Dream a little Dream

dream a little dream

Are crazy dreams interrupting your sleep? Many mums-to-be experience fascinating, frightening, and just plain freaky dreams during pregnancy. But what do they mean?

Blame hormones if you like, fuelling your emotions and intensifying your dreams, but pregnancy dreams may also be a way of coming to terms with your new role as a parent. Whether it’s a change in sleep patterns or fluctuating hormones, experts believe there are a number of dream themes that pregnant women experience. Here are some you may have had yourself.

Childbirth and labour

You may dream you have an easy, painless birth. Other times, your dreams may involve a long and painful labour, or you may dream of giving birth to an alien. Anxiety about birth is natural, and your dreams are a normal part of your mind’s preparation for this life-changing experience.

Water

Water could symbolise a feeling of new beginnings and new life, or a feeling  of cleansing. Or it may be a representation of concerns you have about labour and childbirth. Watery dreams such as surfing in the ocean, floating in a pool, or puddles of rain may be a reflection of your physical thoughts and feelings of your baby moving in amniotic fluid or your waters breaking.

Baby’s gender

Unless you’re psychic, you’re unlikely to predict your baby’s gender in a dream. Instead, dreams about baby’s gender are probably linked to your hopes or your fears for either a girl or a boy.

Erotic fantasies

Sensuous dreams, often with someone other than your partner, are perfectly normal. You may be feeling insecure about your changing body and its effect on your sex life, or vulnerable and dependent on those around you. Your hormones are fluctuating, your blood flow is increasing, and you’re an emotional rollercoaster; it’s not surprising your dreams are wild!

Journeys and travelling

These dreams could be about travelling through a maze of tunnels or corridors, visiting a foreign country, or driving on an endless road. They may represent feelings of being out of control, a fear of the unknown, or your reluctance to confront the unknown, an emotion typically experienced towards the end of your pregnancy.

Losing teeth

Dreams about crumbling teeth, rotten teeth, or losing teeth are symbolic of losing control. This may be your feelings of stress about how pregnancy will affect your work or your relationship with your partner.

Giving birth to twins

If you feel over-whelmed by the changes in your life that your newborn is likely to bring, dreams about multiple births could simply be these feelings of fear and lack of control, or a reflection of your anxiety about a baby being demanding.

Feeling trapped

Nightmarish dreams about being trapped somewhere or locked in may simply be your feelings of helplessness and vulnerability, your lack of control, and a feeling that you will no longer have the freedom to do what you want.

Buildings

Buildings or factories where things are manufactured could represent your own thoughts about your growing baby and your awareness of the changes taking place in your own body over the next nine months.

Giving birth, then giving it back

Mums-to-be may be concerned about the health of their baby as it grows and develops during pregnancy. Dreaming about giving birth and then putting baby back could reflect your desire to check that your baby is developing normally, and then placing your baby back in your uterus to continue growing.

Forgetting the baby

Dreams about losing or forgetting your baby somewhere are common, and possibly linked to your fear of not being ready for parenthood, or anxiety related to the responsibility of being a parent. You may be anxious about your new responsibilities.

Grown-up babies

Linked to your lack of experience with a newborn, dreams about giving birth to a grown-up baby/toddler are just your mind’s way of dealing with this. Mums-to-be often dream of babies who can already walk and talk, as an older child seems less fragile and easier to manage.

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