Daddy Diaries: Baby Dreamland

Considering their days are almost entirely devoted to milk, poop, sleep and a cacophony of burps and farts, even the tiniest babies have surprisingly discernable personalities. N just passed the seven-week mark and I’m not sure exactly when the term newborn no longer applies, but until we switch to counting the months instead of weeks she will still be a newborn to us. After a fortnight of continuous sleep, uncontrollable muscle spasms and almost zero interaction, by week three she began to show us the first glimpses of her personality. Since then two distinct personas have become apparent:

Baby N, who enjoys periods of tranquility, both asleep and awake, that last for hours and make you wonder how we all lose the innate ability that we’re born with to be at peace…

and Miss N, an altogether sassier little lady who knows exactly what she wants (and isn’t afraid to let you know) and whose signature moves include waiting for the seconds-long moments between diaper changes to spray poop on everything in her path.

Thankfully (for now at least), Baby N is the dominant personality and for the most part she appears at one with the universe and simply goes with the flow. She doesn’t mind being passed around the room from friend to friend or being wrapped up like a baby burrito in the ergo carrier and dragged around town. Loud noises don’t seem to bother her and she is super patient – always giving us fair warning when she wants food or a new diaper with vocal and physical cues for a few minutes before taking it up a notch and whining. So far she only wails on rare occasions, like when you pour a cup of water over her face during bath time (I was expecting total calm like in the newborn bathing videos on YouTube but I guess those French midwives have the magic touch.)

While she’s awake a bit more recently, at least 16 hours of the day are still spent in a slumber so serene that just watching her sleep puts you in a state of relaxation that usually requires meditation (or medication!).  The question that keeps on coming to mind is does she dream and if so, what is she dreaming about? Babies spend half of their sleeping hours in a state with brain patterns similar to those of adults during REM. This is twice as long as we spend in that window of time when dreams usually occur. Most “experts” believe that babies don’t dream at all, not only because they are lacking the sense of self required to insert themselves into the plot of a dream but also because most of their time asleep is spent processing information and developing various parts of their immature brains. The accepted view is that if they don’t have a cache of memories and experiences to draw upon, how can their brains construct a world to dream in?

I’m not so sure about this and without getting too esoteric, N’s genes have been passed down through countless generations of humans before her and some of that collective experience must be captured in there, right? And even if dreams were only based on personal experience she could still be transported to a world of milk, dry diapers, massive burps and an abundance of cuddles… that would explain the look below…

There’s more from the Daddy Diaries plus plenty of gorgeous gift inspiration on the BaoBae Blog!