It’s the end of the world. I’m uncomfortably pregnant and following close behind my group of friends and family as they run through vacant houses looking for food or anything we can take to try and survive. There’s a yellowish glow in the air and it’s so hot I feel like I’ll melt into a puddle. My job is to keep this baby safe by any means necessary. I can feel my heart racing when I realize someone else is coming. I scream but can’t be heard. I opened my eyes to realize it was just another dream. Today we’re talking about pregnancy dreams and postpartum sleep disorders.
Dreams as well as nightmares are something everyone experiences. During pregnancy however, get ready to experience some of the wildest dreams of your life. I enjoyed waking up and remembering the craziness that happened behind my eyelids, but I also never had a dream that was over the top scary. There is barely any research on pregnancy dreaming but what we do know is we can once again thank those lovely pregnancy hormones.
The American Pregnancy Association put out a list of common changes in dreams that occur during pregnancy which include, but are not limited, to more vivid dreams, nightmares, anxiety based dreams, intense dreams, the ability to remember dreams more clearly, and more frequent dreaming. There are also common dreams that a lot of pregnant women will have and they can differ with which trimester you are in.
FIRST TRIMESTER:
- Giving birth to baby animals
- Giving birth to a toddler
- Swimming or floating on water
- Being trapped in a room
- Looking at yourself in the mirror and being unrecognizable
- Your partner having sex with someone else
- Driving a speeding bus or truck.
SECOND TRIMESTER:
- Romping with cuddly creatures
- Hanging out with an old partner
- Misplacing your baby or putting it in danger
- Someone attacking you
- Giving birth to a non-human entity
- Giving birth to your baby
- Having a conversation with your newborn.
THIRD TRIMESTER:
- Going into labor
- Being bombarded by baby names
- Trying to figure out the sex of your baby
- Random figures such as bears, dinosaurs, or brick walls
- Your partner having sex with someone else
- Tidal waves
- Imagining a baby’s face.
Once you go through those lovely postpartum dreams/nightmares, you aren’t totally out of the woods. Some research has been done on postpartum sleep disorders and I’m going to scratch the surface on a few of them. I thought to look this up after suffering from sleep paralysis twice during my postpartum period. Having never happened before, I figured it had to do with my sleep patterns and having just had a baby so I looked into it and found out these disorders are more common than I originally thought.
Postpartum Psychosis: Postpartum psychosis affects 1 in 500 postpartum moms. Sometimes called puerperal psychosis or postnatal psychosis. It is a serious mental illness and should be treated as such. Causes are extreme sleep deprivation, genetic predisposition, hormone changes, as well as the stress of birth. Symptoms usually start within a few weeks after giving birth and include hallucinations, delusions, manic mood, low mood, feeling suspicious or fearful, restlessness, confused feelings, and out of character behavior. Treatment for postpartum psychosis is done in a hospital and treatment should start immediately.
Dream-enactment: When you sleep, your body is put into a state of paralysis so that you don’t move around and hurt yourself while you dream. However, if you are struggling with dream-enactment, your body is not in a state of paralysis because being woken up every couple hours leaves you in a pretty consistent state of REM (rapid eye movement), which is when most dreams occur. This means you are able to get out of bed and act out your dream in real life. There has been one study done and it concluded that of the new moms in the study, ⅔ showed signs of dream-enactment behaviors. This means it’s more common than we think. Dr. Neilson, who conducted the study stated that it wasn’t because of the amount of sleep moms were getting, it was about the quality of sleep they got.
Hypnagogic hallucinations: You think you can see, hear, smell, touch things while you are asleep. The main symptom is imagining a very realistic object just before dozing off then waking up fearful that the hallucination was real. This usually takes place when someone is going through a high stress time, such as postpartum. Hypnagogic hallucinations are also closely related to Sleep Paralysis: This occurs when you’re in between a sleep and wake cycle. The person is completely immobile. It is best described as a dream where they are frozen in time. It can cause a great deal of anxiety as you can start to feel like you can’t breathe. If you are struggling with either, it is best to contact your doctor and let them figure out the best treatment option for you.
Postpartum nightmares: Unlike regular nightmares, postpartum nightmares can be related to PTSD, which can occur after a traumatic birth. A lot of these nightmares are very violent in nature and can cause anxiety in a new mom.
Just remember mamas, even though there isn’t a lot of research, it doesn’t mean you can’t go through any of these things. The more we talk about it the more we can help our fellow moms out. Don’t think you are going through this alone. Tonight there will be tons of other moms waking up in a sweat, walking in their sleep, seeing things that aren’t there and placing a hand on their child to make sure they are soundly sleeping and safe in their beds.
Here’s hoping you have a sweet dream!
xoxo,nikki
PREGNANCY AND POSTPARTUM DREAMING REFERENCES:
Admin, APA. “Pregnancy Dreams.” American Pregnancy Association, 9 Dec. 2021, https://americanpregnancy.org/healthy-pregnancy/pregnancy-health-wellness/pregnancy-dreams/.
“Common Dreams during Pregnancy by Trimester.” Vitamedmdrx, https://www.vitamedmdrx.com/common-dreams-during-pregnancy-by-trimester/#:~:text=Such%20dreams%20include%3A,baby%20moving%20in%20amniotic%20fluid).
Henion, Leigh Ann. “Do New Moms Dream Differently after Giving Birth?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 17 Apr. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/parenting/postpartum-sleep.html.
“Medical Information and Health Advice You Can Trust.” Healthline, Healthline Media, https://www.healthline.com/health/hallucinations.
Nielsen, Tore, and Tyna Paquette. “Dream-Associated Behaviors Affecting Pregnant and Postpartum Women.” OUP Academic, Oxford University Press, 1 Sept. 2007, https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/30/9/1162/2696863.
“Postpartum Nightmares.” PELV-ICE LLC., https://mamastrut.com/knowledgecenter/postpartum-nightmares/.
“Postpartum Psychosis.” NHS Choices, NHS, https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/post-partum-psychosis/.
The Royal Women’s Hospital. “Post-Partum Psychosis.” The Royal Women’s Hospital, https://www.thewomens.org.au/health-information/pregnancy-and-birth/mental-health-pregnancy/post-partum-psychosis.
*I AM NOT A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL! All information on this blog is for educational purposes only, and does not substitute for medical advice. Consult a medical professional or healthcare provider if you are seeking medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. We are not responsible or liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on our site.
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