Your adult brain consists of millions of neurons, all of which
are interconnected in a unique pattern. That unique pattern is largely
what makes you who you are. As you learn and develop you make new
connections and allow other older, less important connections to be
lost. This process still occurs in adult life, but much less so than in a
young child’s brain.
As a baby the brain is a little like when you get a new computer. There’s some stuff preloaded, but it’s all very basic. Your new computer can send signals to the monitor, just as your baby’s eyes can send signals to the brain, although often the computer will have basic drivers installed, and by adding new graphics cards drivers you can get a much clearer picture.
A baby’s brain struggles to do very much with all of the signals being sent to it by the eyes, and a baby has to learn to make better sense of those signals, improving its eyesight over time. Every experience, everything sensed is absorbed by your baby’s brain like a sponge. It’s unbelievable just how much information goes in. Eventually, just as your computer’s drive may become full, slowing the system down and potentially causing crashes and problems, your baby begins to tire and need sleep.
A lot happens when your baby sleeps
It is then during this sleep that their brain sorts through the
wealth of experiences, trying to make sense of them all, piecing them
together, making comparisons, discarding those that don’t work, and
consolidating those that seem to fit to a pattern.
Once patterns and understandings become better understood new connections are made in the brain, a little like installing new software on your computer so that it can do more things. Then the clutter is removed, and both your computer and your baby are ready to ‘reboot’ and start all over again.
To some extent we as adults continue to do this de-cluttering, sorting out and building new connections and it is this process which is likely to be responsible for our dreams. We only dream during what is known as REM sleep, so called because of the Rapid Eye Movement which occurs at this time. As an adult you probably dream for around an hour and a half each night if you get a full eight hours sleep. You probably won’t remember much more than a few brief seconds, and even then only those few seconds you will remember before you wake up.
But your baby will have an awful lot more de-cluttering and sorting out to do, and so whilst for you REM sleep and dreams form only a relatively small part of your night’s sleep, your baby will dream for the majority of the time they are asleep.
Yes, your baby will be dreaming, and there is even research which suggests that babies in the womb dream. Wouldn’t it be fascinating to know what those dreams consist of?
As a baby the brain is a little like when you get a new computer. There’s some stuff preloaded, but it’s all very basic. Your new computer can send signals to the monitor, just as your baby’s eyes can send signals to the brain, although often the computer will have basic drivers installed, and by adding new graphics cards drivers you can get a much clearer picture.
A baby’s brain struggles to do very much with all of the signals being sent to it by the eyes, and a baby has to learn to make better sense of those signals, improving its eyesight over time. Every experience, everything sensed is absorbed by your baby’s brain like a sponge. It’s unbelievable just how much information goes in. Eventually, just as your computer’s drive may become full, slowing the system down and potentially causing crashes and problems, your baby begins to tire and need sleep.
A lot happens when your baby sleeps
Once patterns and understandings become better understood new connections are made in the brain, a little like installing new software on your computer so that it can do more things. Then the clutter is removed, and both your computer and your baby are ready to ‘reboot’ and start all over again.
To some extent we as adults continue to do this de-cluttering, sorting out and building new connections and it is this process which is likely to be responsible for our dreams. We only dream during what is known as REM sleep, so called because of the Rapid Eye Movement which occurs at this time. As an adult you probably dream for around an hour and a half each night if you get a full eight hours sleep. You probably won’t remember much more than a few brief seconds, and even then only those few seconds you will remember before you wake up.
But your baby will have an awful lot more de-cluttering and sorting out to do, and so whilst for you REM sleep and dreams form only a relatively small part of your night’s sleep, your baby will dream for the majority of the time they are asleep.
Yes, your baby will be dreaming, and there is even research which suggests that babies in the womb dream. Wouldn’t it be fascinating to know what those dreams consist of?
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