Why Do Babies Smile In Their Sleep?

Watching your baby smile in their sleep ranks right up there with their baby grip and those first cute attempts at clapping on the cuteness scale. However, while a captured smile during sleep is a wonderful addition to your memory book, you may also be witnessing something revealing about your child's growth and development.

What Causes Babies to Smiling?

When a baby smiles, the typical reaction is not to question why, but to fawn excessively in the hopes of producing more. However, because developmental milestones such as smiling and crawling can be used to track your baby's progress, the reason for your baby's toothless grin may be given special attention.

Smiles as a reflex

This type of smile is usually brief and can occur for no apparent reason. Around 3 months, you may notice that your baby begins to truly smile. In reality, they may have been able to melt a few hearts while tucked away in your belly with their smiles.

According to research, fetuses can smile around 33 weeks of gestation. This type of smile is frequently referred to as a reflex action, similar to kicking or sucking the thumb in the womb. They can occur without eliciting a reaction and do not usually require visual stimulation to occur.

Gas

Another reason for your baby's smile could be that he or she is gassy! Babies have been reported to smile while passing gas or stool.

Social Laughter

Around the three-month mark, you may notice a shift in how your child chooses when to smile. They have now had the opportunity to interact with their surroundings. Babies may have picked up on some social cues. Around this time, social smiles appear as a sign of attentive engagement with an interactive caregiver.

What Effect Does REM Have on Your Baby's Smile?

Although it may appear to be peaceful on the outside, there is a lot going on in our bodies while we sleep. We'll take a peek inside our heads to see how the types of sleep we get contribute to the smiles we get while we sleep.

Your body will typically experience two types of sleep: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep. You cycle through all stages of sleep several times per night. We'll pay close attention to REM sleep, which is when people are most likely to smile while sleeping.

Non-REM sleep is divided into three stages:

Stage 1: Your body is transitioning from being awake to a light sleep at this point. It lasts several minutes and causes your heart rate, breathing rate, and eye movements to slow. You'll also notice that your muscles begin to relax.

Stage 2: This is the stage before transitioning from light to deep sleep. It's distinguished by slower heartbeats and breathing. You'll also notice that your muscles begin to relax even more. This is the most common stage of sleep in our bodies.

Stage 3: Your body is in deep sleep at this point. Your heart rate and breathing rate both slow to a halt, while your muscles relax even more.

REM (rapid eye movement) sleep

This happens after approximately 90 minutes of sleep. During this stage, your eyes will move rapidly around behind your eyelids, and you will be getting closer to waking up. Your breathing becomes more rapid and irregular, and your heart rate and blood pressure rise to levels similar to those experienced during the day.

During this stage of sleep, you will experience temporary paralysis in your leg and arm muscles to prevent you from becoming overly excited and acting out your dreams.

During this stage, babies may exhibit smiles, grimaces, body twitches, and sucking, according to research.

Examining the Reasons Babies Smiling While Sleeping

Babies smile on reflex, without meaning to or in response to anyone or anything in particular. As time passes, you may notice your child smiling when passing gas or stool, possibly in response to the pleasurable sensation.

There are also instances where babies respond to taste or smell. It is not uncommon for babies to smile when they come into contact with a pleasant odor or taste.

You may notice your baby begin to smile when they see a familiar face, or perhaps because they are aware it will elicit a reaction from you, as they become more familiar with their surroundings. However, there is some ambiguity when it comes to babies smiling in their sleep.

We don't know if babies dream or what they dream about, so it's safe to assume that their smiling, which typically occurs during active sleep, is a reflex action and is most likely involuntary.

In the event that babies do dream, a smile in their dream could be a reaction to a memory from the day or an event conjured up by their subconscious.

Could Baby's Smile Be a Red Flag?

Seeing a baby's smile while he or she is sleeping is always a joy. However, on rare occasions, this smile may be a warning sign of something more serious going on.

Gelastic seizures are a very rare type of epilepsy. This condition is typically characterized by uncontrollable fits of laughter. At times, sounds resembling laughter may be combined with the face contorting into a smile. Gelasitic seizures can also cause flushing, a rapid heartbeat, and breathing problems.

These seizures are extremely rare, accounting for only about 1% of all epileptic cases. While this type of seizure is uncommon, if you suspect your baby is having one, seek medical attention immediately.

How to Get Your Baby to Smile

As your baby becomes more aware of their surroundings, it is easy to notice them smiling at one object or another, or simply expressing joy that you are present with them. Your baby's smile in response to events is also a good way to see if their senses are working properly as they use them to become more aware of their surroundings.

These are incredibly wholesome moments, so it's understandable that you want your baby to smile frequently. While it's understandable if your baby doesn't smile as frequently as you'd like, here are some suggestions for increasing your baby's smiles:

• Engage your baby in interactions such as feeding, dressing, and bathing.

• You should read to your child.

• Sing to your child.

• Make a silly face at them.

• Match your baby's reactions—when they smile, smile back.

• React enthusiastically when your baby laughs, sucks, burps, or otherwise responds positively to their surroundings.

Baby smiles are capable of eliciting large reactions of happiness and excitement from others for such a small movement, on such a small person's face. A sleeping baby's smile is a completely normal reaction and an expected part of their development. If your child frequently smiles in their sleep, it could be a reflex reaction, or they could be replaying a happy memory from earlier in the day.

Learning why your baby smiles, cries, coos, and does other things is an exciting part of getting to know and love your child. However, if you have any concerns or questions about your baby's health or development, it's always a good idea to consult with their pediatrician.

Read next: 10 Steps to Stop a Child From Lying