If you’ve just dreamt what gender your baby is, you may be now wondering if dreams about baby gender have any significant meaning!
It’s an age old question, do baby gender dreams predict the sex of my baby?
Well, sadly, there’s actually no definite answer. But don’t let that deter you. There’s plenty of different theories. And, determined to get to the bottom of this question, we also asked our community whether they’d found dreams about baby gender to be accurate gender predictors. You can see their responses below.
Psychoanalysis: What Sigmund Freud would say about gender dreams
While Freud is pretty widely ignored these days, he lead the way in dream analysis with his work The Interpretation of Dreams. There’s a lot of theories about symbolism in dreams but the leading theory to follow on interpreting dreams about babies is not the baby or baby gender itself but how you feel about the baby in the dream.
If you dream you have a boy growing in your womb, the most important thing is to note how you feel about that boy. Are you comfortable caring for the boy? Is the boy well and thriving? These will tell you more about your own anticipation of the new baby than about the actual gender. If you feel that a boy would be a gender disappointment and yet in your dream your son is healthy and thriving then perhaps your subconscious is telling you that you’ll be a great mum to a boy.
Is your baby all wet in the dream? One of the more popular dream symbols Freud discussed was water symbolising your emotions. If you’re hoping for a boy but dreaming of a girl who is all wet and squishy, then it may be your sub-conscious telling you that you’re emotionally okay with a little girl.
What does it mean when you have nightmares about your baby?
It’s pretty common to have bad dreams while pregnant and some can be very upsetting. Dreaming about a long or difficult birth can signify that you’re worn out with waiting to meet your little one. This definitely does not that you’re going to have a rough time in the delivery room.
Dreaming about baby loss, although terribly upsetting can simply be your sub-conscious working through a project in your life that isn’t going as planned. It may also be a hint at your sub-conscious fearing the big changes coming and how those will impact your freedoms pre-baby. It has no baring at all on the state of your pregnancy. If your dreams are upsetting you however, get your doctor to do a health check on your baby. It’s much better to just to be sure and have peace of mind. If the dreams are very upsetting and recurrent the doctor may recommend some treatments for pre-natal anxiety.
So are dreams about baby gender ever a gender predictor in pregnancy?
We polled our audience and found that many mums-to-be had dreamt of their baby’s gender during pregnancy. Were those dreams accurate? The answer? The jury is out! Like you might expect, it was about 50/50 accurate and inaccurate. This number of course is roughly in line with the natural split of boy/girl births.
Here’s what our community of mums said about the accuracy of dreams about baby gender:
- I was convinced I was having a boy, had a dream I was pregnant with a girl, ended up having a girl. Brooke
- Let’s just say that my little ‘Meghan’ is doing an incredible impression of a nearly 12yo Daniel… Kyra
- Accurate for my first.. didn’t really have any dreams with my 2nd, although I was convinced I was having a girl, but ended up with a boy. Andrea
- It was strange. I dreamt girl, girl, girl until 19 weeks then dreamt boy and these were much stronger than the girl dreams. A week later, the winner is boy. I still get the girl dreams but I just remember that my boy dream was much more vivid and felt more ‘real’. Adele
- I dreamt very vividly several times that I had a boy, weight and date etc to the point where I woke up looking for my baby boy yet I had a girl!! I also had a dream that my grandma (who passed away just after I fell pregnant) was rubbing my pregnant belly (so baby was not born yet in this dream) saying “be a good little girl, come on little girl” so for me, I dreamt I was holding a boy but had the opposite!! Monique
- First was accurate and have had boy dreams for number 2. Will find out if it is true very soon… Kara
- Yes! Both my husband and I dreamt about girls… we didn’t know the gender. Had a baby girl. Teagan
- I had a dream at around 10 weeks pregnant (now 28weeks pregnant) that I was having a boy and the dream was right! Everything that happened in my dream actually happened ! So very accurate for me! Jamielee
- I dreamt every night I was having a boy! I convinced myself that it was gonna be a boy and we now have a beautiful 4 month old girl. Even after finding out she was a girl I still kept dreaming boy haha! Jay
SEE ALSO: How accurate was your gender ultrasound? Can they get it wrong?
- I had a dream at 15 weeks pregnant that I was having a girl and at 20 weeks I had my ultrasound and was in fact having a girl I even knew what she was gonna look like she is now 3 months old eveything I ever expected. Michelle
- Accurate. My hubby was 99% sure it was a boy, so I just went along with him. I had only 1 dream about the baby during my pregnancy – we had friends over and the baby woke up, I picked up a little girl out of the cot. We had a little girl. Jessica
- Accurate! Told I was having a girl, dreamt boy… Had a boy! Joanne-Claire
- Dreams were right! I thought boy (awake) but dreamt of a girl and had a girl. Only ever had this with my first born though…I found out the sex of my other three and never dreamt about them being babies! Nadia
- Kept dreaming of a girl even though I was convinced I would have a boy, and ended up with a girl! Shelley
- I dreamt I was having a boy, same night hubby dreamt we were in Mauritius with a little girl around 17-18 months old. We had a girl and we are going to Mauritius she will be 16 months! Regine
- My dreams were accurate, hubby’s were not! Sarah
- I didn’t have any dreams myself but the day I told my mum I was pregnant (6 weeks), she said she had a dream I had a little boy. She was spot on! Sarah
- I had several dreams of boy babies that were meant to be my baby but they looked strange or nothing like my husband and I. Then I had a dream about this beautiful little girl who looked just like me as a baby. It felt and looked like my baby and it was the last gender dream I had. I ended up having a girl. Samara
- Nope didn’t mean anything. I dreamt I was having a girl so many times and I’ve got a little boy. Also none of the old wives takes worked for me. Did the ring test and Chinese gender thing and was also wrong! Krystal
- From the moment that I was pregnant I had a feeling it was a boy! I was correct. Kat
- Not accurate. I had about 5 dreams about my bub, all times it was a girl in my dreams, and we had a boy! Jevita
- Mine was accurate. Dreamt it was a girl at 6weeks. Have also dreamt of other friends babies and been accurate with them too.. Sharon
- Not accurate. Each time I was pregnant I dreamt I was having girls……I had 4 boys Amanda
- Dreamt I had a girl even though family and work colleagues said I was having a boy and I had a girl Ebony
- I dreamt I was having a girl and have found out I am having a boy Gemma
- Accurate. Felt I was having a girl until 20wks. Then I had to separate dreams of labour ending in a boy. 4 days before our due date, our perfect lil man arrived Jessica
- I had three vivid gender dreams while pregnant 2 x boy, 1 x girl and from very early on I had a strong inkling that we were having a boy. We didn’t found until bub arrived and … my gut was right! Bouncing baby boy Emily
- Correct with my 1st two wrong with my 3rd. Amie
Did you have dreams about baby gender? Tell us, were they accurate predictions or just dreams?
Of course, some of us are tempted to try and help to sway the gender in one way or another before conception and are looking to our dreams to see whether we were successful. Read our tips for conceiving a girl or a boy here.
Does the timing and circumstance of the conception affect baby gender?
