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Pregnancy dreams: what research shows
A dream that you are pregnant is not a sign that you are, and it does not predict a pregnancy. Psychology reads it through your waking life: dreams tend to carry the concerns we spend our days with7. During real pregnancy dreams do change. A review of 17 studies found more dreams and nightmares, and a high share of dreams about the pregnancy, the birth and the baby1.
What does it mean to dream you are pregnant when you are not?
Research on this exact dream is thin: no large study has counted how often people who are not pregnant dream that they are. What sleep science offers instead is a general rule with good support. Dream content tends to follow what occupies us while awake, a link called the continuity hypothesis, though Michael Schredl and Friedrich Hofmann found that how strongly an experience enters dreams depends on its kind and on how emotionally involved we are7. A pregnancy dream can therefore sit alongside very different waking concerns: wanting a child, fearing one, a friend's pregnancy, a recent scare, or simply something new that is growing in your life, such as a project or a change you are carrying.
Many dream books read pregnancy as a sign of luck, money or news. These readings are what people commonly hear, not findings. A more useful question is what the dream felt like. Joy, dread, relief and confusion point to very different waking situations, and only you know which one fits. The pillar on dream interpretation explains how the main approaches work with a dream like this. If there is any real chance you are pregnant, a dream tells you nothing either way: a test or a doctor will.
How do dreams change during pregnancy?
Joëlle Lara-Carrasco and colleagues in Montreal asked 59 women in the third trimester of pregnancy and 60 women who were not pregnant to keep a dream log for 14 days, and had the dreams rated blind. Both groups of pregnant women dreamed more often of themselves as a mother or with babies and children, and more often of pregnancy, childbirth and the fetus. Childbirth content rose further in the final weeks, and images of the baby became less specific in late pregnancy. Pregnant women's dreams also contained more morbid elements2. The authors read this as the dreams following a waking process: the woman reshaping her picture of herself as a mother and of the baby she has not yet met. A 2024 review of 17 studies reached a similar view and suggested such dreams may help with psychological preparation for life after the birth1.
| Study | Who took part | Main finding |
|---|---|---|
| Lara-Carrasco et al. 2013{2} | 59 pregnant, 60 not pregnant | More dreams of being a mother, of babies, birth and pregnancy |
| Lara-Carrasco et al. 2014{3} | 57 pregnant, 59 not pregnant | Same dream recall, more bad dreams; 21% vs 7% had weekly nightmares |
| Nielsen and Paquette 2007{4} | 202 postpartum, 50 pregnant, 21 never pregnant | Infant dreams common; acting out the dream more frequent after birth |
| Schredl et al. 2016{5} | 406 women in the last trimester | More nightmares than the general population, linked to daytime stress |
Why are pregnancy dreams so vivid and anxious?
In a second study the Montreal group compared 57 first-time mothers-to-be in the third trimester with 59 women who were not pregnant. Both groups recalled dreams equally often, yet the pregnant women logged more bad dreams, and 21 percent of them, against 7 percent of the others, reported nightmares more than once a week. Pregnant women also slept worse and woke more often in the night, and those with more bad dreams and nightmares rated their sleep quality lower3. A German study of 406 women in the last trimester found more nightmares than in a representative sample of the population, with nightmare frequency closely tied to stress during the day. Dreams about the baby went along with nightmares but not with daytime stress5. Broken sleep likely plays a part too: waking often means remembering more of what you were dreaming.
What happens to dreams after the birth?
Tore Nielsen and Tyna Paquette interviewed 202 women within 48 hours of giving birth, 50 pregnant women and 21 women who had never been pregnant. Most in every group recalled dreams. Dreams and nightmares about the infant were equally common in pregnancy and after birth, but after birth they more often contained anxiety (75 against 59 percent) and the infant in danger (73 against 42 percent). After birth, 63 percent reported behaviour during these dreams, such as moving, speaking or showing emotion, and many woke anxious, confused or needing to check on the baby4. The authors linked this to maternal concern and to severe sleep loss and hormonal change. Nightmares are also fairly stable over time: in the German group, followed up about six months and four years after the birth, nightmare frequency changed little6.
When should you talk to a midwife or doctor?
