Can you make predictions about your pregnancy based on your dreams?

Many women believe that their dreams have reflected real-life events such as unexpected conception, their children’s future appearance, and personality.  Sometimes, it is claimed –  before they even met the child’s father.
Pregnancy loss and medical complications are common themes for pregnancy dreams.

Science can neatly explain all of this in terms of retrofitting – the mind’s natural tendency to look for patterns and order in random events, making sense of confusing events in hindsight. Humans are often more predictable and similar than they believe they are, and it’s natural to have vivid and emotional dreams during pregnancy, as well as about any aspect of our life that evokes deep emotions.

However, this logical explanation often doesn’t come close to explaining the strangeness, specific details, and sense of meaning that often accompanies a prophetic dream about pregnancy. Some childless women dream about their future child and then experience that unmistakable sense of urgency and panic that kicks in when we are concerned about our children, either in the dream or when they wake up.

This raises the question of whether our motherly instincts exist long before we actually need them, or whether we actually connect with our children in some intangible way, long before they even exist as the tiniest fetus.

The average adult dreams deeply for several hours a night. We forget most of our dreams upon waking, and we tend to remember only the most emotional and disturbing dreams – especially if we awaken in the middle of them. It’s not surprising that women dream about all aspects of pregnancy, both literally and symbolically.
But is there anything more to this than the mind naturally wandering while we sleep?

Cultural significance of pregnancy dreams.

Every culture has beliefs & superstitions around dreams, including prophetic pregnancy dreams. Dreaming of fish is traditionally a pregnancy omen in many cultures. Although it might sound abstract at first, the amniotic fluid that the fetus dwells in for the duration of pregnancy is reminiscent of marine life.

All life originally came from the prehistoric sea, and the catalyst for a new life is fluids. With this in mind, perhaps it’s not too surprising that the subconscious mind might produce a fish motif for pregnancy in many cultures.

Perhaps a symbol that makes more sense to us in modern times is the apple, or fruit in general.
From pomegranates to pineapples, everything about fruit seems to suggest pregnancy. It’s full of seeds – the beginning of new life.
Many fruits are rounded in shape, and fruits are the product of the plant kingdom’s version of sex, which is pollination.
Dreaming of apples and pomegranates traditionally foreshadow a pregnancy, but women undergoing fertility treatment in the 21st century might find she sees a pineapple in her dream, as this fruit has been adopted as the symbol of IVF patients.

The multiple ways in which we are connected on so many levels to our pregnancies, no matter how long or short their duration, has still to be fully explored by science. While it’s not a good idea to take dreams and omens too seriously – after all, if they were really that reliable, we’d be using them along with ultrasounds and pregnancy tests, they are a very personal and meaningful part of pregnancy.

It’s possible that our body can warn us about illness or other changes within our physical being, long before we experience it consciously, so why not pregnancy too?

We’d love to hear about your pregnancy dreams or omens in the comments below!

(Article Credit – Layla Bammeke – 2020)