Baby
dreams, nightmares and night terrors can disturb your
baby's
sleep. Recognising the type of
dream allows you to help your baby sleep
well, in spite of them.
Dreaming is natural and has an important
function in brain
development from a very early age.
Throughout
childhood and adult life, dreams are known to affect our intellectual and emotional
wellbeing.
A nightmare
is a scary dream. A
night terror is quite different: it is not a dream
but a confused state when waking from deep sleep.
Below is an overview of
how to recognise dreams, nightmares and night
terrors in your baby and how to help her best.
How can you
tell your baby is dreaming?
A dream occurs
in a specific phase of sleep, called REM sleep - Rapid Eye Moment. A
sleeping baby spends more time in this phase than any other. And so
your baby spends more
time dreaming than not dreaming.
(Why) Does a baby dream?
Do babies dream?
Yes, most sleep experts agree that babies dream. And the
younger, the more baby will dream ... even before being born.
Scientists have suggested that a baby in the womb dreams almost all the
time. The function of that prenatal dreaming would be for brain development.
[1-3]
A newborn still dreams most of the time when sleeping and so does a
young baby. The brain is still in full development.
Very gradually the amount of dreaming becomes less. Adults still dream,
but not most of the time. The function of dreams is then less obvious
but dealing with emotional situations is a possibility ...
During
the dream phase,
your baby appears very
active: she'll make (funny) faces,
stretch and clutch fingers, wiggle arms and legs about, make soft
noises ...
If you look closely, you can see baby's
eyes move behind the eyelids:
going quickly from left to right (that's the rapid eye movement).
How to avoid her waking up from baby dreams?
Most
dreams are gentle and will not disturb your baby's sleep.
But some babies wake themselves up from waving their arms and
legs about. Often this is just a short wake - jumping up - and
then they go back to sleep again.
But sometimes it wakes them up completely, over and over again. And
that can really make falling
asleep difficult - babies usually go straight to a dream
phase when starting sleep.
To avoid your
baby waking herself up:
Tightly
tuck baby in, arms well tucked under the blankets and in
the toe to feet
position (feet at the foot end of the bed to avoid sliding under the
covers for a safe baby
sleep position).
Alternatively, use a baby sleeping bag.
The right size sleeping bag gives your baby a good tuck and nicely
keeps her legs still.
When you hold your baby while she drifts off to
sleep, for example after feeding, hold
her closely and secure her arms.
If your baby continues to wake up frequently, you may consider
swaddling. I recommend checking with a medical professional to make
sure swaddling is safe for your baby.
[1]Electroencephalography
Niedermeyer E., Da Silva F.L. - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins,
2005. [2]Ontogenetic Development of
the Human Sleep-Dream Cycle Howard P. Roffwarg, Joseph N.
Muzio, and William C. Dement - Science,
1966:
Vol. 152. no. 3722. [3]Neonatal
Electroencephalography Dreyfus-Brisac C. - Reviews in Perinatal Medicine
Vol. 3. p.397, 1979
Recognising the type of
dream allows you to help your baby sleep
well, in spite of them. 