Strange and anxious dreams in pregnancy are common and are not a sign that anything is wrong with you or the baby. Mention them to your midwife or doctor if nightmares come most nights, if you dread going to sleep, or if they come with persistent worry or low mood in the day. The same goes after the birth, especially if you often wake confused or acting out a dream, since low mood and anxiety after childbirth are common and treatable. Researchers have suggested that imagery rehearsal therapy, described in the guide on nightmares, may suit pregnant women with frequent nightmares5; ask your clinician before starting anything new.
Writing dreams down in a dream journal through the months can make them feel less overwhelming, and it gives you something concrete to show a midwife if they worry you. For the wider question of why dreams draw so heavily on our concerns, see why we dream.
Common questions
Does dreaming that I am pregnant mean I am pregnant?
No. A dream cannot detect or predict a pregnancy. Dreams tend to reflect what is on your mind, so a pregnancy dream may sit alongside hopes, fears or news about children, or another kind of new beginning. If there is a real chance you are pregnant, a pregnancy test or a visit to a doctor is the only way to know.
Why do pregnant women have such vivid dreams?
Pregnancy brings broken sleep, more night waking and a great deal to think about. In a Montreal study, women in the third trimester recalled dreams as often as other women but had more bad dreams, and their dreams more often featured the baby, the birth and themselves as mothers. Waking often during the night also makes dreams easier to remember.
Are nightmares in pregnancy normal?
They are common. In one study 21 percent of women late in a first pregnancy had nightmares more than once a week, against 7 percent of women who were not pregnant. A German study of 406 women found nightmare frequency linked to daytime stress. Frequent, distressing nightmares are worth mentioning to a midwife or doctor, because they can be treated.
What do dreams about the baby being in danger mean?
Dreams of the baby in peril are among the most common dreams of new mothers: after the birth, 73 percent of women in one study reported them in their infant dreams. Researchers link them to the intense concern of caring for a newborn and to severe sleep loss. They are not a warning about the baby's health.
Do men dream about pregnancy too?
People of any sex can dream of pregnancy, but almost all research on pregnancy dreams has studied pregnant women, so there are no reliable figures for partners or men. The general finding that dreams carry our waking concerns suggests that a partner expecting a child may well dream about it too.
theDreamly keeps the dreams you speak or type in one place, so you can look back over a pregnancy and see which themes came and went. It is a journal and a way to reflect, and it gives no medical advice.
Download on the App StoreRead next
- Nightmares and imagery rehearsal therapy
- What a dream journal is and how to keep one
- Dream interpretation: what psychology actually knows
- Why do we dream? The science of dreaming, explained
Sources
- Scarpelli S, Alfonsi V, De Gennaro L, Gorgoni M (2024). Dreaming for two: a systematic review of mental sleep activity during pregnancy. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 163, 105763. doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105763
- Lara-Carrasco J, Simard V, Saint-Onge K, Lamoureux-Tremblay V, Nielsen T (2013). Maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women: a prospective comparative study. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 551. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00551
- Lara-Carrasco J, Simard V, Saint-Onge K, Lamoureux-Tremblay V, Nielsen T (2014). Disturbed dreaming during the third trimester of pregnancy. Sleep Medicine, 15(6), 694-700. doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2014.01.026
- Nielsen T, Paquette T (2007). Dream-associated behaviors affecting pregnant and postpartum women. Sleep, 30(9), 1162-1169. doi.org/10.1093/sleep/30.9.1162
- Schredl M, Gilles M, Wolf I, Peus V, Scharnholz B, Sütterlin M, Deuschle M (2016). Nightmare frequency in last trimester of pregnancy. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 16, 346. doi.org/10.1186/s12884-016-1147-x
- Schredl M, Gilles M, Wolf I, Peus V, Scharnholz B, Sütterlin M, Bardtke S, Send TS, Samaras A, Deuschle M (2019). Nightmares and stress: a longitudinal study. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 15(9), 1209-1215. doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.7904
- Schredl M, Hofmann F (2003). Continuity between waking activities and dream activities. Consciousness and Cognition, 12(2), 298-308. doi.org/10.1016/S1053-8100(02)00072-7