As with all dream images and experiences, especially ones as potent as babies or children in dreams, I offer my suggestion of how you can understand babies in dreams simply as a frame of reference, not an absolute definition. With some knowledge of the frame, a bit of the dream can unravel, but only with rigorous and individual exploration can the rich wisdom of your dream can begin to unfold in all of its haunting and tantalizing depth. So where should you start, if you dream of a baby?
My teacher Marc Bregman often taught that dreams about babies and/or young children are dreams about your soul, your deepest self, your ‘real’ self. Some might call it the “inner child”, but in the work I do, this “inner child” is seen through a divine lens, i.e. the part of yourself that remains intact in its relationship with the divine, no matter what experiences the rest of your self has in this life time.
This concept, that there is such a thing as a my soul, an intact aspect of who I was, and that I can get to know it through paying attention to the young children or babies in my dreams, was the first deeply transformative realization I had in dreamwork. I think everyone has this sense on one level or another, a place inside of themselves that they can experience as more or less authentic, more or less deep and real, more or less savoring the fullness of their existence. We say it in speech—I wasn’t being myself…or, I finally felt like myself.
Dreams guide us toward us the visceral, present-moment sense of ourselves, revealing both all the ways we turn away from that place and the breathtaking majesty that awaits us when we choose to turn toward our deepest selves, our soul. And over and over, I have seen babies be a powerful reminder of these parts of us, and our relationship to babies in dreams as a reflection of our relationship to this part of ourselves.
To investigate your dream about a baby further, begin with a keen eye to the situation of the baby in the dream, your relationship to it, your feelings around it, the feelings you perceive it has. Do you have a sense of whether the baby is a boy or a girl? How does your sense of the gender change your feeling for the baby, if it does at all?
As you are exploring all the details surrounding the baby in your dream, remember to be as open and non-judgmental as you can be about what is present in the dream. The more we judge, the more we block the reality the dream is trying to bring to light. This is especially true with baby dreams, since we often are more judgmental of ourselves than anything else. I’ve seen this baby pop up for people in a lot of different ways—whether it is simply remembering the baby—I dreamt that I was supposed to be taking care of my baby, but I couldn’t find it…Or some kind of anxiety—I dreamt I was taking care of a baby but I couldn’t take care of it, it wanted too much from me, was too overwhelming, etc. Once you have a clear, detailed sense of what is going on with the baby in the dream and you’ve spent some time feeling into that moment, it’s a good point to bring in the framework of the ‘real’ self, the ‘authentic’ self, etc. Feel free to use whatever language works for you, but the purpose is to filter the potent experience you’ve cultivated with your baby dream through the lens of understanding this baby as your ‘true’ self. What comes up for you when you do this? What does it make you feel? What does it make you think?
A few years ago I had a terrible nightmare involving a baby boy. In the dream, I am wandering around what seems like some kind of mix between New York City and Moscow with my older sister. For some reason, I have her baby son strapped to my chest in one of those baby carriers as we are walking. Suddenly, I look down at the baby, realizing I hadn’t paid him any attention in a long time. I realize that he is completely blue—dead from suffocation. Apparently I had put him in the carrier incorrectly, too tight to my chest, and he had died from not being able to breathe. I am completely devastated and overwhelmed by guilt and pain. How could I have done this? What is my sister going to do to me?
Feeling into this dream, right away it strikes me that I don’t even believe the baby is mine. Using the framework that the baby represents an aspect of my own deepest self, the question becomes, is there a way that I am living as if my life is not truly mine, but instead someone else’s? Do I compare myself to others, or do I somehow project my deepest self onto other people in my life (in this case, my sister) instead of living completely and fully for myself?
The fact that I am taking responsibility for the baby even though I don’t think it is mine shows an even bigger strain in my relationship to myself, my deepest self. It would be one thing if I thought the baby was my sister’s so I didn’t care about it. It’s quite another that I take responsibility for carrying the baby even though I don’t think it’s mine. I feel the hit of this even now, as it has been a pattern over and over again in my life–to become so absorbed in and responsible for the lives of others that I completely lose myself. For so long, the idea ‘what makes me happy is what makes the group happy’ was my operating principle, doing everything I could to appease others desires while completely disregarding my own. This has certainly been an aspect of my relationship to my sister, and many others, at times. The point is hammered home when I discover the baby is dead. By refusing to acknowledge my own soul and my own desires, my soul is suffocated.
The pain at the death of my baby immediately turns to guilt—I have done this horrible thing, killed my sister’s baby. Now I will be imprisoned forever, things will never be the same. Since our minds are so damning and judgmental of us, sometimes clients come in with dreams like this, where they have done terrible things, and believe it means that they are truly bad people, that there is something deeply wrong with them.
