Pregnancy dreams: why they get more vivid

The short answer

Dream interpretation is not prediction and not diagnosis. This article separates what sleep research observes from what popular interpretation associates with the theme, always saying which is which.

During pregnancy, many women say they recall more dreams, and those dreams tend to revolve around the baby, the birth and motherhood itself. The most likely causes add up: sleep becomes more interrupted, and someone who wakes up more often has a better chance of holding on to what she was dreaming; the mind is busy with an enormous change; and the body goes through hormonal and sleep changes that research still does not fully explain.

Strange or frightening dreams in this phase are common and say nothing about the baby's health or about how the birth will go. They deserve attention when they turn into frequent nightmares, take away your sleep or come together with a sadness that does not go away. For the meaning of dreams about the baby itself, see dreaming about a baby or a pregnancy.

Read also: Dreaming about giving birth and Dreaming about a newborn baby.

What research observes in pregnant women's dreams

One of the most careful studies on the subject is the one by Lara-Carrasco and colleagues, published in 2013. The authors point out that earlier research had flaws in method, and they compared women at the start and at the end of the third trimester with women who were not pregnant. All of them wrote down their dreams at home for 14 days, and the reports were rated by people who did not know whose they were.

The result: the pregnant women dreamed more often of themselves as mothers or of babies and children, and more about pregnancy, birth and the fetus. Childbirth appeared more at the end of the third trimester than at the start. At the end of the pregnancy, the baby in the dreams became less defined, with fewer details. The pregnant women also had more morbid elements in their dreams, and the authors link this heavier tone to the psychological challenges of pregnancy. This is not a warning about the baby.

Their reading is that the dream follows, at night, the work a woman does during the day: rebuilding her image of herself as a mother and imagining a child she does not know yet.

Source: Lara-Carrasco and colleagues, Maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women, Frontiers in Psychology, 2013.

After the birth: dreaming that the baby is in danger

In 2007, Nielsen and Paquette surveyed women who had just given birth (the questionnaires were filled out while still in the hospital, within the first 48 hours), pregnant women and women who had never been pregnant. Most participants in all groups recalled dreams. Pregnant women and new mothers reported dreams and nightmares about the baby in the same proportion, but the mothers in the postpartum period said more often that these dreams were anxious and showed the baby in danger.

Many also had behaviors during the dream: moving, talking, expressing emotion. Among new mothers, these episodes were linked to anxiety and confusion on waking and to the need to check that the baby was all right. For example, a mother may wake up searching for the baby among the sheets, even with the baby asleep in the crib. The authors suggest this may reflect maternal worry, the heavy disruption of sleep, the loss of REM sleep and the hormonal changes of this period. These are hypotheses, not certainties.

Source: Nielsen and Paquette, Dream-associated behaviors affecting pregnant and postpartum women, Sleep, 2007.

See also: Children's nightmares by age and how to comfort your child and Grief dreams.

Why dreams feel more vivid: possible causes

More interrupted sleep. Needing to go to the bathroom, heartburn, the baby moving, the struggle to find a comfortable position: nights become broken up. And waking up helps you remember. In 2017, Vallat and colleagues compared people who recall many dreams with people who recall few and proposed that a wake period of about two minutes would be the minimum needed for a dream to be stored in long term memory. The study was not done with pregnant women, but it helps explain the mechanism: more long awakenings, more chances of waking up with a whole story in your head. See also why you wake up several times during the night and why we forget dreams.

More to process. The continuity hypothesis, tested by Schredl and Hofmann in 2003, says that what fills the day comes back at night. In pregnancy, the subject fills almost everything: prenatal tests, the baby's things, work, money, fear of the birth, the relationship with the partner, your own story as a daughter.

A body in change. Hormones and sleep patterns change during pregnancy and after birth, and Nielsen and Paquette list these changes among the possible explanations for the dreams of this period. Even so, no study clearly shows which hormone does what in dreams.

Sources: Vallat and colleagues, Increased evoked potentials to arousing auditory stimuli during sleep, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2017; Schredl and Hofmann, Continuity between waking activities and dream activities, Consciousness and Cognition, 2003; Nielsen and Paquette, Dream-associated behaviors affecting pregnant and postpartum women, Sleep, 2007.

Dreams many pregnant women report

The table brings together common reports from pregnant women. Only two rows have direct support in the studies cited: the baby in danger and the less defined image of the baby at the end of pregnancy. None of these scenes predicts what will happen.

Sources: Lara-Carrasco and colleagues, Maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women, Frontiers in Psychology, 2013; Nielsen and Paquette, Dream-associated behaviors affecting pregnant and postpartum women, Sleep, 2007.

What helps on nights of intense dreams

• Tell someone about the dream. Talking to your partner or a friend, or writing it down when you wake up, usually takes some of the weight off the scene. If you want to keep a record, use a dream journal.
• A calm routine before bed. Dim lights, screens and tense news away from the bed, a similar bedtime every night. See evening habits for better sleep without medication.
• Rehearse a different ending. For recurring nightmares, sleep medicine recommends imagery rehearsal therapy for adults: rewriting the ending of the dream while awake and going over the new version. When the nightmares are frequent, it is best to do this with professional guidance.
• No medication, tea or supplement on your own. During pregnancy and breastfeeding, anything for sleep goes through your OB-GYN first.

Source: Morgenthaler and colleagues, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2018.

When to talk to your OB-GYN

Tell your obstetrician, at a prenatal visit or before it, if:

• the nightmares happen several times a week or make you afraid to sleep;
• insomnia is leaving you exhausted during the day;
• you often get up, talk loudly or thrash around in your sleep;
• sadness, anxiety or irritability last for weeks, during pregnancy or after the birth.

Lasting sadness after giving birth can be postpartum depression, which is nobody's fault and is treatable. Your OB-GYN, your family doctor or a psychologist can guide you on the way forward. If the distress becomes intense, seek help the same day: in the US, you can call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), free and available 24 hours a day. To understand bad dreams better, see nightmares: why they happen and how to have fewer. See what dream meanings look like according to science and culture.