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The dreams of a child as reported by his mother are considered against the background of current events in the family life and in the child's day-to-day experience. The first two occurred at 17 and 20 months respectively and were in the nature of nightmares which the child could not verbalize. They could be understood in the light of frightening events of the previous day which at the time the child had appeared to enjoy. A further nine dreams from the age of 2½ to 4 could be understood at their deepest level to refer to actual and feared births and serve as a kind of longitudinal history of childhood dreams focussing landmarks in the child's development, and his mastery of traumatic events culminating in the sexual conflicts of the oedipal period. Comments are offered on the symbolic content with special emphasis on the part played by water both in the dreams and in the child's life experience. There is some evidence that the child was aware of foetal movements in the mother even at 20 months. At one point the child's comment 'The baby is inside you, around you, all around' suggested that the mother was experienced not only as the carrier of the baby but as equated with the baby. Such an impression may have become concretized by the perception of the mother's bodily changes and of foetal movements.