{"id":23179,"date":"2021-06-22T16:33:09","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T15:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/?p=23179"},"modified":"2021-06-28T10:59:35","modified_gmt":"2021-06-28T09:59:35","slug":"why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep","title":{"rendered":"Why Do Babies Pull Weird Faces in Their Sleep?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first few days of bringing your little one home, you may quickly realise that the phrase ‘sleep like a baby’ is rather ridiculous! Newborns are very restless sleepers and wake up every few hours for a feed. However, if you watch your baby sleep for just a few minutes, you\u2019ll notice all the facial expressions they pull during sleep. They\u2019ll grimace, smile, even laugh and cry in their sleep. This is nothing to be alarmed about and is completely normal. Read on as we explore exactly why babies pull weird faces in their sleep.<\/p>\n

Quiet and active sleep<\/h2>\n

Newborn babies don\u2019t have much of a sleep schedule but do need to sleep a lot. They’ll usually sleep 14 to 17 hours<\/a> a day. This sleep is sporadic, and they can nap for as little as 30 minutes or have a long sleep of around 3 hours. As newborns sleep with such little regularity, it’ll impact your sleep routines too<\/a>. So, don\u2019t forget to look after yourself and adjust your sleeping pattern so you get enough sleep too.<\/p>\n

\"sleeping<\/p>\n

When sleeping, a baby will pass through quiet and alert sleep<\/a>. Quiet sleep is a restful period of sleep where their breathing is smooth and they seem more settled. Alert sleep, on the other hand, can be quite startling when you first see it. This takes place during Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. During this time, you’re likely to see your baby\u2019s eyes move under their eyelids, their breathing may become irregular, and they’ll move about a lot more. As your baby develops, the amount of time in this active sleep becomes less.<\/p>\n

Babies sleep expressions<\/h2>\n

Babies are very active when sleeping. They pull facial expressions, twitch, grunt, stir, suckle, and more. They even pull sad and happy expressions which may have you wondering what emotions they’re feeling at that very moment. Here’s what some of the more common expressions mean:<\/p>\n

Why do babies smile in their sleep?<\/h3>\n

\"smiling<\/p>\n

A baby smiling in their sleep is a common cute occurrence. A baby smiling whilst awake is often seen as a milestone. After they start smiling whilst awake, you\u2019ll likely notice them smiling when asleep<\/a>. Often, these smiles are for very similar reasons.<\/p>\n

Firstly, a smile can be a simple reflex action. It\u2019s common for them to start smiling in response to the relief they get from passing wind or soiling their nappy. Doesn’t sound quite so cute anymore, hey?<\/p>\n

However, these aren’t the only reason a baby will smile in their sleep. Once your little becomes more familiar with your home, they may also smile in response to a sensory stimulus when asleep. This could be a pleasant smell that wafts into their room or a noise that comforts them. It’s also possible that a baby smiling whilst asleep could be in response to a pleasant dream, but this isn\u2019t certain.<\/p>\n

Related: What Do Babies Dream About?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Why do babies laugh in their sleep?<\/h3>\n

Like smiling, a baby laughing in their sleep is likely to be due to a reflex reaction<\/a>. It’s one of the unconscious movements that happen during sleep.<\/p>\n

When a baby is sleeping, they’re also processing what they’ve interacted with throughout the day. When awake, they’re learning about themselves and how to do things such as smiling and moving, as well as their environment. So, when they\u2019re asleep and processing this information they may be expressing an emotion that they learned when awake.<\/p>\n

Why do babies grimace in their sleep?<\/h3>\n

If you see your baby grimacing in their sleep, you may worry that they\u2019re having a bad dream. However, this is unlikely. It\u2019s more likely that your baby is simply passing wind<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s also worth noting that odd facial expressions, like grimacing, are often the result of an immature nervous system. Your baby still doesn\u2019t have full control of their muscles, so those grimaces and other expressions could also be simply to do with poor control of the facial muscles, rather than a response to something positive or negative.<\/p>\n

Why do babies cry in their sleep?<\/h3>\n

\"crying<\/p>\n

Hearing a baby cry in their sleep can be worrying. Normally though, it is nothing to worry about. For newborns, crying is their main method of communication<\/a>. Whilst asleep, your baby is developing mentally<\/a>, which can cause them to cry out.<\/p>\n

If a newborn is crying when asleep, it can be part of the parental learning curve of helping your baby to sleep comfortably. It may be too hot or cold for them, or it could be a reflex reaction. So before picking them up, stand nearby for a few minutes, they may simply drift back to sleep. If not it could be that they need something.<\/p>\n

