Women on TikTok Talk About Grieving the Loss of 'Dream Babies' They Never Actually Had

"DreamTok" is an emerging trend on TikTok where creators share their dreams with the masses. The dreams run the gamut from being funny to scary and sometimes incredibly realistic. Interestingly, a new subgenre of DreamTok has surfaced, involving women dreaming of having babies. That in and of itself isn't so crazy. Lots of people dream of becoming parents. But these dreams are apparently so realistic, the women find themselves grieving the loss of the "dream babies" when they wake up.

These women — who tend to be younger — are tagging their videos with #dreambabies and say these babies are giving them all the feels. TikTokers have shared that it isn't just fantasizing about a life with children but that these are real babies they can hear, feel, and smell.

There is something of a camaraderie among the creators on TikTok experiencing the pain of losing a loved one that was never really there. Motherhood as it turns out, can evidently be quite an emotional roller coaster before you've even experienced it in real life.

The 'moms' know and love their babies.

Many of us have experienced dreams that are so realistic we must catch our breath when we finally wake up. We could be running from a scary situation or be an actor on a stage who can't remember our lines. These kinds of things can give you genuine feelings of fear and anxiety. If you are caught in a dream of being a mom caring for your baby and suddenly you awaken and that baby isn't there, true grief can apparently set in.

Pao, who posts under the handle @mylifeaspao_, shares her dream of breastfeeding a daughter and holding her in her arms. In the clip, Pao is lying in bed wrapped in a blanket with a crestfallen look that speaks volumes and seems extremely genuine.

The feelings don't always go away quickly.

Another TikToker, @usherusheryeahhman, described her dream of graphically giving birth to a boy named Finely. The text on her video reads, "I still have an emotional attachment to him over a year later."

Followers have commented that they understand her feelings and have shared similar stories.

"i literally used to do this and 'missed' the baby when i woke up, now ive got a 10 week old and it's like the dream baby was her!" someone wrote.

"i have no desire to have kids but i had a dream a week ago i adopted a baby girl called Evelyn and i miss her everyday," a follower shared.

Talk to moms about mom stuff. And make money doing it.

This is true motherly love.

One TikToker, @dayzhallewellyn, shared in her video that she thought she was alone and felt relief that other women are going through the same things. She explained that her dream baby was a little girl who looked just like her.

"I just felt so much love for this baby. And then, you know, I wake up and I realize, d---, that wasn't even real. And I felt so freakin' sad," she explained.

She said she had never had that type of feeling before and found it so crazy that other women felt the same "grief."

"I had that dream recently and felt it. I was sad for days but haven't told anyone cause I thought people would make fun of me," one woman commented on her video.

Some of the women swear these dreams are premonitions.

Some moms of dream babies say their dreams came true. Fawn, who goes by @fawnthefae on the app, shared a TikTok saying, "When I dreamt of my baby spirit telling me they would see me in 2023, and now I'm pregnant."

Her followers are all over it and have had the same connection to their dream babies.

"My baby always let me know that I would be a mother at 25 and here we are 🥹❤️‍🩹" a mom shared.

"I dreamt of having a picnic with a little boy at sunset, and then I woke and tested positive. 🥹," another person commented.

"Multiple people this year have told me they've had dreams that I was pregnant? Does that mean anything?!" a TikToker asked.

One expert believes that dream babies may represent a loss in a woman's life.

Dylan Selterman, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University and a dream and social relationships specialist, spoke to Insider and explained the dreams might be connected to other areas of grief in a woman's life.

"It may be the case that people are prone to feelings of grief or loss because the baby in the dream corresponds to another child or family figure in the person's life," Selterman said. "Perhaps this is their mind's way of coping with a different type of loss."

He explained that there is no formal research on dream babies, but they may represent a woman's desire to be a mother someday.

No matter what it means, plenty of women experiencing these dreams now feel a sense of comfort in sharing their experiences with other women. Who knows? Maybe one day their dreams will come true.