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Heard child calling me, but child was asleep ??

41 replies

wied · 24/05/2025 06:08

last night at 3 am I was woken from my sleep by my child calling me. Quite loud ‘ Mama ‘… it woke me up. When I checked, he was fast asleep. The voice also didn’t sound 100 percent like him.

a few weeks ago, in the morning, I was also woken up by the sound of a child laughing, again it didn’t 100 percent sound like my child. When I went to check, he was asleep.

my daughter was asleep too.

am I losing my marbles ? The only logical explanation is that I was dreaming, right? And then I woke up ?

it’s a bit creepy.

OP posts:
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Menopausalmum43 · 24/05/2025 11:56

Probably your kiddo sleep talking when we haven't spoken in a few hours our vocal chords relax we sound a bit different when we start talking again.
Either that or its a victoriana ghost of a child standing at tr end of your bed looking for it's mama. 😁

Penthrowingsurvivor · 24/05/2025 11:35

The only logical explanation is that I was dreaming, right?
what a bizarre thread.

you know children can speak and laugh in their sleep, don't you? Adults too.

Reonie · 24/05/2025 11:19

I hallucinate my child and my husband calling my name sometimes, when in light sleep. I think it's a nice way of knowing how ever-present they are in my life. My most loved ones.

PrincessOfPreschool · 24/05/2025 11:17

My DS has always talked, shouted (even walked) in his sleep since v v young. He's 16 now and last summer I found a sheet (he wasn't using a duvet) half hanging out of the toilet 🤮! He had no recollection of that but must have gone to the loo in his sleep with sheet wrapped round him and dropped it in toilet. He shares a stud wall with his brother who complains about the sleep talking.

The other day I had a very vivid yet boring dream that when I went to the toilet I saw that the cat had vomited a fur ball next to the sink. I decided that I was too tired to clean it up so I would do it in the morning. When I went back to the bathroom in the morning, there was no fur ball and no one had cleaned it up! I must have dreamt it but it was so real, I could so clearly see it in my head, the exact location etc.

user1492757084 · 24/05/2025 11:08

Wow, I also have solid belief that messages and revelations come sometimes through dreams.

People also make noises and talk in their sleep, fleetingly.

I often experience a central important noise in a dream that causes me to wake. Once awake I find that actual noise is a reality on my road, or on my TV or from my kettle and my ears have written it into my dream. It sounds the same but isn't always the exact same noise in the dream as in real life. For example in a dream I was walking across a park with my husband and suddenly a bunch of soccer players were there and the umpire was blowing the whistle. I awoke to the sound of my kettle whistling in the kitchen..

Gowlett · 24/05/2025 10:45

This was long before mobile phones, too.

Gowlett · 24/05/2025 10:45

I do also think that messages come like this.
I remember waking suddenly, bolt upright, one night.

I ran into my parents room to say my sister was in trouble.
Next thing the phone rang, it was the police.

She was is hospital, after an attack on a night out.
They’d broken her arm, just for kicks. Terrible!

Gowlett · 24/05/2025 10:40

DS sleep talks like this.
Makes a statement or calls for me.
Then straight back to sleep.

Katemax82 · 24/05/2025 10:14

I was woken up by my mum calling my name once but she was at her home, turns out she had attempted suicide that night (she was OK luckily)

wied · 24/05/2025 10:02

Thanks everyone. I think the most likely cause is the auditory hallucination thing as it doesn’t quite sound like my children!

OP posts:
NOTANUM · 24/05/2025 08:52

I’ve had this - babies crying when young, seeing someone in the room, spiders in the bed and even gunshot. None have happened of course.
It tends to happen when at my most exhausted.

ItGhoul · 24/05/2025 08:47

Auditory hallucinations like that are quite common in sleep or semi-waking states. I have them all the time. It’s unsettling but you’re not going mad.

Mine are usually a volley of knocks, someone shouting or screaming or a loud bang. But it makes sense that a parent would hear a child, for obvious reasons.

This phenomenon has a hilariously weird name for some reason!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome

ghostyslovesheets · 24/05/2025 08:41

I get loud door knocking, my name being shouted and, only once thankfully, breathing down my ear - it’s just sleep brain shenanigans!

myplace · 24/05/2025 08:39

It’s a heightened stress response. You’re hyper vigilant for some reason. Do some mindfulness type stuff.

When it’s really bad it happens by day as well- I would hear an alarm/phone ringing and go looking for it. Took me a few times to catch on- what with my phone being sat next to me and not ringing.

It happens at the same time as various other anxiety symptoms- flushing the loo before I’ve finished weeing, never finishing a task before rushing to the next one etc.

MsPug · 24/05/2025 08:38

I woke up a few nights ago because my dog barked in my ear - she didn't she was asleep in the other part of the house

i I have also woken up to MUUUM when my kids aren't even in the bloody house 😂

it's a proper jolt into wide awake as well. How dare my fake kids and fake dog do that to me 😂

CurlewKate · 24/05/2025 08:34

Yes, dreams can be very vivid.

bedtimestories · 24/05/2025 08:34

It's happened to me too

Bootlebride · 24/05/2025 08:24

LividRah · 24/05/2025 06:32

I’d assume a form of aural hallucination.

I was woken by a very insistent fire alarm on a family holiday in Crete once.

Except once I’d leapt up it stopped. And none of my family in neighbouring apartments had heard it, because it hadn’t happened.

I also sometimes have visual hallucinations of floating faces or insects if I wake in the night. They are apparently hypnagogic hallucinations and relatively common. Haven’t had them for a while (since my dodgy thyroid was diagnosed? Maybe it was making me more tired idk)

I go through phases where I have these regularly, and then they stop. So for a few seconds after I wake up and open my eyes, I see insects all around my room, or a woman standing by my bed, or hear people talking to me, until after a few seconds it dissipates. It's basically a continuation of your dream.

Whatafustercluck · 24/05/2025 08:06

Ds has always talked in his sleep, occasionally shouted. He also used to sleepwalk. I think he inherited it from dh, who used to suffer horrendous night terrors - like, leaping out of bed screaming because 'a truck has crashed into the house!' Ds seems to have outgrown it now. In his case I'm pretty sure it was down to his adhd though. It's linked to stress too, or an overactive mind that has a lot to process (hence kids having it a lot as they develop).

And yes, it could also be you op, dreaming - or sleep paralysis/ false awakening/ hypnagogia.

Yellowlab34 · 24/05/2025 07:53

Mine is 20, and I stil sometimes wake up thinking she's shouted out for me.

If she's at home I have rushed to her room to check if she's OK, as I'm usually only half-awake.

Happens most when I'm stressed about something.

violetcuriosity · 24/05/2025 07:50

I’ve had this before I think it’s when you’re half asleep

MrsCarson · 24/05/2025 07:35

This still happens to me occasionally and my kids have grown and two are married.
I still hear someone shout my name and it wakes me up. The other night I was a loud doorbell, we don't have a doorbell.
I lump it in with those times you jump awake when you are falling asleep.

LavenderBlue19 · 24/05/2025 07:21

My son calls for me in his sleep occasionally - I've been in the room when he does it so it's definitely not a ghost 😁 Very creepy though!

loobyloo1979 · 24/05/2025 07:19

Used to have this a lot when dc were little. I would hear them go in and they'd be asleep- think I was so used to them shouting for me during the day that I heard it in my sleep!

shellyleppard · 24/05/2025 07:16

Ots happened to me a few times. Thought I heard my son calling me from upstairs......but he was on his phone listening to music!!! He's 19 btw 🤣🤣 think it's just being ultra aware as a previous poster has said x