Do Babies Dream?

A few times when I held Julien when he was asleep, he would break into a smile now and then. Sometimes, his face would wrinkle into a frown or even a grimace. A few times, he has actually suddenly started crying, and then just as suddenly gone all quiet and back to sleep, as though nothing has ever happened. And last Tuesday, when I was holding him while watching telly, he startled me by suddenly breaking into laughter! And then again went back to his gentle breathing straight after...

It makes me think - Is my little boy starting to dream? In the 7th week of his little life?!

I did some quick research online and this is what I found in dreamhawk.com:

"... a baby and child who have not learned to speak cannot think. We think with words. So during pre-speech there are only feeling responses or instinctive urges and fears to guide the child. The development of thinking only phases in gradually, and prior to that we learn from events and relationships, not ideas.

A dream puts into drama and images the processes, feelings and fears that lie behind our personal awareness. In a baby, an unimaginable amount of learning, adjustment, development of responses and body skills is taking place."

Wow! So, yes, it does seem little babies dream. And the first paragraph is interesting, for it raises the point that babies cannot think in words yet, but only in terms of events and relationships. I wonder how Julien perceives me then... Maybe as the huge face that looms towards him every time I lean forward to interact with him, the big hands that stretch forward followed by a rustling of paper and dryness after a diaper change? And goodness me, a big blob of flesh when I breastfeed him? Gosh, the world must be really scary from a baby's perspective. He must feel like Gulliver in his travel to the land of Blobdingnag!

So, why do babies dream? Why do we dream anyway? What is the function of dreams? In our IMD PDI experience last year, the Jungian therapist I worked with had shared with me that dreams are the outlet through we process events, problems, fears that we could not resolve when awake. That dreams help us to make sense and come to terms with knots in our lives... Perhaps, he is right, but if one needs a therapist to decipher your dreams for you, I can't see how my knots are any more straightened than before! I continue to wake up mystified!

Still, the second paragraph does make that point about dreams helping to aid learning. So, I guess the crying and the laughter must be Baby's reactions to his dreams as he goes through the high and low moments. Well, I do rather wish there is more laughter than crying, but maybe we will see more of that as we go along. I guess, being as small as a Liliputian must make him feel rather vulnerable, so there are probably more fears to work out in those dreams.

To soothe your baby, the website I read instructs thus:

"Your baby is incredibly sensitive to the sound of your voice, and your own state of calm or agitation lying behind the way your voice sounds. Therefore you can sit with your baby and imagine a situation in which you feel calm and loving. When you feel calm and strong, gently talk to your baby telling it you are holding it close in your love, and you are with it while it meets whatever is disturbing it. Tell it your love is the strength it can use, and imagine wrapping your baby in your calm and love."

Sounds just like how Harry Potter draws strength from his parents in times of crises. So, Julien, you need not be afraid. Daddy and Mummy will hold you close and talk to you if you are having disturbing dreams. As my Brazilian friends would say, "Dorme com os anjos!"

http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/baby-dreams/