I certainly have that voice that lingers in my head, but when I really take the time to feel into it, it becomes clear that the pain is deeper than the guilt. Yes it is because of me that my baby has not been thriving—that I don’t take the time to nurture it, treasure it, know it as my own. But allowing myself to feel guilty for this simply perpetuates the cycle—I am not enough, I am bad, I am a failure, I can’t do this. To be brave, I have to allow the pain of this loss. There’s already been a lot of time lost and energy lost to things that weren’t truly me. If I don’t feel the pain of this loss, I’ll never have the true motivation I need to move forward on a new path.
Whew. It still rocks me sometimes how a dream from years ago can still feel so potent and present in the moment. I hope this helped you get some understanding about babies in your dreams! Please let me know over on the facebook page if you have had any baby dreams lately! I’d love to hear them…
And as always, if you’ve got a dream that you’re interested in, consider ordering a dream reading! They can help unlock mysteries within your dream that may have been lingering there for a long time.
Hi. I am dreaming of babies in the last few months. In all of the dreams the baby is not mine, but it is given to me to take care of it. I am fully aware that since I am not the mother I have to double care for it. It is fragile and dependent. The first dream, the mother gives it to me to help her since we are all very busy. The baby is a newly born, and it starts getting very small and smaller until it is almost the size of half my finger. I notice I have to be extra careful. Then the baby starts changing its figure and transfigurates very quickly into many different forms of animals, from mamals to ocean creatures like a tiny squid, then a snake, even spiders… I am observing this transformation thinking this baby is clearly from another race or planet and that is its normal development. But quite amused.
Another dream, again I have to take care of my baby. It is also very tiny. it is engolfed in a blanket. I am concerned that it is getting smaller. For a moment i look at my arms and I dont have the baby anymore. My mother is there with me, and I looked at her in panic asking… where is the baby? where did i leave the baby. We were in a cafe. then I find that the baby had fallen through the blanket and i am dead worried about him being hurt. When I picked it up i realized that the baby has turned into some kind of lego toy. And i am wondering if I was taking care of a toy all the time? But initially it was a real baby. I felt confused.
Next dream, i am also taking care of someone else´s baby. This time the baby is just a head. It doesn´t have arms or body. it is only a head. it looked very healthy, it was simply just a head. And I realized again how careful i have to be, since i know the head is the most fragile part of the baby.
Last night I dreamt again that there is a group of people where there is a baby that everyone cares for in turns. I am talking in the kitchen with a lot of people about something interesting, and then i realized… oh my god the baby. We have not attend it for a while. I found the baby in the arms of a 5 year old girl who is also fragile but is doing the job the best way she can. I realize the baby has not eaten for a while, has had no liquid, it is probably dehydrated. It looks sad and abandones. I put it in the pile of clothes that are everywhere, to go for milk and then I forgot where i had put it. I go in panic into the kitchento ask for help. I cant find the baby!! we all start looking for it. How can I forget where I put the baby. But there was a big mess all over. Finally i found it in a pile of clothes where I knew he would be safe, but I was mortified for not knowing.
I am aware there are many forms to these babies. That it is rarely my own. That i do feel very responsible for them, I dont mind but I am super careful and worried about not doing a good job. I am so aware of their fragility. I do care. For me they are all precious, regardless of their form. except when i realized is a lifeless toy. I am quite confused at that point. Thank you for your help!
Beautiful thank you so much for sharing these dreams here. I’m curious, what kind of feelings come up if you explore the idea that the babies in your dream represent reflections of your inner self, or your child self, or your inner child? This idea that the child is not yours, and yet you’re responsible for it–is there a way that you feel disconnected from your inner child? When do you feel a sense of obligation or anxiety about taking care of things? those would be some questions to explore. xox
I had a dream that 3 babies were placed as a display on a bed near the opening of a hotel door. They were placed in the shape of a penis. Near them were 5 more babies sitting up on a couch .
All the time i had been told to put the ” flamingos and boats ” … on another display but I never found them as the hotel was very packed with people. Many of the people in my dream were work colleagues. I remember telling a work colleague how worried I was that a baby might be taken. Also just before I woke up a man asked me if I was OK.. I was still not ready for the day as I had no make up on. He was young. He asked me to go to Bulgaria with him .. he begged me and wouldn’t let go. I was scared. I said I would hit him with the bottle I had in my hand when suddenly a passer by hit him with an umbrella. He fell to the floor but he was now old.
