As you watch your tiny tot sleeping, you notice that they keep breaking into adorable little smiles. You wonder: Could it be that they’re dreaming wonderful dreams of cuddly toys and bottles of milk? Or is their smiling simply a reflex?

Let’s find out!

Does my baby dream?

When it comes to babies and what they experience during sleep, there’s still a great deal that we just don’t yet know. This is mostly because they don’t yet possess the communication skills to convey this information. So, the official answer is that we can’t be sure. However, what we can do is look at the sleep cycles of babies, compare what we find out to what we already know about dreams, and see if this offers us any clues.

Now, even though dreams can happen during all stages of sleep, we’re most likely to dream during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. So, let’s explore REM sleep and babies.

What should I know about my baby and their REM sleep?

It is said that approximately 50% of a newborn baby’s sleep is spent in REM sleep until they are around 4 months old, while adults only spend around 20% of their sleep in REM phases. And so, if they do, in fact, dream, babies sure spend rather a long time doing it. However, many researchers believe that babies aren’t capable of dreaming because, at this age, they lack the ability to use their imagination.

So, why does my baby move and smile in their sleep?

Those neuroscientists who believe that babies aren’t capable of dreaming will tell you that a baby’s movements could be one of three things:

While adults will typically remain still during REM sleep, a baby’s arms and legs will often twitch, their breathing can become irregular, and they may even make funny sucking noises.

A baby might cry out or smile during sleep in response to something that happened to them earlier in the day. Now, while this might sound like dreaming, it’s more accurately described as a memory.

Their movements might be explained by the Moro reflex. The Moro reflex, or startle reflex, is an involuntary response that causes babies to extend their neck, arms, and legs and then rapidly bring them together again. Twitches that occur during REM sleep will often trigger the Moro reflex.

So, if they’re not dreaming the hours away, what are they doing? Believe it or not, your baby's brain develops connections and pathways and works on learning language during REM sleep, at least according to some scientists.

Do babies dream?

We explore the lovely topic of baby dreams for our Baby Sleep Journey.