Anyone have this and know what causes it and can offer any welcome advice?
It has to do with their sleep cycles..many parents have great success with melatonin and epsom salt baths..maybe some experts here in the know can help you:) We had the night terrors..thank goodness she grew out of them:)My son went through a period of being wide awake at odd times, and I know it's rough. He still wakes up in the night at the age of 9, and usually wanders to my bed. I used to think that he got cold, but now I think he's sensory-seeking, even in sleep. He wants tactile and proprioceptive input.
Anyhow, I think what often happens is that something wakes kids up at the wrong part of their sleep cycles -- like wetting their diaper, hearing the newspaper delivered, seeing light sneak in past the curtains, etc.
Here's some good advice from the National Autistic Society in the UK. Their website is well worth browsing around at.
http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1071&a=3376
Good luck with everything.
My son did this at 3 and half years old and it lasted sevaral months. I found that if his day was very stimulating and busy, his slept much better. ALso, we started following a nightly routine similar to what you do with an infant, a warm bath with lavendar soap and dim lights, then sing lullabies, etc., Before I went to bed, I"d go in his room and tuck him in tightly so he would have that secure feeling. It really worked for us. And in the end, we're the ones who really need the lavendar bubble baths :)I think Shelley's right about the sleep cycles. Everybody comes up for air several times throughout the night, but stays asleep. If anxiety (or overstimulation from a funny movie/computer game right before bed) is perched on the bedpost, then the kid and the worry or happy compulsion get up to have a chat together.
And the sensory thing is spot on, too. Our kids have ears like bats and eyes like cats...they can see and hear EVERYTHING! I have a post going about how Cole wakes up before dawn everyday, even if we had a late night. Maybe he hears traffic?
Cole continues to have periodic sleep wakings. If he is harboring the beginning of a virus, it wakes him up. If he watched an old DVD that he has memorized and loves, the "compulsion" will wake him up. If he's anxious, too.
When he was anxious at the start of last year's school year, he'd get up at 2 and stay up until 6. Or just wake up at 4:30 and never go back down. Shelley, do 6 year olds regularly have night terrors? Maybe THAT'S what bothered Cole - he turned 6 on September 2.
After two months of that shattered feeling you are experiencing, I finally started sleeping in his bed. He'd wake up around 12:30, slightly panicked and ask "MOMMY??????"...I'd just say, go to sleep Cole. Another couple hours later, same thing. Another couple hours, ditto.
I found that when I slept with him for about 4 weeks solid, he came to understand that I would be there, and he stopped the periodic waking. I do NOT recommend this! Took us 8 months to break him (actually substituted his little brother for me!).
Maybe he's about to hit a developmental milestone and THAT is preoccupying him? So sorry about your zombiehood! In coffeee, we trust!