Related: How To Regulate the Temperature of Your Baby\u2019s Room<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

As babies get a little older, they may be crying in response to a nightmare. This is likely if they’re also moving around a lot.<\/p>\n

\n
An important note:<\/h6>\n

If you’re at all worried about any of your baby’s sleeping habits, simply speak to your GP, health visitor or any other medical professional. It’s best to be safe with these things and ask the question, even if the likelihood is there’s nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Babies and sleep<\/h2>\n

\"baby<\/p>\n

Sleep is a vital part of a baby\u2019s development and they need a lot of it. As they rest, you\u2019re likely to see them move a lot and hear many different noises. Most of this is due to reflex reactions and is completely normal. With a bit of time, you’ll get used to your baby\u2019s noises and expressions whilst asleep. You’ll likely even learn what they need from the different sounds. However, as mentioned, if you’re worried that they’re crying more than normal or are making stranger than usual noises, be sure to contact your GP.<\/p>\n

Check out more posts about children and parents here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever wondered what the facial expressions your baby pulls when they’re asleep actually mean? Here, we explore the reasons why your little one cries, smiles and pulls other strange faces in their sleep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":552,"featured_media":23147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-children-parents"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Do Babies Pull Weird Faces and Cry in Their Sleep?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Young babies can be very active when they sleep. Have a read of our post to find out why babies pull weird faces in their sleep.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Do Babies Pull Weird Faces and Cry in Their Sleep?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Young babies can be very active when they sleep. Have a read of our post to find out why babies pull weird faces in their sleep.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Sleep Matters Club\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-22T15:33:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-28T09:59:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-content\/uploads\/kevin-keith-W2_Bo-V7vD4-unsplash.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"4896\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"3264\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nat Took\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nat Took\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Do Babies Pull Weird Faces and Cry in Their Sleep?","description":"Young babies can be very active when they sleep. Have a read of our post to find out why babies pull weird faces in their sleep.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Do Babies Pull Weird Faces and Cry in Their Sleep?","og_description":"Young babies can be very active when they sleep. Have a read of our post to find out why babies pull weird faces in their sleep.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep","og_site_name":"The Sleep Matters Club","article_published_time":"2021-06-22T15:33:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-06-28T09:59:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":4896,"height":3264,"url":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-content\/uploads\/kevin-keith-W2_Bo-V7vD4-unsplash.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nat Took","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nat Took","Estimated reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep"},"author":{"name":"Nat Took","@id":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/#\/schema\/person\/073b33f09314ceb1937725a7f37a4b98"},"headline":"Why Do Babies Pull Weird Faces in Their Sleep?","datePublished":"2021-06-22T15:33:09+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-28T09:59:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep"},"wordCount":1020,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-content\/uploads\/kevin-keith-W2_Bo-V7vD4-unsplash.jpg","articleSection":["Children & Parents"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep","url":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep","name":"Why Do Babies Pull Weird Faces and Cry in Their Sleep?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-content\/uploads\/kevin-keith-W2_Bo-V7vD4-unsplash.jpg","datePublished":"2021-06-22T15:33:09+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-28T09:59:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/#\/schema\/person\/073b33f09314ceb1937725a7f37a4b98"},"description":"Young babies can be very active when they sleep. Have a read of our post to find out why babies pull weird faces in their sleep.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-content\/uploads\/kevin-keith-W2_Bo-V7vD4-unsplash.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-content\/uploads\/kevin-keith-W2_Bo-V7vD4-unsplash.jpg","width":4896,"height":3264,"caption":"baby facial expressions"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/why-babies-pull-faces-in-their-sleep#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Sleep Matters Club","item":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Children & Parents","item":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/children-parents"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Why Do Babies Pull Weird Faces in Their Sleep?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/","name":"The Sleep Matters Club","description":"Get To Sleep, Get More From Life","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/#\/schema\/person\/073b33f09314ceb1937725a7f37a4b98","name":"Nat Took","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/91fed59e4ecb27eaf0a52d1590380755d77aff7e617eb0fe3d861fa4ed5979de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/91fed59e4ecb27eaf0a52d1590380755d77aff7e617eb0fe3d861fa4ed5979de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/91fed59e4ecb27eaf0a52d1590380755d77aff7e617eb0fe3d861fa4ed5979de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nat Took"},"url":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/author\/natsalience-co-uk"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/552"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23179"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23208,"href":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23179\/revisions\/23208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dreams.co.uk\/sleep-matters-club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}