do babies have nightmares?

Question

my baby sometimes cries in her sleep, it really upsets me!!

Answer 1

The Truth About Dreams, Nightmares, and Night Terrors
Dr. Greene, when does a child start to dream? And at what age do nightmares or night terrors begin?
Tim Allen, Anchor/Producer
New Cumberland, Pensylvania








The truth about dreams, nightmares, and night terrors will surprise you.

Dreams have been described since the beginning of human history, but it was only in 1953 that Aserinsky and Kleitman discovered the brain wave pattern we call REM (rapid-eye-movement) sleep. During sleep, we go through four progressively deeper stages of sleep (stages 1 to 4) in which the brain is quiet but the body may move or shift.

In a separate stage, called REM sleep, the brain is highly active, but the body seems paralyzed (except for the eyes, which dart back and forth). This REM sleep is what we know as dreaming. As adults, we spend about 20% of our sleep time in REM sleep.

A preschool-aged child patters down the hall in the middle of the night to appear at her parent's bedroom door. Tears streak her face. "Mom, I've had a bad dream!" she reports. "Robbers were chasing me!"

At age 3 or 4, most children begin remarking about their dreams. In their desire to imitate adult behavior, children at that age assert (with confidence) many things that aren't quite factual. Are they really having dreams? Or might they be using their fertile imaginations to describe what they've heard others talk about, perhaps as yet another way to try to maneuver into the parents' big bed?

"I can't sleep. Can I get in?"

Alternatively, might children begin dreaming even earlier, and only start talking about it as preschoolers?

To solve this mystery, Roffwarg and associates undertook a classic study in 1966 (the associates included Dement, whose popular new book The Promise of Sleep is getting rave reviews). The research team began by studying sleep waves in newborns. The investigators believed that infants do not have REM sleep because they do not dream, but the researchers intended to discover what newborn sleep waves looked like. The team would continue to measure sleep waves throughout infancy and toddlerhood to learn when and how dreaming begins.

The startling discovery was, not only do newborns dream -- even on the first day of life -- they actually dream more than the college students in the original studies (Science, 1966; 152:604).

This study has been repeated several times, confirming and expanding our knowledge. We dream more in the first 2 weeks of life than at any other time. The visual part of the brain is more active during newborn REM sleep than during adult sleep. They seem to have more vivid visual dreams.

Infants 3 to 5 months old dream much more than infants 6 to 12 months old do. 18-month-olds dream almost twice as much as 3-year-olds do. By age 3, the amount of time spent dreaming per night is in the same range as that of young adults. As the wheel of time turns throughout life, each year we dream a little less (Science, 1966; 152:604).

If children dream from the moment that they are born, might they dream before that time? We now know that they begin to sleep at as early as 4 weeks of gestation (Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 1975; 38:175). REM sleep waves have been found at as early as 28 weeks of gestation, and REM sleep waves accompanied by the eye movements of dreams by 30 weeks of gestation (Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine in the Child, WB Saunders, 1995). It seems dreaming begins 2 or 3 months before babies are even born!

Dreams appear to be a kind of parallel processing by which we integrate our experience, making new connections in our brains. In the uterus, babies probably dream about the muted light they see and the sounds they hear (heartbeats, voices, and music). After birth, perhaps they dream about the explosion of new sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and textures as they delight in getting to know their parents.

We may dream more during the day than we do at night! As mentioned earlier, when we sleep, we dream only about 20%of the time. During non-REM sleep, the brain rests. Growing evidence suggests that we have real dreams all day long, but these are not noticed because of the "loudness" of our senses and our conscious thinking (Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine, WB Saunders, 1994). In a similar way, we have an unobstructed view of stars in the sky all day long, but we can't see them because they are overwhelmed by the light of the sun.

At night, the stars and the dreams come out.

Nightmares are unpleasant dreams that awaken a dreamer from sleep.

Traumatic events are known to cause a predictable pattern of nightmares: first dreams that relive the event, then dreams that relive the primary emotion of the event using different scenarios (different pictures), then dreams that incorporate aspects of the event into other parts of life. Nightmares are an important means of addressing difficult events and emotions to weave them into the fabric of our minds in a constructive way. Because the forces that produce nightmares are simpler than the complex drives that may initiate our other dreams, nightmares might be a good entrance into understanding the significance of dreams in general (Psychiatry, 1998; 61:223-238).

Nightmares are thought to be most common between the ages of 3 to 5 years --the peak age for fears -- they are said to begin around that time, or shortly before. Though I don't know of any others who concur, the available evidence leads me to a vastly different conclusion: that just like other dreams, nightmares are most common long before the preschool period.

Stressful events, such as injections, circumcision (which should never be done without anesthesia), being left alone or dropped, or even feeling hungry, need to be learned about and integrated. It seems to me that anything worth crying about is worth dreaming about.

We know from older children that nightmares commonly follow surgery (Anesthesia and Analgesia, 1999; 88:1042-1047), tooth extraction (British Dental Journal, 1999 13; 186:245-247), and motor vehicle accidents (European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 1998; 7:61-68). Why wouldn't they follow childbirth?

We don't want to believe that our little ones experience anything unpleasant. So strong is this desire that it led to the long-held (now finally and forcefully disproved) belief that newborns don't feel pain when circumcised. How absurd!

