He just fell asleep. He is so calm, he looks so serene ... And then he starts to smile, even let out a laugh. Impossible not to look at him (and love him), impossible not to wonder ...what will my baby be dreaming about?
Watching your baby sleep is one of the greatest pleasures in life (both because of the placidity they transmit and the breath they give us, we will not deny it, right?). But in addition to love, it makes a little laugh, because the repertoire of facial expressions they show is greater than the one displayed by Jim Carrey in any of his first films: now he laughs, now he pouts, now he frowns ...
It is inevitable to try to guess what happens inside that small and beautiful little head when those laughs appear. So do babies dream?
The sleep phases of babies
Up to 4 months babies have two phases of sleep *:
- REM phase (or MOR, rapid eye movements): we can know when they are in this phase because when you look at them you can see perfectly how they move their eyes even if they are closed.
- Non-REM phase: In this phase, let's say that the little ones do what they do is recharge the batteries they have spent during the periods in which they have been awake.
From 4 months his dream happens to have a configuration similar to that of adults, including from this moment a phase of light sleep.
The arrival of this new phase would explain that babies who since their birth have slept the night almost from the pull (there are, or so the legend has it) begin to have several awakenings (to the despair of their parents): this phase is something similar to sleeping , so that any noise, a blow or an abrupt movement of its own can wake you up.
(* We talk about general terms, you know that everything about the development of children presents a temporary arc, there are no specific dates because there is a lot of variation between one child and another)
Do babies dream?
We are certain that babies have that REM phase in which adults do dream, but there is no agreement as to whether they really dream at that stage.
On the one hand, we have approaches such as that of Dr. Charles P. Pollack, director of the Center for Sleep Medicine in New York, who states that the finding that this phase occurs is indicative of their dreaming. In fact, some studies indicate that the baby's brain effectively enters stages in which sleep is feasible, even before birth, within the womb.
And if they dream, what do they do it with? According to Pollack it would not be possible to know the content, in the same way that we cannot know what our pets, puppies and kittens dream about, because they have no language to explain it.
(Note: a few years ago an experiment was carried out in which they disinhibited "motor deactivation" that occurs during sleep in a few cats and dogs, and what was observed is that during sleep they made movements referring to "things of puppies and kittens ": digging in the earth, spinning, running, jumping ... This was interpreted as effectively in dreams animals reproduce everyday scenes ... canine or feline.)
However, the most relevant neuroscientific approaches made in recent years, such as the work of David Foulkes (Harvard), seem to point out that although there are those phases in which it is possible to dream, in the case of babies there are no dreams. And it won't be until 3 years old that children start dreaming (as adults understand dreams).
The observation of babies' small brains during sleep indicates that there is indeed REM sleep, as Pollack states, in fact they spend most of their time in that phase, but this does not mean they have dreams.
According to Foulkes and his collaborators, the REM phase in children would have a different function than in adults: in this case it would serve to establish neural connections (paths) in the early stages of development and later also to help in language development.
In turn, a study conducted in 2010 seems to indicate that babies learn while they sleep.
What it takes to dream
In the construction of dreams also comes into play precisely this, the language and a capacity that we do not develop until after two or three years: the imagination.
Children gradually develop their ability to perceive the world, with language they begin to put order in those ideas about those around them, but they need a little more time and capacity to build ideas and structures in this regard.
And we can explain things because we have language, we can remember in detail why we think, and the thought is supported ... that is, language, so it seems logical that until it has not developed, these charged reveries cannot occur of contents.
In addition to language and imaginationTo talk about dreams like those we adults have, we also need the development of the perception of space, among other things. In fact, the research carried out by these authors indicates that, for example, at 4 or 5 years, age at which language development already allows children to talk about their dreams, these are flat, without plot or characters .
As for those facial expressions and those movements that we see in the kids while they sleep, they seem to be the product of immaturity of the brain that, let's say, still does not control the “on” and “off” buttons of the body during sleep and "escapes" movements.
Could you dream of feelings and emotions? It is perhaps the common position among specialists, who despite not having "movie-like" dreams do experience feelings such as security (being in arms, right?) Or fear (but where is mom?). In fact Foulkes indicates in his work that at 4 years those dreams "flat" in terms of visualization and without "plot" yes they can have emotional content. Maybe those little faces that touch us so much are due, therefore, to they are maybe not dreaming but feeling.
In summary
It seems that babies do not dream like adults do, with vivid scenes and images, but they could "have sensations." What they do have is the same REM phase as adults, but instead of serving to elaborate complex dreams, it helps them learn and mature their brain.
To elaborate a dream as such, it is necessary to have some language development, ability to imagine, to perceive and elaborate content about the world around us, as well as to have the developed spatial vision. And that's a lot to ask our kids when they are babies.
We will have to wait at 3 years for your brain to begin to reach certain stages of development that allow you to “start dreaming”, and a little more time, towards 4 or 5 years, so that they begin to share with us what their little heads elaborate while they are in the arms of Morpheus.
In any case, and whatever the science says, the truth is that it is inevitable to think that the smile that is drawn on your face is because is dreaming of us, true? Well, with us or with a huge breastplate full of warm and rich milk or with huge comfortable arms in which to sink and rest.
It seems clear then that babies, at least up to 3 or 4 years, have no elaborate dreams, with complex history and scenarios. Those of us who do are the parents: we dream of being able to sleep a night of the pull.
Photos: Pixabay.com
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