The meaning of a lost baby in a dream

One surprisingly common, and often disturbing, dream is about losing a baby.  You may or may not have a baby in real life, but in your dream, you are responsible for a baby that you forget, lose, let slip down the drain or something similar, have to give away or discover was never even yours at all. These kind of dreams are a little different to actually being pregnant and then dreaming of losing the child before it can be born, which is usually a case of anxiety about the safety of your unborn child or the fears associated with bringing a new life into the world. That is a topic for another time.

None the less, even very unrealistic dreams of losing a baby can cause a lot anxiety and heart-break, so I would like to hopefully put some worried minds at rest.  These kinds of dreams are common amongst parents and those without children alike.

Babies in dreams can symbolise a variety of things.

They can refer to your own inner child, the part of you that remains innocent, spontaneous, playful, vulnerable and trusting.  These kind of baby dreams may be suggesting you look at where in your life you need nurturing.  Do you need to take better care of yourself? Or have you judged your self harshly and need to be a bit kinder and gentler to your self?  Or a dream of a baby may be about becoming more playful, lightening up and not taking things so seriously.  This kind of dream could also be indicating that you have become jaded or cynical, and perhaps need to regain more of a child-like sense of wonder in life.

Dreams of losing a baby may be inviting you to look at your ways of behaving and any old beliefs you carry from childhood that maybe aren’t helping you grow anymore.

Babies can also mean a new project or venture in your life, something that you create and nurture as “your baby.”  The age of the baby can sometimes indicate when this project started or was “conceived.”

No matter who has a dream of losing a baby, it is worth considering:

• What is the precious thing in your life that you have recently lost, given away or fear you will have to?  What are you missing out on?
• When as a child did you feel hurt, rejected or unloved?  How is this similar to how you feel now?
• Where are you neglecting your own needs?
• Where are you being too serious, and losing touch with what is fun, simple, innocent and enjoyable in our lives?

Dreams of losing a baby may be inviting you to look at your ways of behaving and any old beliefs you carry from childhood that maybe aren’t helping you grow anymore.  They may remind you to nurture yourself, tend to old wounds so that you may heal and let go of the past, and not give up what is most important to you.  Just as a baby in a dream can mean a special new project or creative endeavour in life, to lose the baby can relate to your fear of this new project being unfulfilled in someway, of losing your creative expression, or losing the ability to execute the new idea that is so precious to you.  Losing a baby can also be a sign that you have lost your innocence, and perhaps some of the trusting qualities you had.  You may feel you have to “toughen up and grow up” to prevent future hurt or loss.  There may be a sense of mourning and letting go with this dream.  But while lost innocence can never be entirely regained, with time and work, we can learn to find and new joy and trust in life that comes with maturity.  In this way, a lost baby in a dream may be the symbol of a first but very important step on a long road of self discovery.

In life, we are often forced to make choices that seem like we must give up one thing special in order to have another.  Dreams of losing the baby help us recognise that the most important thing to never give up on is ourselves.

To learn more about the meaning of your dreams, please visit The Dream Well.