When will the 'where's the baby' dreams stop?

[McRoo]

DS is 6mo now and pretty much every night I am waking up in a panic looking for him in our bed because I think he is being smothered between me and DH. Sometimes I even wake up and find myself standing out of the bed lifting up the covers.

When he was first born I had these dreams every night but once I moved him in to his own room (at 3 months old) they stopped. I didn't have any again until about a month ago.

They are so distressing. Anyone got any reassuring a words of when they will end / if there is anything I can do to stop them?! I'm hoping this isn't a permanent motherhood thing and I will get over it...!

I still occasionally have these precise dreams and I haven't had a baby to squash or lose for a very long time (5 years)!

I wonder if it's an anxiety dream, a post-baby version of going into work without clothes on, or turning up at an exam without having prepared.

My twins are 19 momnths, and they terrified me at first, as it did with my firstborn too. I can't remember when they stopped, but many months ago I'd say. Both still alive and kicking too

I get these too! my DS is also 6 months old and in his own room. absolutely sheer panic at the first moment of waking. awful!

Has anything changed recently? For them to have come back I mean? Is he sleeping through the night and your mind is used to being active and awake at different times perhaps? Have you stopped BF and your hormones have readjusted?

I had these sort of dreams when DS was newborn and then again when I went back to work but they were more losing him in Tesco or leaving him in the car type dreams (working mum guilt!).

Haha! Sleeping through the night! Good joke.

I don't think anything has particularly changed. (Although if anything his sleep got worse for a bit but he seems to be back to a "normal" twice a night waking now).

Anxiety might be something, though. I guess it was about a month ago the "back to work" discussions started happening amongst friends, family and with work. Although in reality it's a long way off as I'm not going back until end of March.

Thrilled to hear these aren't permanent dreams, though!

I used to have dreams like this when DC1 was tiny. I also frequently dreamt that I had another baby which I'd forgotten to feed and I'd wake up in a blind panic looking for baby number 2!! Many times my DH had to explain that there was only 1 baby and he had just been fed. They gradually stopped though and now I'm back to my usual anxiety dream about having to resist my finals 15 years after graduating...!

I haven't had one for aaaaaages. My youngest is 10yo if that helps. ;-)

Too funny though - this took me back!

in our house it's my dh that has these hallucinations. he has woken me up pulling out the cupboard thinking ds was trapped behind and shouted at me "where is he" while ds sleeps happily in the moses basket. I regularly wake up to him stroking the duvet lovingly. ds is 11 weeks and usually wakes twice in the night but I don't feel any benefit because of dh's wake ups!

I still have them on occasion and my youngest is 2. Only when I'm very stressed though.

Lots of midnight naked dashes across the landing to check they are both okay! Even if I realise it's a dream I have to check, in case it's my subconscious trying to tell me something is wrong.

I used to have these too. Glad I'm not the only one!
I think they stopped at around 6 or 7 months, after we moved dd into her own room. I also use to stroke dh's hair in my sleep, thinking it was dd. I also used to hear babies crying All. The. Time. The joys of sleep deprivation!