Knowing how much young babies dream and cry (and wake up crying), it seems equally absurd to me to believe that all of their dreams are happy ones. Birth is a wonderful and terrible experience. There is much to be happy about and much to learn about in the weeks that follow. Babies' dreams must incorporate and address those things that bring them pleasure and those that make them cry. In all likelihood, the peak age of crying, the first 6 weeks, is also the peak age of nightmares.

These nightmares are not unsuccessful dreams. Far from it! They help babies learn and grow; nightmares may even be an important reason that crying diminishes after 6 weeks.

Confusional arousals (popularly called night terrors) are an entirely different phenomenon, which I have described elsewhere. These happen when children get stuck between two stages of non-REM sleep. They might talk, scream, or open their eyes, but they aren't awake and they aren't dreaming.

Recently, my youngest son was having a confusional arousal, and his mother observed that these events are most common at the same ages that children are becoming aware of the bladder feeling full during sleep. Perhaps these kids just need to go to the bathroom. We stood him in front of the toilet, and he urinated-still not awake. The episode faded abruptly, and he returned to sleep. The calm was dramatic.

Was this a coincidence? Or might this be a revolutionary new help for parents whose kids have these frightening episodes. If readers try this and let me know what happens, we will find out. If you give it a try, let me know the results, either way. I'll correlate the different experiences and broadcast the results. Together we can learn more about the wonder and mystery of sleep in children.

Aren't they angelic when they are asleep?

Answer 2

Young children can experience nightmares and night terrors.

First, if your child wakes up crying and fearful and has trouble falling back to sleep, chances are he's had a nightmare. These scary episodes usually occur during the second half of the night when dreaming is most likely to occur. Nightmares can be caused by reading a disturbing story or watching a frightening movie before bed, not getting enough sleep, or too much stress during the day. Hence why experts don't know for sure if children under the age of 2 can have nightmares; they're most often seen in preschoolers with more active imaginations.

Night terrors are somewhat more mysterious. It might seem as though night terrors are the same as a bad dream (nightmare), but they aren't. They tend to occur when half asleep, or moving between different levels of sleep.

Night terrors are a common sleep problem among younger children. By some estimates, about 15% of younger children have occasional night terrors. They can occur at almost any age from around their first birthday,

Although usually considered to be normal or benign, they are often very scary and distressing to parents who often overreact, especially during a child's first night terror.

Children who have night terrors are usually described as 'bolting upright' with their eyes wide open, with a look of fear and panic, and letting out a 'blood curdling scream'.

They will usually also be sweating, breathing fast and have a rapid heart rate (autonomic signs). And although it will seem like they are awake, during a night terror, children will appear confused, will not be consolable and won't recognize you.
Typical night terrors last about 5 to 30 minutes and afterwards, children usually return to a regular sleep.

If you are able to wake your child up during a night terror, he is likely to become scared and agitated, mostly because of your own reaction to the night terror, especially if you were shaking or yelling at him to wake up. Instead of trying to wake up a child having a night terror, it is usually better to just make sure he is safe, comfort him if you can, and help him return to sleep once it is over.

Answer 3

Sleepstudies have shown that babies do have nightmares just not like adults to. They can still be overstimulated or stressed too which can affect their sleep. My oldest son started having nightterrors at 6 months old. Some say it is a baby remember past lives that is affecting them, some say it is just the chemicals in their brain trying to balance out...I have heard many theories on it. I just know that my son had them at 6 months old and they were pretty bad sometimes. I know they have also done studies and have said they believe babies can dream and have nightmares while still inside the womb too.

Answer 4

Ok personal response here. I read Happiest Baby on the Block and it saved my freaking sanity. Hold the baby close, go for the co-sleeping suggestions, keep the baby very close to you all of the time, buy a sling, or whatever you feel most comfortable in. Checking out what aboriginal people do ill give you many ideas. I had the sling and it was great. The closer you keep the child the more escure they feel. They want to be wrapped up tightly like they were in the womb. They don't like feeling all the space around them.

Answer 5

To be quite honest, I really don't know because we cannot ask them but people have been saying for years that kids don't dream till they are about 3. I just don't know what to believe but when you think about it, our dreams are based on our experiences and what is a baby experiencing. Not much at their age so maybe not. All babies cry in their sleep. Don't worry, it's normal.

Answer 6

i don't think so. a nightmare has to do with something that has scared you, babies, pending on age, are doing well to reconize simple objects. it's probably a neurological "reflex". babies can physically smile at 1 week old, but it's not because they are happy. it's muscles twitching, nerves figuring out how to do what they need...

Answer 7

Not nightmares like we do I would have thought, because they don't know or understand enough yet. But maybe she is dreaming about what would make her cry when she's awake.

Answer 8

I dont know, thats a GREAT question... we have three children, the oldest two are 6 & 5 but we do have a 7 month old now and he does wake up out of a sound sleep screaming not a normal cry but a cry like maybe he did have a bad dream.

Answer 9

I don't know, but I'd guess they do. It's a normal way for the brain to sort out what's been going on in the day. Try stroking her softly or humming a tune near to her so she can hear you are there. I'm all for sleeping with her; it's not normal for any little 'animal' to sleep alone.

Answer 10

i don't know. but my baby cries in his sleep too. and it really hurts me.. i think that's nightmare

Answer 11

I don't think babies have nightmares. They have nothing to be afraid of yet. I think she probably cries if she feels discomfort from wind or something like that.