Thank you so much for sharing your dream! I firmly believe that if this dream has been on your mind enough to share it here, there is very important wisdom and guidance inside of it that you need to hear. I offer 1-hr sessions where I can explore your dream deeply with you and determine the specific message your dream wants you to know. You can schedule a session by emailing me at KeziaVida.K@gmail.com or clicking here: KeziaVida.com/Schedule.
I also reflect on dreams folks like you submit and post the video Mondays on my YouTube channel. If you want me to discuss your dream, click here to subscribe to my channel and drop a comment in one of the videos or reply here to let me know you did so. I’ll make sure to get to your dream in the next week!
I too have been dreaming of babies lately mostly boys last night I had a dream of a little girl she was in the backseat and she was calling out for her mommy which happened to be my future daughter-in-law and that same dream there was a toddler sitting in a crib and I was going to do something for them but they didn’t want me to do it but they wanted their dad to do it and. Think their dad was my son. not sure what any of this means I recently quit my warehousing job to dedicate myself to massage full-time so I’m thinking maybe this is what’s going on but also I have been Struggling in a relationship with a man who’s good to me but I’m having a hard time adjusting to a healthy relationship. I’m wondering if I should leave the man or not
Last night I dreamt I was in a hospital room and a baby had just been born. All wrapped and snug in clothes and a blanket. Some people were there ssying; ‘when he stops breathing, don’t help him’
So I’m watching this baby peacefully lying there, knowing whats going to happen and he’ll be scared and knowing no one will help him so he’ll be even more scared…but right now he has no idea what’s about to happen so he’s happy and calm.
He takes a breath but can’t and I wait for somebody to notice, to help because surely the reality of the baby suffocating will make them act..but they don’t..they just watch him struggling.
I feel helpless and scared for him and amazed at the coldness of the other people.
Then it ended. I still feel anxious about it.
I keep have the same dream of a house that has 3 stories to it the floor the top floor is haunted and not safe for anyone to go up to. I have been having his dream for weeks now and it’s always the same except for last night this time I had brought a baby to the house with me a brand new baby she had nothing with her for me to use but I knew she was mine I knew I needed to protect her and the house didn’t feel haunted anymore just empty with me and the baby
I had a dream with other things happening before I got three babies, all boys. I remember knowing it was my cousin’s children and they looked exactly like her son in real life. I remember feeling somewhat anxious because my siblings were not helping me with the babies. I had to take care of them myself. So I started getting them one by one (they were sleeping) to feed them. When I was done with the third, I guess I took a break and opened my front door. Outside it was like my current house front lawn except with 3 new trees. I look around, still in the doorway and notice there is a giant portrait facing me. It is my parent, and ai suddenly know why they’re there. They are no longer here with us in the dream. I then frightened, look back at the babies and they have grown but I only see one of them. He looks at me angrily and the dream ends. So not only did I dream of taking care of three babies, my parent also died 🙁
I have a recurring dream for years now where I am holding a baby or very young toddler and it’s usually not mine. Always in the dream it is the lack of strength in my arms where I feel myself not being able to carry or hold the baby much longer. I am always freaking out inside my head in the dream, thinking “what the hell is wrong with my arms”.
My arms are not just tired they are EXTREMELY weak and the fear of them giving out and dropping the baby. Sometimes I manage to sit down or rest with the baby but that has only happened in my dream a couple of times. Usually, it’s just me fighting against these arms that are so weak and that some is very wrong – and thinking that there shouldn’t be anything wrong; and hiding it from everyone else that is around. There are always other people around.
hey thank you so much for your explanation..I’ve had a dream recently that has been very disturbing for me. I saw an evil power, a man with long black hair, long black rugged clothes. His face looked evil. He was holding a baby boy, an infant in his lap and he was hurting him by inserting pins into him and scratching his skin to the extent of bleeding..the infant was crying and screaming for help from me but I couldnt do anything. The evil man was laughing and looking at me while hurting the kid, as if he was trying to show me that he can hurt the child while Im jus helpless.
it will be a great help if u help me interpret this dream as it has haunted me to my bones.
regards
Thank you so much for sharing this vulnerable dream–it is definitely dealing with some really strong material and I can completely understand why that would be disturbing for you. What stands out to me here is when you say “he was trying to show me that he can hurt the child while I’m just helpless”. I am curious if that’s a familiar feeling for you, or perhaps you experienced this in some way as a young person, feeling helpless. Truly there is a lot of depth to this dream and if you want the tools to transmute it into something healing, I provide 1 on 1 sessions which you can schedule by clicking here: keziavida.com/schedule
ya thanks a lot for giving me an option for a 1 to 1 session!
Dream of a baby the head fall of