All life is a dream, and dreams, dreams are. Dreams are mental manifestations of images, sounds, thoughts and sensations in a sleeping individual, and usually related to reality. Adults dream every night, although not everyone can remember dreams. But when do we start to dream? Do babies have dreams? What do babies and children dream about?
We are going to approach the fascinating world of dreams, focusing on the smallest, since while sleeping, the baby does not "disconnect" by being completely inactive in this state of rest that is the dream.
Surely you have observed his eyelids while the baby sleeps, and movements with the eyes are appreciated: that means that he is dreaming. Some grimace, a smile, babbles ... are other signs that, when the baby grows, show that he dreams.
During sleep there is an important brain work that consists of assimilate and relate the information received during the day or waking moments. This process is what originates dreams and takes place during a certain phase: the so-called "rapid eye movement phase" (REM).
Dreams of the fetus and newborn baby
Maybe babies are already starting to dream in the womb, While they sleep. They probably "think" of sounds, of lights, since obviously their life experience is not very extensive. As we have seen, there are studies that prove that the REM phase occurs in fetuses of seven months of gestation and even earlier. Dreams in these stages would consist of sensitive recreations, while once they are born they can also recreate emotions.
In that period there is no vigil (at least in the postnatal sense) and it is probably a continuous, but very active dream.
Other studies confirm that babies dream. Dr. Charles P. Pollak, director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Weill Cornell Hospital in New York, notes that newborns experience the REM phase. The eyes move together from side to side and sometimes from top to bottom. Another question is to know what the little ones dream, because it is impossible to find out: "We assume that children dream childish things, but we don't really know what."
Babies spend more hours in this phase of sleep than adults. What is known is that at that stage there is a great brain activity, and that different areas of the brain participate in those involved in wakefulness.
The memories that are kept on waking can be simple (an image, a sound, an idea, etc.) or very elaborate. The most elaborate dreams contain scenes, characters, settings and objects, and these would only be possible in older children and adults.
Babies would have both dreams and simple memories, not a succession of clear images related to each other, which would be possible by the second or third year of life. Then emotional experiences begin to gain importance.
Dreams and language
Around 18 months, the child begins to refer to what he has "seen" at the beginning in a confusing way and mixed with reality, also because of the difficulties in telling what he has dreamed, since he has not fully developed the language.
Therefore only when you have acquired greater linguistic fluency there is evidence that you dream, which does not mean that you do not do it months before, as we have seen, and that your dreams are related to your daytime experiences. Once you express yourself better, you can start telling us what your dreams are.
Nightmares are frequent during the two years of the child, and it will only be after the age of five when the child is a spectator of his dream rather than an actor. Gradually, dreams can become more complex by introducing sensations, emotions and language.
In short, although we know little about baby dreams, or at least about its content, it is increasingly clear that the little ones dream. And dreaming is one more way to rest and learn by blowing the imagination, so that you better dream a lot, and calm.
