Sleeping

[Lollo]

Our baby doesn't cry but grunts and makes straining noises mostly through nose, that are so loud that we can't sleep. He's only five weeks but this on top of him wanting to eat 4-5 time severy night doens't add up to much sleep on our behalf. He doesn't actually seem awake when making these noises so don't know what to think. Midwife's advice is that the noise is normal for a healthy babym though she hasn't heard it and doesn't seem to sympathise with us not being able to sleep.
Do we have to resort to dummy? Would it even help?
Please help. Desperate for sleep.

[suzywong]

Lollo
Same here, DS2 is 13 weeks and has cut down on the snorting but, man, that baby could grunt at first. I wondered if all was well. Some of them just do that and in view of the fact that he has stopped doing it to such an alarming degree leads me to believe that it is something to do with digestion and dispelling wind.You may be aware that after 12 weeks their little tummies are much better at handling wind.
Sorry about the sleepless nights, DS1 was the same.

So don't worry about your grunting baby, he will grow out of it shortly

[Lollo]

Thanks for that suszywong. Did you try dummy at all?

[suzywong]

No, not with either of them. Don't think it would ease digestion. But I do make sure I give him a darn good wind when I put him down for the night, best postionI have found is sitting him on my knee and supporting chest.

[popsycal]

sorry to be a pain
but i thougth that ds 16 mths was the only one to do the groaning throught the nose thing...
it is like the drone of a bagpipe
but much worse!
he still does it with hs dummy
and is fast asleep
sorry!

[suzywong]

My husband snores like a warthog so our bedroom is pretty noisy. I , of course, am a lady and make noises like tiny angels panting

[lyndsey66]

Just another thought on the sleep front - we had a hungry baby and me and my husband took it in turns! Sound drastic but it was the only way we coped as sleep deprivation is terrible!
My husband would do two feeds - i would sleep and then we would swap. I breastfed at first - so would express milk so my husband could feed my ds.
I must admit that my ds did have a dummy because he was hard to settle and used to make squeeking noises! Do what works best for your family. It is a trial and error thing.
Good luck - If you get very desperate for sleep there is no crime in asking for help. Is there a family member that could take over for a couple of hours in the day so you could catch up on sleep?

[Evita]

My daughter grunted and groaned when she was very little, both when she was asleep at night and during the day. I think she was straining at getting some wind out as she was rather windy. The frequent feeding isn't unusual at 5 weeks old. The grunting seemed to stop when my daughter was about 12 weeks old. Ah ... peace ...

[boyandgirl]

It's truly amazing - and scarey - the amount and variety of noise a sleeping baby can make. Ds grunted and groaned a little in his sleep for the first few weeks, and then settled down to being a very quiet sleeper. It never seemed related to any discomfort or wind, and he really was a phenomenaly windy boy. Now (3yo)he sometimes groans in his sleep if he is ill and often mumbles or even talks. Dd, on the other hand, could make more noise than my room-shaking snorer of a dh. Again, no connection to discomfort or wind. As well as snoring, she had stridor, which isn't a 'condition' as such, it just means that until the baby gets older and stronger, they make weird noises when they breathe especially when they are fully relaxed - dd buzzzzzzed.

So, unfortunately, I think you'll just have to wait for him to mature and make a little less noise. Sorry. Dad will probably learn to sleep through it, but because you're bf and unconsciously listening out for his hunger, you may not.

BTW, we used dummies for both of ours, but didn't let ds have his for sleep, only for wind and comfort during the day. With dd we let her have it for sleep as well...a BIG mistake. It made no difference to the stridor, although it did reduce the snoring as long as she was suckking, and totally destroyed her sleep and ours. By all means use a dummy during the day if you want - but not for sleep. That's my opinion, and loads of people will disagree!

[Lamin]

Lollo - my ds was banished to his nursery at 2 days old because he was so noisy and I could still hear him grunting when he was in there! If you don't want to move him out of your room have you thought about ear plugs? You will still hear him cry for food but should deaden down the snuffling?

[Evita]

Gosh, yes, Lamin, I forgot that - I used ear plugs and it was a life saver. All the little noises that used to disturb my sleep were filtered out but I always heard a real plaintive cry.

[Evansmum]

Another vote for earplugs here - sorry you are having such a hard time Lollo but reassures me to know I'm not alone! My ds, now 5 months, scared the life out of me at first with episodes of grunting and rolling around, was convinced he had epilepsy or something equally serious. All I can say is hope yours grows out of it, ours got better gradually and is nothing like as bad now, although still noisy.

[bobthebaby]

We kept moving DS further and further away as he slept in a carry cot on his pram and was very portable. One night I got up to a hungry cry and found my husband had pushed him to the furthest point in our one storey home. We left him there each night after that as I realised I would hear him if he needed me. One day we realised the noise had stopped, and couldn't remember when. I think he had gradually moved closer to our room by this point.