My 4-Year-Old Daughter Wakes In The Night Distressed And Saying Odd Things

by Supriyo Roy
(Kolkata, West Bengal, India)

My 4-year-old daughter wakes up in the dead of night and scolds us as an authority would. She gives peculiar instructions such as "Put your hands behind your back, and, I will tie them up" or "Move away from me, and do not look at me," and cries incessantly.

Before that she generally is distressed for a few minutes with a clogged nose, and sometimes urinates after waking up.

It is difficult to reason with her. It's also very difficult to comfort and console her with soft words. She will not listen to her favorite songs, music, rhymes, or watch animation films she would not miss during the daytime.

She looks confused and half-awake with sleepy eyes. Sometimes she has to be scolded and the lights have to be turned on to break her sleep.

She then coughs and asks for some food, usually for some milk. She then wants to get out of her bed, and sometimes even has to be taken downstairs. After around half an hour she begins to calm down and then it's about another hour or more before she can be put to sleep again. She obviously misses school the next day because she is so exhausted.

Her mother is working, and has a 9 to 5 routine. My daughter stays at home during the day with her uncle, aunt (my elder brother and his wife), and a caregiver. She is otherwise happy, soft natured, and imaginative, maybe a little over-imaginative. Her favorite past times are singing songs and rhymes, play acting before a mirror, and drawing.

She has left her play school and will be going to primary school. In school she, by her own admission, is becoming just a bit less attentive in doing class work.

She tells us simply: "I was slow in writing, and so the teacher asked me to sit on floor and finish, but I was still talking to friends", in a tone that I feel she takes pride in such happenings.

Can someone help me with any advice?