having nightmares about my baby. is this normal?

[kate1516]

I have a 10 month old baby and for the last 2 weeks I have been having nightmares about him getting hurt or me not knowing where he is
is. I wake up shaking with my heart racing. Sometimes my husband has to wake me because I am crying in my sleep. The most common dream is that he is somewhere in the bed and I can't find him so think I have rolled on him and suffocated him but I have also found him drowned in the bath and watched him fall over a rail and drop into the sea. I am always too late to save him. I am guessing but think it might be because I go back to work full time soon and so won't be there for him. Subconscious guilt maybe?

Have other parents experienced this and any tips on ways to stop it? Thanks in advance

[kate1516]

Guess it's just me then

[ASmidgeofMidge]

Didn't want to read and run; this happened to me too. Had a dream about dd being abducted last night - think probs linked to me feeling guilty that DS (15w) is taking a lot of my attention at the moment. Unfortunately no idea how to stop it
Might be better once you're back at work and your DS is settled in childcare?

[Nunyabiz]

Oh Kate how awful I have to say I had irrational fears along with nightmares for the first year or 2 of DD's life. They are less and less now but I still wake up sobbing occasionally and DH has to console me that it was all just a dream and she is fine (I still have to go check on her in her bed though).
It's really horrible. I think a lot of people go through it when you realise how important your role is to take care of this little life and their vulnerability. The added pressure of life and 'mum guilt'. I don't really know what to suggest but you are not alone. I hope it gets easier for you. Is there anything else you are feeling since having your baby? Are you feeling low within yourself at all?

[BusyCee]

I had exactly the same dreams after DS1. Not until he was about 3mo, but then a couple of times a week until he was about a year, I think. Exactly the same one, about him being in the bed and suffocating in the duvet. Used to wake up standing at the side if the bed frantically pulling the duvet off - once shoved OH out of bed because I thought he was lying on the baby. Gawd knows what they're about, but they did subside, and I didn't have them at all with DS2. Hope you get a good night tonight