In Dreams

What could a 16-week-old possibly dream about? 

This question fascinates me. 

On my second dedicated day of school work/post holiday organizing, I've bundled Tempest and set her snugly on the couch next to me to sleep.  Every 5-10 minutes, she'll cycle cry without actually shedding tears.  She makes these soft, on the verge of crying coos (meh meh meh) and pouts her lips as if something is truly unpleasant.  She may grunt and let out a single, high-pitched "HEY!"  I hold her hands, caress her cheek, but she does not wake. 

So what could she be dreaming of that upsets her so? 

Some theorists think it could be reliving the trauma of birth.  Well, sure, that's a possibility, though we never remember the event in our conscious lives.  Could it be an infant's way of making peace with early distressing events so they can grow up and forget?  Maybe.  I would think for c-section babies like Tess, birth would be particularly traumatic as there are no contractions to move them down the birth canal to prepare them for the glaring spotlight of this world.  It's just warm comfort inside of mom and then...not.  Bright lights, big operating room!  From a psychological/developmental standpoint, birth is the single most stressful event in a young baby's life so I definitely buy the fact that she may possess memories she cannot process.
 
Perhaps she's dreaming of pain.  I hope not, but it's possible.  She endured multiple heel pricks in her first five days, her poor little feet being milked for all they were worth in order to fill multiple vials of blood.  I don't want her to remember that particular sensation but she very well may.  We can sense pain in utero, after all.  She's never been particularly upset by the vaccines at the doctor's office, though she does cry for a moment or two after the injections are given.  Or perhaps she's reliving the near-miss moment when Oscar accidentally kicked her shoulder when she was all of three days old?  Doubtful.

My theory: she has been refusing bottles since early December and every time we attempt to give her one, she screams bloody murder and chokes herself, milk pooling in her mouth and running down her chin.  I think she's dreaming that she'll never get to eat at the breastaurant again and therefore giant nightmarish bottles are chasing her in her sleep, forcing her to open wide or else.

We will never know for sure.  Her bad dreams are, sadly, hers alone to grapple with and because she wakes up happy and smiling, I am confident they aren't doing any lasting psychological damage.  When she does aim one of her megawatt smiles at me, I return it , glad to see my baby's eyes again, and open up the breastaurant for a little comfort food.