How do babies and toddlers actually dream?

Scientists agree that babies dream even before birth. What they dream about remains a mystery. However, they are certainly already processing experiences, such as grasping the umbilical cord and sounds they have heard.

Once your baby is born, you'll want to spend hours watching them dream. It's so beautiful to watch them frown, smile, and even twitch in their sleep. You can be sure they're dreaming at that moment. Babies have more dream phases than adults and spend 50% of their time in the REM phase. REM sleep is a phase of sleep characterized by rapid eye movements and heightened brain activity. There's also a second phase, DELTA sleep, a dreamless sleep in which the EEG pattern is slow and regular.

Toddlers are only able to distinguish between dreams and reality at preschool age. Sensitive children tend to have poor dreams. General stress plays a role and preoccupies little ones at night. Unfortunately, parents can't prevent these dreams. Dreaming is extremely important. Dreaming is how they process the impressions they experienced while awake. This includes, of course, the strong arms of their father, in which they are proudly carried, the countless kisses from their mother, and the pats from their loving grandmother.

During the dream phase, the brain develops rapidly. New connections between brain cells are formed, and the toddler learns overnight while sleeping. So, there's no need to worry if your toddler sleeps restlessly at night: This is normal and healthy.