleep, as yopu are doing, without waking him up. These episodes ar night terrors. They can be upsetting for parents to witness, but they are not harmful and your child will have no memory of them. Be sure not to bring them up with him - it will only serve to worry him.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Are you describing night terrors or something else? Please give me some additional details about what occurs. Your description is too vague to offer you guidance. By the way, you do not have to 'train' your son to be dry at night. In fact, you really cannot train him in this way. Staying dry at night is not a matter of training; it is a matter of development. Some children simply take longer to achieve dryness at night. If you are interrupting his sleep it will be causing a problem.

[tish6]

thank you for your reply, yes your right staying dry is a development matter, what i meant was we have started to take his pull ups off at night and using  water proof bedding, my son is happy for us to do this as this winter his school will be taking him on camp. we started this a few weeks ago, around the same time my son was waking in the night, which i know is common in young children, and i put this down to night terrors or child nightmares. my son is very active, has lots of friends and doing well in school, at home he has a normal childhood with rules and boundries and plenty of love. but what is worry me is what he is saying and doing when he wakes in the night, for example, crying like hes having a breakdown, shouting that daddy got a gun, and hitting the walls in his bedroom saying 'i need to get dog out of the water hes drowning' (thats his sisters toy dog) he makes strange sounds. should i be concerned about any of this or is this just a phase that will pass, we dont wake him, we just stand in his door way till he calms down then puts him back to bed so hes safe.

[tish6]

thank you so much, a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders. if only parenthood came with a handbook. once again thank you.