Have you ever checked on your baby while sleeping? That is why they are crying and still manage to sleep somehow. Dear parents, you are not alone in this situation as these little humans can be tricky to handle and make you confused that what are the reasons behind their night dreams. Watching your babies crying in their sleep can bring out so many questions about whether they are hungry or having nightmares, as well as how to help your crying baby return to a peaceful, deep sleep. Let’s get into this article to understand if newborns have nightmares or not.
UNDERSTANDING BABY SLEEP PATTERNS AND NEWBORN NIGHTMARES?
It is a natural scenario that newborns cry a lot. This crying is their way of sending a message to us that they would have spoken if they could speak. But when they cry in the middle of the night while sleeping is a different story. It freaks us out more if they do not stop crying after checking that they are not sick or anything that could cause them to act that way. There are most probably no nightmares, night terrors, or even bad dreams that babies have until the age of two. Therefore, we will explain if newborns have nightmares or if there are other causes of crying while sleeping.
CAN NEWBORNS HAVE NIGHTMARES?
We do know that newborns, infants, and toddlers sleep a lot. And like adults, they also go through the non-REM and then REM phase. But there is still no technology that could help determine if newborns or babies have dreams, which will remain a mystery.
As soon as children can speak, you can ask them about their dreams and for sure, they will amaze you with the answers and the stories they tell.
BABIES CRYING IN THEIR SLEEP-(3-MOST COMMON REASONS)
- Crying while transitioning from one sleep cycle to the next: –
Babies sleep in cycles, transitioning rapidly between them, spending more time in REM (Rapid eye movement) sleep than deep sleep. During REM sleep, babies may move their eyes, arms, and legs, and even cry. With sleep cycles lasting 40 minutes, many babies experience a brief awakening, which may cause them to cry or not fully awaken.
- Crying due to overtiredness: –
Overtired babies can experience fatigue-fighting hormones, making it harder for them to fall and stay asleep. A three-month-old’s wake window should be around 60-120 minutes, and overtiredness can trigger big tears just before falling asleep, indicating a struggle with sleep.
- Crying due to teething pain: –
Babies may exhibit discomfort, sob, and cry, especially during sleep, indicating they may be working on a new tooth.
Other reasons:
The possible causes of a baby crying during sleep are:
- Stomach uneasiness is like poor digestion.
- The temperature of the room makes them uncomfortable.
- Not feeling well.
WHAT TO DO WHEN A NEWBORN HAS A NIGHTMARE?
Many parents assume that a baby who wakes up crying has seen a bad dream. Often, they would stop and settle on their own, and sometimes picking them up would disturb their sleep more.
- If the crying does not stop, try whispering to the baby while rubbing a part of their body like back, stomach, or legs. Babies’ feeling your soothing touch may shift them into a different stage of sleep.
- If your baby is used to being nursed when asleep, this may help soothe them back to sleep after the crying episode.
- You must have knowledge of your baby’s sleep cycle so that you will know what to do in such situations.
BABY SLEEPING PATTERN: –
Let’s look into the fact of when and what part of the sleep cycle nightmares occur to understand whether newborns have nightmares or not.
- REM Sleep is a deeper sleep that occurs later in our sleep cycle and helps build cognitive and learning skills. We can have nightmares during REM sleep.
- Non-REM Sleep is earlier in our sleep cycle and is when your body restores itself. It also helps to store information in memory. Nightmares do not happen during non-REM sleep.
Researchers suggest that newborns and infants have more REM sleep, potentially leading to more baby nightmares, but the question remains unclear as newborns cannot definitively confirm or deny nightmares.
WHEN DO NEWBORNS HAVE NIGHTMARES?
Babies usually experience their first-night terror at the age of 1. 5 and 2 years old, but some children might have nightmares by being 6 months old.
WHEN DO BABY NIGHTMARES PEAK?
When nightmares peak in babies depends on your baby, but nightmares in babies and children typically peak between 3 and 5 years old.
HOW DO I STOP MY BABY’S NIGHTMARES?
The following tips can help prevent or reduce nightmares in babies, although it’s impossible to guarantee a complete cessation of these nightmares.
Tip #1: Condense your usual bedtime routine: –
To help your baby settle into sleep quickly, condense your bedtime routine if they seem overtired. It is recommended that newborns should be bathed, massaged, and rocked for 10 minutes which includes diaper changes. If the baby is older the routine should be longer and take around 15-20 minutes, with extra activities such as reading a story or singing a lullaby song.
Tip #2: Lay on the soothing: –
For calming the upset babies, parents are advised to make use of white noise, shushing, singing, gentle rocking, bouncing, and offering the babies a pacifier so that they calm down quicker and stop crying.
Tip #3: Be patient: –
It may take a while to calm a crying baby, therefore be patient and if there are many caregivers, take turns. After the weeping stops, attempt to get the baby to sleep for the second time.
FINAL REMARKS: –
Nightmares, as much as they are scary (and could interfere with the baby’s and parent’s sleep) are also a usual occurrence at this age. Though complete prevention of nightmares cannot be achieved, there are ways of decreasing the occurrence of nightmares in babies.
Put your baby to bed on time. Do not expose your baby to so many situations that will cause him or her to turn a nightmare out of their imagination. Give newborns proper skin-to-skin contact time and don’t let them stay alone for longer periods, your warmth will make them feel protected and secure.