Do babies dream????

Chesty LaRue

Do babies actually dream? If so, do they have bad dreams?

My DS sometimes whimpers in his sleep:( (not a pain cry) more like an upset/sad sound and also has the biggest smiles in his sleep:). Is this wind or are they actually thinking about stuff!!!!

As I have mentioned the tortuous "wind", at what age do you actually stop burping them after feeds and leaving it to themselves?

January

I don't know about dreams, but the smiles out of my smaller one in her sleep sometimes makes me think so, have never heard her whimpering yet though, thank God.

With the bigger one I stopped burping her around the 5/6 month mark... but if she needed to I would give her a hand!

Tabnabs

Yeah, I've seen smiles and laughs in their sleep so they must.

Edit: found this

What do babies dream about?

We may never know for sure, says Parents advisor Jodi Mindell, PhD, associate director of the Sleep Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Dream researchers depend on study volunteers to tell them if, when, and what they dream -- and babies aren't quite up to the task. We do know, however, that adult dreaming occurs during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, and that infants spend 50 percent of their snooze time in REM, which is almost twice as much time as adults spend. "It would be a logical assumption that babies do dream and that it has something to do with their brain development since they spend so much time in this stage of sleep," says Dr. Mindell. But it's hard to imagine the landscape of your baby's dream world since he doesn't have language or clear concepts of people and things. Chances are, he isn't having nightmares, though, since he probably doesn't grasp the meaning of fear yet. "We suspect bad dreams don't happen until kids are 2 or 3 and have a better notion of being afraid and an active imagination that can conjure up boogeymen," says Dr. Mindell.

source

Chesty LaRue

I'd like to think they having pleasant dreams....although not sure about them not recognising fear...you know when they are startled and stretch their little arms out well my DS will do that and let a startled noise as well which clearly sounds like he got a fright....poor wee thing but it is sooooo cute!

Also, he fixates on a specific corner in my bedroom and will spend quite a while smiling and grinning...its not wind...so wonder who or what he sees!!!

They are quite amazing little creatures:)

Tabnabs

Chesty LaRue wrote: »

Also, he fixates on a specific corner in my bedroom and will spend quite a while smiling and grinning...its not wind...so wonder who or what he sees!!!

My sister did this a lot as a baby and one day my mother came in to see what was going on only to see what she describes as a figure standing over the cot.

I guess it depends on what you believe, but I like to think that we have family/ancestors looking over us.

caprilicious

My little lady sleeps in a co-sleeper cot, on the inside there's an embroidered picture of a mum and baby (although the baby has a freakishly big head :eek:) Rose will fixate on it for ages, laugh/smile/have full blown gurgling conversations with it, so cute!

She used to whimper a little in her sleep doing big serious frowns followed by huge grins. I'd love to know what's going through her head with all the expressions going on!

Das Kitty

Same as ourselves I suppose they dream about their experiences. Apparently it helps build their neural pathways which is why you'll often find that they seem to master a new skill after a big sleep.

I'd say the baby is staring at some contrasting shape in that corner. James used to love a picture frame on our sitting room wall.

sam34

if my grandmother saw a baby smiling while asleep she would always say they were listening to the angels

a lovely thought!

tombull82

Me and my wife often talk about this same subject and have now come up with other thoughts from it. when a baby whimpers for now reason, is it because they have an itch and cant tell you about it??

My wife has gotten so fixed on this idea she has actually started to gently rub/scratch our newest baby when she seems frustrated to try relieve a possible itch for her.

crazy cat lady

Dyflin wrote: »

My sister did this a lot as a baby and one day my mother came in to see what was going on only to see what she describes as a figure standing over the cot.

I guess it depends on what you believe, but I like to think that we have family/ancestors looking over us.

Did anyone ever read the book 'Angels in my Hair'? That'd make you wonder what babies see!

Chesty LaRue

Yep have read it....strange!!!!! It would be nice to think they see their guardian angels.....:)