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Pregnancy

Stupid I know but...

6 replies

wafflesmum · 01/11/2009 20:33

I woke up last night having a terrible nightmare - shouting and screaming and heart pounding. Took a good while to calm down. At 16 weeks can this have had any impact? Be kind! I'm a worrier...

OP posts:
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GladysFox · 01/11/2009 20:37

No! I had horrible nightmares at the beginning of my pregnancy with DD. I think it's quite common.

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Pinner35 · 01/11/2009 20:48

Nightmares and also erotic dreams are very common in pregnancy.....I had both sorts all throughout my last pregnancy.

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crankytwanky · 01/11/2009 21:32

Oh god this is normal.
Erotic dreams (about women I know mostly ) and horrible, horrible nightmares.

Do you mean any impact on the developing fetus? Raised cortisol levels can impact on brain development, but I don't think in the case of nightmares it would be too high.

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babyboom1979 · 01/11/2009 21:44

Women deliver perfectly healthy babies in dangerous war zones and under extremely stressful conditions.

Nightmares are absolutely normal in pregnancy. Please DO NOT worry -- your baby is absolutely fine.

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crankytwanky · 02/11/2009 08:56

Oh yes babyboom, but in those kind of conditions, and I mean seriously stressful, raised cortisol levels can lead to aggression from the child later in life. Leaving a child for extended periods of crying can have the same effect I believe.

But dreams are a natural way for the mind to deal with stress or new experiences etc. Baby will be fine! I don't want to scare OP!

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babyboom1979 · 02/11/2009 10:40

Crankytwanky that is a very interesting theory. However, I felt that mentioning the raised cortisol levels may have been more of a stress for wafflesmum than a comfort one more thing for a worried mother-to-be to worry about. Which is why I mentioned that women in war zones do deliver healthy babies and that nightmares in comparison are completely benign natural occurances that will have no impact on a developing fetus.

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